Jump to content

Lawson Little

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lawson Little
Little in 1939
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Lawson Little Jr.
NicknameCannonball
Born(1910-06-23)June 23, 1910
Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
DiedFebruary 1, 1968(1968-02-01) (aged 57)
Monterey, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Sporting nationality United States
SpouseDorothy Hurd (m. 1936–1968)
Children4
Career
CollegeStanford University
Turned professional1936
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins9
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour8
Best results in major championships
(wins: 5)
Masters TournamentT3: 1939
PGA ChampionshipT17: 1946, 1951
U.S. OpenWon: 1940
The Open ChampionshipT4: 1935
U.S. AmateurWon: 1934, 1935
British AmateurWon: 1934, 1935
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame1980 (member page)
James E. Sullivan Award1935

William Lawson Little Jr. (June 23, 1910 – February 1, 1968) was an American professional golfer who also had a distinguished amateur career.

Little was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and lived much of his early life in the San Francisco area, where his father was an Army Colonel stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco. Little was one of the most dominant amateur players in the history of the sport, capturing both the British Amateur and the U.S. Amateur, then regarded as major championships, consecutively in 1934 and 1935. This feat was referred to as the "Little Slam". He remains the only player to have won both titles in the same year more than once. Little's winning margin of 14 and 13 in the 1934 British final remains the record for dominance. Bob Dickson, Harold Hilton and Bobby Jones are the only other golfers to have won the two titles in the same year.

Little attended Stanford University and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. He won the James E. Sullivan Award for outstanding amateur athlete in 1935. Little was a student of golf instructor Ernest Jones.

Little turned professional in April 1936, and he won eight times on the PGA Tour including one professional major, the 1940 U.S. Open. Little spent much of his early professional career traveling the country with Bobby Jones and fellow golfers Horton Smith, Jimmy Thomson, and Harry Cooper with the intentions of growing the game of golf in a Spaulding-sponsored effort called The Keystones of Golf. He carried up to 26 clubs in his bag, and this prompted the United States Golf Association to introduce the 14-club limit in 1938.

Little raised his family in a house that sat on Fairway One of the Pebble Beach golf course and stayed actively involved in the golf world well into his twilight years. He was an active was a photographer and sports writer for many publications and would hold golf clinics at the Masters and Crosby events. Little died in 1968 of a heart attack at his home in Monterey, California, at the age of 57.[1] He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.

Amateur record (19 wins)

[edit]

1927

  • Western Amateur Championship - Qualified Championship flight, defeated first round by Chick Evans

1928

  • Winner Northern California Amateur Championship (2 months before 18th birthday)
  • Winner Presidio Golf Club Championship

1929

  • Winner and Medalist Presidio Golf Club Championship
  • Winner Orinda Country Club Fourth of July Invitational
  • Quarter-finalist U.S. Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach (1st National Amateur)

1930

  • Medalist California State Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach
  • Quarter-finalist California State Amateur Championship, defeated by winner, Francis Brown
  • Defeated 2nd round U.S. Amateur Championship by Gene Holmans, runner-up to Bob Jones

1931

  • Winner Stanford University Championship
  • Winner Northern California Championship
  • Winner Denver, Colorado Invitational Championship (Medal Play)
  • Did not qualify U.S. Amateur at Beverly C.C. Chicago, IL.

1932

  • Defeated in 1st round U.S. Amateur by medalist, Johnny Fischer.

1933

  • Winner Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Championship, Pebble Beach, CA
  • Winner & Medalist Broadmoor Invitational, Colorado Springs, CO
  • Winner & Medalist Colorado State Amateur Championship, Cherry Hills CC
  • Winner Stanford University Championship
  • Runner-up Trans-Mississippi Championship, Colorado Springs, CO
  • Semi-finalist U.S. Amateur (defeated Sandy Summerville, the Champion, in quarter-finals, was defeated by eventual winner, Geo Dunlap)

1934

  • Winner 8&6 U.S. Walker Cup with partner Johnny Goodman
  • Winner 6&5 U.S. Walker Cup singles vs. No.2 Cyril Tolley
  • Winner British Amateur Championship at Prestwick Golf Club by record margin 14&15
  • Low Amateur in U.S. Open
  • Winner Northern California Open
  • Winner Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Championship
  • Winner U.S. Amateur Championship, defeated David Goodwin 8&7 at The Country Club in Brookline, MA

1935

  • Low Amateur Masters. Finished 6th. Score 288
  • Low Amateur British Open. Finished 4th. Score 289 (Set Amateur course record of 69 at Muirfield Golf Club, Scotland)
  • Winner British Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England. 1 up (Second year in a row)
  • Winner U.S. Amateur Championship at The Country Club in Cleveland, OH. 4&2. (Second year in a row)

Professional wins

[edit]

PGA Tour wins (8)

[edit]

Professional major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins

[edit]

Major championships

[edit]

Professional wins (1)

[edit]
Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
1940 U.S. Open 1 shot deficit −1 (72-69-73-73=287) Playoff 1 United States Gene Sarazen

1 Defeated Sarazen in an 18-hole playoff - Little 70 (−2), Sarazen 73 (+1).

Amateur wins (4)

[edit]
Year Championship Winning score Runner-up
1934 U.S. Amateur 8 & 7 United States David Goldman
1934 British Amateur 14 & 13 Scotland James Wallace
1935 U.S. Amateur 4 & 2 United States Walter Emery
1935 British Amateur 1 up England William Tweddell

Results timeline

[edit]

Amateur

Tournament 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
U.S. Amateur QF R16 DNQ R32 SF 1 1
The Amateur Championship 1 1

Professional

Tournament 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
Masters Tournament 6 LA T20 T19 T10 T3
U.S. Open T25 LA CUT T38 T42
The Open Championship T4 LA CUT
PGA Championship
Tournament 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
Masters Tournament T19 8 T7 NT NT NT T21 T14 T40 T23
U.S. Open 1 T17 NT NT NT NT T10 T31 CUT CUT
The Open Championship NT NT NT NT NT NT 10 T32
PGA Championship NT R32 R64 R64
Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957
Masters Tournament 9 6 WD T38 65 T72 T28
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT T45 T35 CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship R32 R64
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = low amateur
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DNQ = did not qualify for match play portion of U.S. Amateur
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Sources: Masters,[2] U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,[3] British Open[4]

Summary

[edit]
Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 1 1 7 13 19 18
U.S. Open 1 0 0 1 2 4 16 9
The Open Championship 0 0 0 1 2 2 4 3
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 5
Totals 1 0 1 3 11 21 44 35
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 13 (1940 Masters – 1948 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (three times)

U.S. national team appearances

[edit]

Amateur

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Ex-Golf Ace Dead at 57". Spokane Chronicle. AP. February 2, 1968. p. 14.
  2. ^ "Past Winners & Results". Masters Tournament. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  3. ^ USGA Championship Database Archived 2010-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Muirfield – 1935 Results – Lawson Little". The Open. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lawson_Little&oldid=1259700120"