The virtual PGA: The nine favorites
By Bill Felber
Byron Nelson, 1940, 1945 (1937-1946), -1.74
Nelson only actually won two PGA titles, but statistically, he is by a slight margin the championship’s dominant presence. Competing entirely during the match-play era, Nelson played in nine PGA championships between 1937 and 1946, compiling a match record of 37 victories and just seven defeats.
None of those seven losses were by more than 2 & 1; three of them went to extra holes. At the other end of the scale, Nelson finished off a dozen of his opponents with four or more holes still to be played.
He finished second three times: in 1939, 1941 and 1944. All three of those championship defeats were by a margin of 1-up, two of them in extra holes.
Nelson’s performance at the 1939 event was so dominant that it is jarring to accept the idea that he did not actually win. After eliminating Chuck Garringer 4 & 2 in the opening round and taking out William Francis 3 & 1, he dispatched 1935 champion John Revolta 6 & 4.
In the 36-hole quarter-final, he finished Emerick Kacsis 10 & 9, then eliminated E.J. “Dutch” Harrison 9 & 8 in the semis.
That sent him into an epic 37-hole final match with Henry Picard that turned when Picard holed a seven-foot birdie putt and Nelson missed the five-footer he needed to keep the match going.
He lost to Vic Ghezzi in a similar fashion in 1941. Nelson’s championship match misfortune continued in 1944 when the unknown Bob Hamilton took him out.
To that point, Nelson had dominated the war-damaged field. After medaling with a 36-hole score of 138 – seven strokes below the qualifying average — he beat Mike DeMassy 5 & 4, Mark Fry 7 & 6, Willie Goggins 4 & 3 and Charles Congdon 8 & 7. But in the 36-hole final, Hamilton birdied the 19th hole to take the lead and fired his approach at the 36th hole within one foot of the cup to wrap up the 1-up victory.
In 1940 Nelson beat Sam Snead 1 up, holing a 10-footer on the final green for the win. In 1945, he trailed former major league baseball player Sammy Byrd by three through 27 holes but rallied to win 4 & 3.