BYRON NELSON
LORD BYRON - GOLFER
February 4, 1912 - September 26, 2006
One of the greatest golfers of all time.
First golfer to have a PGA Championship tour event named for a professional golfer: The Byron Nelson Championship Tournament.
He had 52 Tour wins which included 5 major titles.
He won eleven straight PGA tournaments in 1945, a record that will probably never be broken. He won a total of 18 tournaments that year then retired the following year 1946, at age 34, to become a rancher.
He was one of the few people I mailed The Tablecloth to for a signature Dec. 17, 1989. My wife and I and our dog Sammy drove to Roanoke, Texas November 18, 1990 to meet with him for a picture. He introduced us to his wife Peggy who took this great picture.
Lord Byron had high standards, morals and Christian beliefs. He became the second recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 and has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The Dallas Open, a PGA tour tournament, was renamed The Byron Nelson Classic.
Byron Nelson also received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
For several years Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen made regular appearances at the Masters as ceremonial starters. Then it got down to Sam Snead and Byron Nelson each year, and then it was down to Byron Nelson alone. And now?
Welcome to "A Gathering of Legends," Lord Byron Nelson.