Lawson Little

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox golfer William Lawson Little Jr. (June 23, 1910 – February 1, 1968) was an American professional golfer who also had a distinguished amateur career.

Early life

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.

Amateur career

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. Little was a student of golf instructor Ernest Jones.

Professional career

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.

Personal life

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]

Awards and honors

Amateur wins

  • 1928 Northern California Amateur Championship
  • 1931 Northern California Championship, Denver, Colorado Invitational Championship
  • 1933 Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Championship, Broadmoor Invitational, Colorado State Amateur Championship
  • 1934 British Amateur, Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Championship, U.S. Amateur
  • 1935 British Amateur, U.S. Amateur

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (8)

Professional major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins

Major championships

Professional wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
1940 U.S. Open 1 shot deficit −1 (72-69-73-73=287) Playoff 1 Template:Flagicon Gene Sarazen

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

Amateur wins (4)

Year Championship Winning score Runner-up
1934 U.S. Amateur 8 & 7 Template:Flagicon David Goldman
1934 British Amateur 14 & 13 Template:Flagicon James Wallace
1935 U.S. Amateur 4 & 2 Template:Flagicon Walter Emery
1935 British Amateur 1 up Template:Flagicon William Tweddell

Results timeline

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

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  Win

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  Top 10

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  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

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

Amateur

See also

References

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  3. ↑ USGA Championship Database Template:Webarchive
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External links

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