Jimmy Demaret
Jimmy Demaret | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Houston, Texas, U.S. | |||||||
Died | December 28, 1983 Houston, Texas, U.S. | (aged 73)||||||
Height | 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m) | ||||||
Weight | 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st) | ||||||
Sporting nationality | ![]() | ||||||
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
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
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)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Jimmy_Demaret_with_wife_1940.jpg/260px-Jimmy_Demaret_with_wife_1940.jpg)
PGA Tour wins (31)
- 1938 (1) San Francisco National Match Play Open
- 1939 (1) Los Angeles Open
- 1940 (6) 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 | ![]() |
1947 | Masters Tournament (2) | 3 shot lead | −7 (69-71-70-71=281) | 2 strokes | ![]() ![]() |
1950 | Masters Tournament (3) | 4 shot deficit | −5 (70-72-72-69=283) | 2 strokes | ![]() |
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.
- ISBN 978-0-38550-312-9.
- 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/
- ISBN 0-385-26145-4.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Jimmy Demaret at the World Golf Hall of Fame
- Jimmy Demaret at golf.about.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-09-18)