(1912-02-04)February 4, 1912 Waxahachie, Texas, U.S.
Died
September 26, 2006(2006-09-26) (aged 94) Roanoke, Texas, U.S.
Height
6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Sporting nationality
United States
Spouse
Louise Shofner Nelson
(m. 1934; died 1985)
Peggy Simmons Nelson
(m. 1986)
[1]
Career
Turned professional
1932
Former tour(s)
PGA Tour
Professional wins
64
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour
52 (6th all-time)
Other
12
Best results in major championships (wins: 5)
Masters Tournament
Won: 1937, 1942
PGA Championship
Won: 1940, 1945
U.S. Open
Won: 1939
The Open Championship
5th: 1937
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame
1974 (member page)
Vardon Trophy
1939
PGA Tour leading money winner
1944, 1945
Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year
1944, 1945
Bob Jones Award
1974
PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award
1997
Payne Stewart Award
2000
Congressional Gold Medal
2006
(For a full list of awards, see here)
John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.
Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within seven months of each other in 1912.[2][3] Although he won many tournaments in the course of his relatively brief career, he is mostly remembered today for having won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 total tournaments in 1945. He retired officially at the age of 34 to be a rancher, later becoming a commentator and lending his name to the Byron Nelson Classic, the first PGA Tour event to be named for a professional golfer. As a former Masters champion he continued to play in that annual tournament, placing in the top-10 six times between 1947 and 1955 and as high as 15th in 1965.[4]
In 1974, Nelson received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.[5] He became the second recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. He received the 1994 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, that organization's highest honor. Nelson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.
^Anderson, Dave (June 27, 2007). "An honor for Byron Nelson, Golf's patron saint". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
^Kelley, Brent. "Ben Hogan". About.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2007.
^Kelley, Brent. "Sam Snead". About.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2007.
^Historic Augusta Leaderboards
^"Byron Nelson profile". World Golf Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
John ByronNelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest...
The ByronNelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is...
tournaments on the PGA Tour in a season. It is complete through 2019–20. ByronNelson's record 18 victories came in a year when many potential rivals were in...
winning the Walt Disney World Golf Classic by two strokes. At the 1985 ByronNelson Golf Classic, Stewart came to the 72nd hole with a three-shot lead. Moments...
Year in 2009. Spieth accepted an exemption to play in the PGA Tour's HP ByronNelson Championship in 2010. It was the event's first amateur exemption since...
for geologist Katherine Greacen Nelson ByronNelson Award in Golfing, named for golfer ByronNelsonByronNelson Award (PGA Tour), lowest adjusted scoring...
World War II. c Gene Sarazen won in a playoff against Craig Wood. d ByronNelson won in a playoff against Ben Hogan. e Sam Snead won in a playoff against...
also won the Vardon Trophy and ByronNelson Award for a third time. In 2022, McIlroy won the Vardon Trophy and ByronNelson Award for a fourth time. McIlroy...
Hatalsky Hubert Green 2001 Allen Doyle Bob Gilder John Schroeder 2000 Larry Nelson Doug Tewell Raymond Floyd 1999 Bruce Fleisher Bruce Fleisher Tom Jenkins...
great Harry Vardon, who died in 1937. The PGA Tour presents its own ByronNelson Award annually to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average...
membership in his teens and winning an event in his third season, the HP ByronNelson Championship. In 2015, Day recorded his breakout season, winning five...
33°01′09″N 97°12′12″W / 33.0191°N 97.2033°W / 33.0191; -97.2033 ByronNelson High School is a public high school located in Trophy Club, Texas about...
have included Fred McLeod, Jock Hutchinson, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, ByronNelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Elder, and Tom Watson...
Tour. He has one PGA Tour victory which came in the May 2024 CJ Cup ByronNelson. Previously, he won twice on PGA Tour Canada in 2019. Pendrith attended...
He won many PGA Tour tournaments during this period, including the ByronNelson Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf in 1996, the AT&T Pebble Beach...
made his PGA Tour debut in May 2014, as a 17-year-old amateur at the HP ByronNelson Championship. With his sister Callie caddying for him, he made the cut...
Portland Portland, Oregon 1945 ByronNelson (2) 4 and 3 Sam Byrd 3,750 Moraine Dayton, Ohio 1944 Bob Hamilton 1 up ByronNelson 3,500 Manito Spokane, Washington...
associations (four of these are invitational events): The AT&T ByronNelson, named after ByronNelson, was until 2007 the only current event named after a PGA...
1950, Snead won 11 events, placing him third in that category behind ByronNelson (18, in 1945) and Ben Hogan (13, in 1946). Snead claimed that 1950 was...
by club pro Jack Grout, a Texas-developed contemporary of golf greats ByronNelson and Ben Hogan; Grout had played quite successfully on the PGA Tour and...
been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record 11 times and has won the ByronNelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times. Woods...
000 Harry Vardon 1980 David Graham 280 −8 1 stroke Tom Watson 54,000 ByronNelson 1979 Tom Watson 285 −3 3 strokes Miller Barber 54,000 Gene Sarazen 1978...
Texas Open in April. Bradley won his first PGA Tour event at the 2011 HP ByronNelson Championship. He defeated Ryan Palmer on the first hole of a sudden-death...
Award, had the lowest scoring average (winning the Vardon Trophy and ByronNelson Award) and won both the PGA Player of the Year and PGA Tour Player of...
Global Information
United States