Cyril Walker (golfer) explained

Cyril Walker
Birth Date:18 September 1892
Birth Place:Manchester, England
Death Place:Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.
Weight:118lb
Nationality:
Status:Professional
Prowins:7
Pgawins:6
Otherwins:1
Majorwins:1
Masters:61st: 1934
Usopen:Won: 1924
Open:T18: 1926
Pga:T3: 1921

Cyril Walker (September 18, 1892 – August 6, 1948) was an English professional golfer born in Manchester who emigrated to the United States in 1914.

Walker won the 1924 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills Country Club, while playing out of Englewood Golf Club in New Jersey. He beat defending champion Bobby Jones by three strokes.[1] [2] [3] [4] This was his only top ten finish in seven appearances at the U.S. Open. He was a small man, weighing only .[5]

Walker won six PGA events between 1917 and 1930.[6] He also won the Indiana Open in 1916.

In 1928, he became the pro at the Saddle River Golf and Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.[7]

Career demise

Walker's slow pace of play,[8] [9] combined with his sometimes-combative personality, eventually made him unpopular with fellow players and tournament sponsors. This hastened his exit from the then-nascent professional golfers' tournament circuit. While a club pro at Saddle River in 1933, he was arrested for destroying the signs of a neighboring course.[7]

An alcohol addiction further hastened his downward spiral during the 1930s and he ultimately found himself in a near-destitute condition working as a caddie in Florida at the Miami Beach municipal course in 1940,[10] and later as a dishwasher.[11]

Walker died of pleural pneumonia in a Hackensack, New Jersey jail cell where he had gone for shelter.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (6)

Other wins

Major championships

Results timeline

Tournament1916191719181919
U.S. OpenNTNT
The Open ChampionshipNTNTNTNT
PGA ChampionshipQFNTNT
Tournament1920192119221923192419251926192719281929
U.S. Open13T40231T47T55
The Open ChampionshipT18
PGA ChampionshipSFR16
Tournament19301931193219331934
Masters TournamentNYFNYFNYFNYF61
U.S. OpenCUT
The Open Championship
PGA ChampionshipQF
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
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

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Open golf title to Cyril Walker . Montreal Gazette . June 7, 1924 . 17.
  2. News: Walker new Open leader . Pittsburgh Press . United Press . June 7, 1924 . 13 .
  3. News: Walker beats Jones for National Open golf title . Milwaukee Journal . Sixty . Billy . June 7, 1924 . 6 .
  4. News: Cyril Walker, native of England, wins National Open golf crown by beating Jones 3 strokes . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington . June 7, 1924 . 16 .
  5. News: Tiny mites carry off golf laurels . Evening Independent . St. Petersburg, Florida . Williams . Joe . July 14, 1924 . 14 .
  6. Book: Barkow, Al . Al Barkow

    . Al Barkow . The History of the PGA TOUR . . November 1989 . 0-385-26145-4 . Copyright PGA Tour . 235–37, 249, 253 . registration .

  7. News: Cyril Walker is a arrested in golf club war . Chicago Daily Tribune . May 28, 1933 . 5, part 2.
  8. News: Presenting two golfing extremes - fastest and slowest pro . Pittsburgh Press . February 3, 1927 . 26 .
  9. Book: Shifrin, Joshua . From the Links: Golf's Most Memorable Moments . Lyons Press . Guilford, Connecticut . 2012 . 34. 9780762790272 .
  10. News: Caddy ranks claim Cyril Walker who won National Open in 1924 . St. Petersburg Times . United Press . Florida . Aronstam . H.J. . April 12, 1940. 16 .
  11. News: Cyril Walker dies in New Jersey cell . Montreal Gazette . Associated Press . August 7, 1948 . 8.
  12. Milestones . https://web.archive.org/web/20090224162908/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798967,00.html . dead . February 24, 2009 . . August 16, 1948 . January 26, 2012.
  13. News: Cyril Walker dies; beat Bobby Jones . Toledo Blade . Ohio . United Press . August 7, 1948 . 10 .
  14. News: Cyril Walker a pocket-sized Ben Hogan of his golfing day . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington . Associated Press . August 23, 1948 . 8 .
  15. News: The tragedy of Cyril Walker . Montreal Gazette . Carroll . Dick . July 2, 1955 . 8 .