SNEAD, SAM

born May 27, 1912, near Hot Springs, Va., U.S. in full Samuel Jackson Snead, byname Slammin' Sammy U.S. professional golfer who won 84 Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournaments and, except for the U.S. Open in which he placed second four times, every major championship for which he was eligible. Snead was noted for the longevity of his career, his perfect swing and his agility. He became a professional in 1933 and scored his first victory in the 1937 Oakland Open. He won the British Open (1946), the Canadian Open (1938, 1940, 1941), and in the United States the Masters Tournament (1949, 1952, 1954), the PGA championship (1942, 1949, 1951), and the Vardon Trophy (1938, 194950, 1955), for the best average number of strokes in PGA tournaments. He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team 10 times and a member of the winning World Cup teams in 1956, 1960, 1961, and 1962, also winning the individual title in 1961. He won the PGA Seniors tournament in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1972, and 1973; the World Seniors Championship in 1964, 1965, 1970, 1972, and 1973; and the Legends of Golf tournament (with Gardner Dickinson) in 1978. Known worldwide for his straw hat, Snead reportedly never had a golf lesson, and he sometimes employed unorthodox methods of putting in order to counteract problems caused by a twitch. He won more PGA tournaments than any other champion, however, and conservative estimates place his world tournament wins at 135. He was the oldest golfer to win a PGA event, at age 52, at the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, and he tied for second place at the 1974 Los Angeles Open. He was elected in 1953 to the PGA Hall of Fame. Snead's autobiography, The Education of a Golfer (1962), was written in collaboration with Al Stump.