Gene Sarazen

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Gene Sarazen
Personal information
Full name	Eugenio Saraceni
Nickname	The Squire
Born	February 27, 1902(1902-02-27) Harrison, New York, USA
Died	May 13, 1999 (aged 97) Naples, Florida, USA
Height	5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m)
Weight	162 lb (73 kg; 11.6 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
Turned professional	1920
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	41
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	39 (Tied 10th all time)
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 7)
The Masters	Won: 1935
U.S. Open	Won: 1922, 1932
Open Championship	Won: 1932
PGA Championship	Won: 1922, 1923, 1933
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1974 (member page)
PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award	1996
Bob Jones Award	1992
Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year	1932

Gene Sarazen (February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer. He is one of five golfers (along with Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods) to win all the current major championships in his career, the Career Grand Slam: U.S. Open in 1922, 1932, PGA Championship in 1922, 1923, 1933, British Open in 1932, and The Masters in 1935.

Career

Sarazen was born in Harrison, New York as Eugenio Saraceni.^[1] Sarazen began caddying at age ten at local golf clubs, took up golf himself, and gradually developed his skills; he was essentially self-taught. He used the somewhat unusual, at the time, interlocking grip to hold the club.

Sarazen won his first major championships—the 1922 U.S. Open and PGA Championship—at age 20. He was a contemporary and great rival of Bobby Jones, who was born in the same year.

The winner of 39 PGA Tournaments, Sarazen was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He was the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1932, a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame (1974), and won the PGA Tour's first Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He played on six U.S. Ryder Cup teams: 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937.

Sarazen invented the modern sand wedge and debuted the club at the British Open at Prince's Golf Club in 1932 (which he won). He called it the sand iron and his original club is still on display at Prince's. There had been previous sand-specific clubs, but Sarazen's innovation was to weld solder onto the lower back of the club, building up the flange so that it sat lower than the leading edge when soled. The flange, not the leading edge, would contact the sand first, and explode sand as the shot was played. The additional weight provided punch to power through the thick sand. Sarazen's new developed technique with the new club was to contact the sand a couple of inches behind the ball, not actually contacting the ball at all. Every top-class golfer since has utilized this wedge design and technique.

Sarazen hit "The shot heard 'round the world" in the 1935 Masters Tournament. It was a final round 235-yard 4-wood on the par-5 15th hole that went in, giving him a very rare albatross 2 on the hole. He trailed the leader by three shots at the time, and made them up all at once. It led to his later winning the tournament in a playoff over Craig Wood. At the time of his second shot a check for $1,500, the winning prize, had already been written to Craig Wood. Wood would have to wait another six years before finally winning his own green jacket.

In spite of his height – he only stood 5 feet 5.5 inches (1.66 m) tall^[2] – Sarazen could hit the ball a very long way, even when compared with larger, stronger players. As a multiple past champion, he was eligible to continue competing after his best years were past, and occasionally did so in the top events, well into the 1960s, and occasionally into the 1970s. Throughout his life, Sarazen competed wearing knickers or plus-fours, which were the fashion when he broke into the top level.

For many years after his retirement, Sarazen was a familiar figure as an honorary starter at the Masters. From 1981-1999, he joined Byron Nelson and Sam Snead in hitting a ceremonial tee shot before each Masters tournament. He also popularized the sport with his role as a commentator on the Wonderful World of Golf television show.

At the age of 71, Sarazen made a hole-in-one at the 1973 British Open Championship. In 1992, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Asked how to say his name, he told the Literary Digest "Veteran Gene Sarazen/ Aims to play par again": (/ˈsɑrəzɛn/). (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)

Sarazen had what is still the longest-running endorsement contract in professional sports - with Wilson Sporting Goods from 1923 until his death, a total of 75 years.

He received an honorary degree in 1978 from Siena College, in Loudonville, New York. In 1998, shortly before his death, the Sarazen Student Union was named in his honor. He also established an endowed scholarship fund at the college, The Gene and Mary Sarazen Scholarship, which is awarded annually to students reflecting the high personal, athletic, and intellectual ideals of Dr. Sarazen. For many years, kitted in his plus-fours, he hit the first ball in an annual golf tournament, held to raise funds for the scholarship.^[3]

Sarazen died in Naples, Florida in 1999 from complications of pneumonia, aged 97.

In 2000, Sarazen was ranked as the 11th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.^[4]

PGA Tour wins (39)

• 1922 (3) Southern (Spring) Open, U.S. Open, PGA Championship
• 1923 (1) PGA Championship
• 1925 (1) Metropolitan Open
• 1926 (1) Miami Open
• 1927 (3) Long Island Open, Miami Open, Metropolitan PGA
• 1928 (4) Miami Beach Open, Miami Open, Nassau Bahamas Open, Metropolitan PGA
• 1929 (2) Miami Open, Miami Beach Open
• 1930 (8) Miami Open, Agua Caliente Open, Florida West Coast Open, Concord Country Club Open, United States Pro Invitational, Western Open, Lannin Memorial Tournament, Middle Atlantic Open
• 1931 (3) Florida West Coast Open, La Gorce Open, Lannin Memorial Tournament
• 1932 (4) True Temper Open, Coral Gables Open, U.S. Open, British Open
• 1933 (1) PGA Championship
• 1935 (3) The Masters, Massachusetts Open, Long Island Open
• 1937 (2) Florida West Coast Open, Chicago Open
• 1938 (1) Lake Placid Open
• 1941 (1) Miami Biltmore International Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan)

(missing one win)

Major championships are shown in bold.

Source: (Barkow 1989, pp. 266)

Other wins

this list may be incomplete

• 1928 Miami International Four-Ball (with Johnny Farrell)

Senior wins

• 1954 PGA Seniors' Championship
• 1958 PGA Seniors' Championship

Major championships

Wins (7)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1922	U.S. Open	4 shot deficit	+8 (72-73-75-68=288)	1 stroke	Bobby Jones
1922	PGA Championship	n/a	4 & 3	n/a	Emmet French
1923	PGA Championship (2)	n/a	38 holes	n/a	Walter Hagen
1932	U.S. Open (2)	1 shot deficit	+6 (74-76-70-66=286)	3 strokes	Bobby Cruickshank, Phil Perkins
1932	The Open Championship	4 shot lead	(70-69-70-74=283)	5 strokes	Macdonald Smith
1933	PGA Championship (3)	n/a	5 & 4	n/a	Willie Goggin
1935	The Masters	3 shot deficit	-6 (68-71-73-70=282)	Playoff 1	Craig Wood

Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958
¹ Defeated Craig Wood in a 36-hole playoff - Sarazen (144), Wood (149)

Results timeline

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF, F = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

See also

• Career Grand Slam Champions
• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most major championship wins
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year

References

1. ^ "Gene Sarazen, 97, Golf Champion, Dies". The New York Times. May 14, 1999. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E0DB1E3FF937A25756C0A96F958260. Retrieved 2009-02-17. 
2. ^ Elliott, Len; Barbara Kelly. Who's Who in Golf. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. p. 168. ISBN 0870002252. 
3. ^ http://lw.siena.edu/campaign/SarazenNamingOpps.asp
4. ^ Yocom, Guy (July 2000). "50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us". Golf Digest. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_7_51/ai_63015233. Retrieved 2007-12-05. 

Barkow, Al (1989), The History of the PGA TOUR, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-26145-4 

External links

• World Golf Hall of Fame profile
• Gene Sarazen Profile at Golf Legends
• Electronic Resources on Gene Sarazen from SoHG Archives
• Gene Sarazen swing sequences from SoHG Master Classes
• Gene Sarazen Memorial at Find A Grave