AMERICAN GOLF TITLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 14 June 1939, Page 5

AMERICAN GOLF TITLE

NELSON WINS OPEN CHAMPION- J SHIP AFTER SECOND PLAY-OFF ! i U.H.A —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright l ' l PHILADELPHIA, 13th June. 1 Byron Nelson won the American 1 open golf championship, defeating Craig Wood. Nelson took 70 for the ' round, and Wood 73. A cablegram from Philadelphia dated, 11th June which was published on| : Monday stated that Byron Nelson, j Densmore Shute and Craig Wood had J tied for the American open title with, 1 aggregates of 284, and that they would j play off for the championship over j 18 holes on the Sunday. The trio play- i ed off on Sunday, when Nelson and Wood again tied, Shute being eliminated. Byron Nelson was born at Fort Worth, Texas, on 4th February, 1912, and was assistant professional at Ridgewood (New Jersey) and Glen Gardeen before becoming professional at Texarkana. He finished second in the Texas! open and Galveston open in 1934. In I the following year he won the New Jersey State open and was runner-up | for the New Jersey P.G.A. tournament, in 1936 he annexed the Metropolitan ■ open, was third in the Western open, j Riverside open and Sacramento open, and second in the Vancouver open. In 1937 he came third in the North and

. South open and was fifth in the British open. He was a member of the United States Ryder Cup team in 1937. Craig Wood was born at Lake Placid, New York, on 18th November, 1902. At-' ter serving as a professional at Holly- j wood, Winchester and Louisville he be- j came professional to the Rumson j Country Club, New Jersey. He won the Kentucky open in 1925, the Kentucky \ P.G.A. in 1926, the Pasadena open and i New Jersey P.G.A. in 1928 and 1932, and the Oklahoma City open and Hawaii open in 1929. He tied for the North and South open title in 1931 but lost on a replay. In 1933 he won the Los Angeles open and finished third in the Amei-ican open. He visited Great Britain for the first time in 1933, and tied for the open championship with I Denny Shute, but lost on the replay. He was runner-up for the American P.G.A. championship in 1934 and in 1936 was second in the Metropolitan open and second in the San Francisco open and the United States P.G.A. championship. He was a member of the American Ryder Cup team in 1931, 1933 and 1935, and was a member of the United Slates team which visited Australia in 1937.