Byron Nelson: Profile of a gentleman golfer
In 1945, Byron Nelson won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 of the 35 he entered.
Byron Nelson was the first professional golfer to actually have a PGA TOUR event named after him. That fact really isn’t something today’s pros will concern themselves with while playing TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas.
Byron Nelson won 11 consecutive events and 18 of the 35 he entered in 1945. Nelson’s 1945 season is a feat that would actually peak the interest of any professional golfer of any era. Eleven straight pro victories is a record that is very unlikely to even be approached. Tiger got to seven back in ’06-’07 but that’s as close as anyone will likely ever get. And eighteen wins in one season? That one is likely safe as well.
The biggest of Nelson’s wins in 1945 was the PGA Championship, the only major championship played that year due to World War II. The PGA Championship was a match-play event in those years and he defeated Sam Byrd 4&3 at Moraine Country Club in Kettering, Ohio.
Forget putting an asterisk on Nelson’s dominant 1945 season due to the war. Instead, do consider the names of two other players who played a full schedule that year and won seven tournaments apiece: Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. These two greats, along with Nelson, are what made professional golf what it is today.
Byron Nelson was part of professional golf’s original Big 3. Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Nelson are still the most dominant Big 3 of any era.
Born within months of each other the year the Titanic went down, Hogan and Snead, along with Nelson, would combine to make 1912 the leader in the clubhouse for birth year of true legends. Nelson didn’t exactly beat a field full of non-playing bums off the street considering those two were in their prime as well. The original Big 3 are still the most dominant and Nelson led the way with arguably the single greatest year ever.
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This year’s Nelson is being held at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Irving, TX for the final time, moving to Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas in 2018. A huge, bronze statue of Byron Nelson serves as a friendly greeting to players and visitors alike at the entrance to the course property.
Byron Nelson died in 2006. His accomplishments on the course included 52 wins, five major championships and 113 consecutive cuts made. More telling was that every tribute, written or spoken, emphasized what a true gentleman Nelson was. His character as a man is as much his legacy to this day as his playing record.
The 2017 Byron Nelson will likely conclude on Sunday afternoon and unless Sergio Garcia can make up ten shots in two days, whomever wins this year will have won one in a row and will be champion in honor of one of golfs greatest legends. Hopefully, he will have a sense of golf history. If he does, perhaps he will pause for a picture with a true legend and gentleman.
Next: Byron Nelson power rankings
Nelson is remembered as a champion and a gentleman in a big bronze statue. The picture would be as cherished as the trophy. Nelson once got eleven of those pictures in a row.