Horton Smith

Horton Smith
Personal information
Nickname	The Joplin Ghost
Born	May 22, 1908(1908-05-22) Springfield, Missouri
Died	October 15, 1963 (aged 55) Detroit, Michigan
Nationality	United States
Career
College	State Teacher's College (Springfield, Missouri)
Turned professional	1926
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	34
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	32
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 2)
The Masters	Won: 1934, 1936
U.S. Open	3rd: 1930, 1940
Open Championship	T4: 1930
PGA Championship	T3: 1928
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1990 (member page)
PGA Tour leading money winner	1936
Bob Jones Award	1962

Horton Smith (May 22, 1908 – October 15, 1963) was an American professional golfer, who is best known as the first man to win the Masters Tournament.

Smith was born in Springfield, Missouri and died in Detroit, Michigan of Hodgkin's Disease.

Tournament career

Smith's turned professional in 1926 and won his first tournament, the Oklahoma City Open in 1928. In 1929 he won eight titles. This was an era of expansion and reorganisation for professional golf. The PGA Tour was founded in 1934, and Smith was one of the leading players of the early years of the tour, topping the money list in 1936. He accumulated 32 PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them in 1941. Smith's two major championships both came at the Masters Tournament, the first at the inaugural tournament in 1934 and the second in 1936. He played in every Masters until his death in 1963. He played for the United States in the Ryder Cup five times: 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937.

Miscellaneous

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008)

• Served as the club pro at Detroit Golf Club (Detroit, Michigan) for several years following his professional career.
• Rated as the finest chipper and putter of his era by Byron Nelson. Co-author of a 1961 book, The Secret of Holing Puts.
• Smith was the last man to defeat Bobby Jones before Jones retired in 1930.
• According to the World Golf Hall of Fame Smith was the first man to use a sand wedge, although the concave wedge he invented was later banned by the USGA and superseded by a style introduced by Gene Sarazen.
• Smith was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
• President of the Professional Golfers' Association of America 1952-1954
• In 1962, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
• The PGA of America annually grants the Horton Smith Award to a PGA professional who has made "outstanding and continuing contributions to PGA education."
• Has a golf course named after him in his birthplace city of Springfield, Missouri.

PGA Tour wins (32)

• 1928 (2) Oklahoma City Open, Catalina Island Open
• 1929 (8) Berkeley Open Championship, Pensacola Open Invitational, Florida Open, La Gorce Open, Fort Myers Open, North and South Open, Oregon Open, Pasadena Open
• 1930 (4) Central Florida Open, Savannah Open, Berkeley Open, Bay District Open
• 1931 (1) St. Paul Open
• 1932 (1) National Capital City Open
• 1933 (1) Miami International Four-Ball (with Paul Runyan)
• 1934 (3) The Masters, Grand Slam Open, California Open
• 1935 (3) Palm Springs Invitational, Miami Biltmore Open, Pasadena Open
• 1936 (2) The Masters, Victoria Open
• 1937 (3) North and South Open, Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Harry Cooper), Oklahoma Four-Ball (with Harry Cooper)
• 1941 (2) Florida West Coast Open, St. Paul Open

(missing two wins)

Major championships are shown in bold.

Source: (Barkow 1989, pp. 265)

Other wins

this list is probably incomplete

• 1940 Massachusetts Open
• 1948 Michigan PGA Championship

Major Championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1934	The Masters	1 shot lead	-4 (70-72-70-72=284)	1 stroke	Craig Wood
1936	The Masters (2)	3 shot deficit	-3 (74-71-68-72=285)	1 stroke	Harry Cooper

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

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year

References

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

External links

• World Golf Hall of Fame profile