Ranking The Best PGA Championship Competitors Of All-Time
By Bill Felber
PGA Championship Era: 1950 to 1959
With Nelson’s retirement, the physical limitations imposed on Hogan by his accident, and with Arnold Palmer confined to amateur golf for much of the decade, the 1950s belonged to Snead largely by default.
The 1950s are also the decade when the PGA Championship transitioned from match to medal play. That change occurred in 1958, and the shift is noticeable. No match play champion would ever win a medal play title, and only four – Snead, Doug Ford, Jack Burke Jr., and Jim Ferrier – would get so much as a top 10 medal play finish.
Here is the full decade’s top 10:
1. Sam Snead, -1.66
2. Cary Middlecoff, -1.30
3. Doug Ford, -1.27
4. Jack Burke Jr., -1.00
5. Tommy Bolt, -0.98
6. Jay Hebert, -0.72
7. Chick Harbert, -0.64
8. Jack Isaacs, -0.60
9. Fred Hawkins, -0.56
10. Chandler Harper, -0.55
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Where are Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, the emerging stars of the decade? Neither played in the requisite five events to be rated. Palmer never made a match play appearance, tying for 40th in 1958 and for 14th in 1959, both stroke play competitions. Gary Player did not debut in the PGA until 1961.
Snead won in 1951 and was third at stroke play in 1958. His two strongest challenges came from a pair of veterans.
Middlecoff, 1955 Masters winner, and the 1949 and 1956 U.S. Open winner, was runner-up in 1955, one year after being a semi-finalist. Ford won the tournament in his 1955 debut, added the 1957 Masters to his resume, and tied for 11th in both 1958 and 1959.
Perhaps in part a reflection of the generally weakened field of competitors, Snead’s -1.66 dominance score is the strongest for any decade in PGA Championship history.