Jimmy Demaret
Jimmy Demaret | |||||||
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Demaret in 1964 | |||||||
Personal information | |||||||
Full name | James Newton Demaret | ||||||
Born | (1910-05-24)May 24, 1910 Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||
Died | December 28, 1983(1983-12-28) (aged 73) Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||
Height | 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m) | ||||||
Weight | 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st) | ||||||
Sporting nationality | United States | ||||||
Spouse | Idella Adams | ||||||
Children | 1 | ||||||
Career | |||||||
Turned professional | 1927 | ||||||
Former tour(s) | PGA Tour | ||||||
Professional wins | 37 | ||||||
Number of wins by tour | |||||||
PGA Tour | 31 | ||||||
Other | 6 | ||||||
Best results in major championships (wins: 3) | |||||||
Masters Tournament | Won: 1940, 1947, 1950 | ||||||
PGA Championship | T3: 1942, 1946, 1948, 1950 | ||||||
U.S. Open | 2nd: 1948 | ||||||
The Open Championship | T10: 1954 | ||||||
Achievements and awards | |||||||
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James Newton Demaret (May 24, 1910 – December 28, 1983) was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters, with titles in 1940, 1947, and 1950.[1][2][3]
Life and career
Born in Houston, Texas, Demaret reached his peak in the late 1940s with wins in the Masters in 1947, runner-up to Ben Hogan in the 1948 U.S. Open, and leading money winner and Vardon Trophy winner in 1947. He reached the semifinals of the PGA Championship four times, but never made the finals. He was one stroke short of making the playoff for the 1957 U.S. Open, at age 47. He played on three Ryder Cup teams: 1947, 1949, and 1951. His career declined in the 1950s, although he managed several key wins including the 1952 Bing Crosby Pro-Am. His last Tour win came in 1957 at age 47, although he also teamed at age 51 with Sam Snead to win the Canada Cup for the U.S. in Puerto Rico.
Demaret's playing style was developed by necessity through the windy conditions of his native Texas. He favored a low fade (left-to-right flight) on his longer shots; the method gave good distance and excellent control. His skills were highly rated by his contemporaries; Ben Hogan, whose career overshadowed his, opined that he was the best player he had ever seen in windy conditions.[4]
Demaret was known for his flamboyant personality, which he enhanced by wearing bright-colored clothing during tournaments; he had his clothes specially made, and became a fan favorite. As a result, he was known by his nickname, "The Wardrobe." He had a very good baritone voice and talent as a comedian; he frequently entertained at nightclubs at Tour stops.[5]
Demaret was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2000, he was ranked as the 20th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.[6]
Demaret was one of the first Tour pros to become involved in golf broadcasting. After working as a commentator for "All Star Golf" in the early 1960s, he replaced George Rogers in 1966 as co-host for Shell's Wonderful World of Golf with Gene Sarazen, the first winner of the career grand slam.
Business partner and double-major winner Jack Burke Jr. and Demaret started the high-standard 36-hole Champions Golf Club in Houston in the late 1950s. It hosted the 1967 Ryder Cup, the 1969 U.S. Open, the 1993 U.S. Amateur, and other high-profile events.
Demaret appeared as himself in an episode of I Love Lucy titled "The Golf Game" which first aired on January 27, 1954. [7] In 1964, he made a second appearance with Lucille Ball on The Lucy Show. In 1961, he appeared on The Jim Backus Show, playing himself.
He played himself in the 1951 Ben Hogan semi-autobiographical movie starring Glenn Ford and Anne Baxter called Follow the Sun.[8]
The over-70s groupings on the Senior PGA Tour were named the "Friends of Demaret" in his honor.
Death
Demaret died of a heart attack at age 73 in Houston on December 28, 1983, as he was preparing for his daily ride around the Champions course.[1][2][3] He was the third of the former Masters champions to pass away, preceded by Horton Smith in 1963 and Craig Wood in 1968.
Professional wins (37)
PGA Tour wins (31)
- 1938 (1) San Francisco National Match Play Open
- 1939 (1) Los Angeles Open
- 1940 (6) Oakland Open, Western Open, New Orleans Open, St. Petersburg Open, Masters Tournament, San Francisco National Match Play Open
- 1941 (1) Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan)
- 1946 (3) Tucson Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan), Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan)
- 1947 (6) Tucson Open, St. Petersburg Open, Masters Tournament, Miami Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan), Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan)
- 1948 (3) Albuquerque Open, St. Paul Open, Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Ben Hogan)
- 1949 (1) Phoenix Open
- 1950 (3) Ben Hogan Open, Masters Tournament, North Fulton Open
- 1952 (2) Bing Crosby Pro-Am, National Celebrities Open
- 1956 (1) Thunderbird Invitational
- 1957 (3) Thunderbird Invitational, Baton Rouge Open Invitational, Arlington Hotel Open
Major championships are shown in bold.
Source:[9]
Other wins (6)
this list may be incomplete
- 1941 Argentine Open, Connecticut Open
- 1943 Michigan PGA Championship, Golden Valley Four-Ball (with Craig Wood)
- 1951 Havana Invitational
- 1961 Canada Cup (with Sam Snead)
Major championships
Wins (3)
Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1940 | Masters Tournament | 1 shot lead | −8 (67-72-70-71=280) | 4 strokes | Lloyd Mangrum |
1947 | Masters Tournament (2) | 3 shot lead | −7 (69-71-70-71=281) | 2 strokes | Byron Nelson, Frank Stranahan |
1950 | Masters Tournament (3) | 4 shot deficit | −5 (70-72-72-69=283) | 2 strokes | Jim Ferrier |
Results timeline
Tournament | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | T33 | ||||
U.S. Open | T16 | CUT | T22 | ||
The Open Championship | |||||
PGA Championship | R64 | R64 | R64 | R16 |
Tournament | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 1 | T12 | 6 | NT | NT | NT | T4 | 1 | T18 | T8 |
U.S. Open | WD | WD | NT | NT | NT | NT | T6 | T39 | 2 | WD |
The Open Championship | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | ||||
PGA Championship | R32 | R64 | SF | NT | SF | R64 | SF | QF |
Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 1 | T30 | WD | T45 | T29 | T34 | 3 | T14 | CUT | |
U.S. Open | T20 | T14 | T15 | T4 | T29 | CUT | 3 | WD | ||
The Open Championship | T10 | |||||||||
PGA Championship | SF | R64 | DQ |
Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | CUT | CUT | T5 | T43 | T32 | T35 | CUT | |
U.S. Open | ||||||||
The Open Championship | ||||||||
PGA Championship |
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Summary
Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 24 | 19 |
U.S. Open | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 17 | 11 |
The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 13 |
Totals | 3 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 19 | 28 | 56 | 44 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1941 PGA – 1949 Masters)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 6 (1942 Masters – 1947 Masters)
U.S. national team appearances
Professional
- Ryder Cup: 1947 (winners), 1949 (winners), 1951 (winners)
- Canada Cup: 1954, 1957, 1961 (winners)
- Lakes International Cup: 1952 (winners)
See also
References
- ^ a b "Jimmy Demaret, pro golfing great, dies at 73". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. December 29, 1983. p. 4D.
- ^ a b "Golfing great Demaret dies". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). wire reports. December 29, 1983. p. 20.
- ^ a b Glick, Shav (December 29, 1983). "3-time Masters champion Demaret dead at age 73". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). p. 3C.
- ^ Dodson, James (2004). Ben Hogan: An American Life. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-38550-312-9.
- ^ Barkow, Al (1986). Gettin' to the Dance Floor: An Oral History of American Golf. Atheneum. ISBN 978-0-68911-517-2.
- ^ Yocom, Guy (July 2000). "50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
- ^ "Episode #47: Lucy Takes up Golf". The Lucy Show. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043550/
- ^ Barkow, Al (1989). The History of the PGA TOUR. Doubleday. pp. 266–7. ISBN 0-385-26145-4.
External links
- Jimmy Demaret at the World Golf Hall of Fame
- Jimmy Demaret at golf.about.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-09-18)
- v
- t
- e
- 1934 Horton Smith
- 1935 Gene Sarazen†
- 1936 Horton Smith
- 1937 Byron Nelson
- 1938 Henry Picard
- 1939 Ralph Guldahl
- 1940 Jimmy Demaret
- 1941‡ Craig Wood
- 1942 Byron Nelson†
- 1946 Herman Keiser
- 1947 Jimmy Demaret
- 1948 Claude Harmon
- 1949 Sam Snead
- 1950 Jimmy Demaret
- 1951 Ben Hogan
- 1952 Sam Snead
- 1953 Ben Hogan
- 1954 Sam Snead†
- 1955 Cary Middlecoff
- 1956 Jack Burke Jr.
- 1957 Doug Ford
- 1958 Arnold Palmer
- 1959 Art Wall Jr.
- 1960‡ Arnold Palmer
- 1961 Gary Player
- 1962 Arnold Palmer†
- 1963 Jack Nicklaus
- 1964 Arnold Palmer
- 1965 Jack Nicklaus
- 1966 Jack Nicklaus†
- 1967 Gay Brewer
- 1968 Bob Goalby
- 1969 George Archer
- 1970 Billy Casper†
- 1971 Charles Coody
- 1972‡ Jack Nicklaus
- 1973 Tommy Aaron
- 1974 Gary Player
- 1975 Jack Nicklaus
- 1976‡ Raymond Floyd
- 1977 Tom Watson
- 1978 Gary Player
- 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller†
- 1980 Seve Ballesteros
- 1981 Tom Watson
- 1982 Craig Stadler†
- 1983 Seve Ballesteros
- 1984 Ben Crenshaw
- 1985 Bernhard Langer
- 1986 Jack Nicklaus
- 1987 Larry Mize†
- 1988 Sandy Lyle
- 1989 Nick Faldo†
- 1990 Nick Faldo†
- 1991 Ian Woosnam
- 1992 Fred Couples
- 1993 Bernhard Langer
- 1994 José María Olazábal
- 1995 Ben Crenshaw
- 1996 Nick Faldo
- 1997 Tiger Woods
- 1998 Mark O'Meara
- 1999 José María Olazábal
- 2000 Vijay Singh
- 2001 Tiger Woods
- 2002 Tiger Woods
- 2003 Mike Weir†
- 2004 Phil Mickelson
- 2005 Tiger Woods†
- 2006 Phil Mickelson
- 2007 Zach Johnson
- 2008 Trevor Immelman
- 2009 Ángel Cabrera†
- 2010 Phil Mickelson
- 2011 Charl Schwartzel
- 2012 Bubba Watson†
- 2013 Adam Scott†
- 2014 Bubba Watson
- 2015‡ Jordan Spieth
- 2016 Danny Willett
- 2017 Sergio García†
- 2018 Patrick Reed
- 2019 Tiger Woods
- 2020 Dustin Johnson
- 2021 Hideki Matsuyama
- 2022 Scottie Scheffler
- 2023 Jon Rahm
- 2024 Scottie Scheffler