Today’s top golf professionals are among the most highly paid sportspeople in the world. They enjoy global fame and a worldwide following. Hundreds of millions of people watch each of the game’s four Major men’s tournaments and the winners of these most prestigious events become household names. Golf fans would recognise tens, if not hundreds, of current professional players and, even non-golfing sports fans would be able to recall a decent number.
But this wasn’t always the case and there are many great golfing champions who have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
Now, winning a single Major championship is enough to set a player up for life, whereas in days gone by it might have earned them a few hundred pounds and a pat on the back at their local club.
Below we take a look at the fascinating stories of some of those Major champions whose achievements have been forgotten, or perhaps disregarded, by all but the most enthusiastic golf statisticians.
Ralph Guldahl (1911 – 1987)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Born the year before Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, Ralph Guldahl’s playing career peaked and troughed twice before either of those golfing legends reached their prime. The Texan turned pro in 1931 and quickly won the Santa Monica Open; he took the Arizona Open title the following season. In the 1933 US Open, the 6 foot 2 inch 21-year-old made up nine shots on Johnny Goodman in just 11 holes at the end of the final round. Guldahl faced a four-foot putt on the last green to force a playoff. He missed and effectively gave up competitive golf for three years, returning to his home in Dallas and becoming a used car salesman. But he took up the game again in 1936 and, between 1937 and 1939 Guldahl was arguably the best player in the world. He was second in the 1937 Masters before winning the US Open at Oakland Hills by two shots. He was second again in the 1938 Masters and successfully defended his US Open title, winning this time by six strokes at Cherry Hills. In 1939 he finally got his victory at Augusta and claimed three further titles that season.
For that brief spell, Guldahl was at the very pinnacle of the sport. But from 1940 onwards he lost his game and he quit tournament golf. He played his last US Open in 1949.
Many believed his involvement in the writing of an instructional book was the reason for his golfing collapse – it caused him to over-analyse his game. Guldahl put it down to a lack of competitive drive and weariness because of the…
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