Lord Byron : For Five Months in 1945, He Was the Master of All He Surveyed in a Streak That Has Never Been Approached

ROANOKE, Tex. —  From where he sits in his easy chair, next to the big picture window looking west over the split-rail fence, arm’s length from the needlepoint reproduction of his 1937 Masters scorecard hanging over the fireplace, a few steps from a bookcase filled with sterling silver trophies and beside his wife, Peggy, Byron Nelson has the view of a lifetime.

It has been a life so full, it cannot fit inside a golf bag--even the bag Nelson carried around the country in the late winter, spring and summer of 1945, when he reached in and pulled out possibly the most remarkable achievement in golf.

Fifty years ago today, Nelson won the Miami Four Ball tournament at Miami Springs Country Club. It was the first of his 11 consecutive tournament victories. No one knew it then, but it was the beginning of the longest winning streak in golf history.

Nelson won every tournament he entered for the next five months. He won on fairways overrun by clover, on greens as lumpy as dumplings, in good weather and bad. But he always won.

Nelson said that if he’s going to be remembered for anything, that’s not bad. “People don’t talk to me about losing,” said Nelson, who turned 83 last month. “They talk to me about winning.”

No one has come close to matching Nelson’s feat. No one has won even five in a row. Jackie Burke Jr. won four in a row in 1952.

Nelson actually won 18 tournaments in 1945, when the quality of the fields was diluted because many pros were in the military, among them Ben Hogan. Nelson was rejected for the service because his blood took much longer than normal to clot.

When Burke won his fourth in a row in 1952, reporters questioning him were slightly critical of Nelson’s feat because of the questionable strength of the fields in 1945.

Burke’s reply: “I don’t care if he was playing against orangutans, winning 11 straight is amazing.”

Even if Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Young Tom Morris had been playing against Nelson in 1945, they would have been powerless to stop him once he put a club in his large hands. His scoring average for medal events was 68.33. In final rounds, he averaged 67.68. In 112 rounds, Nelson shot 79 of them in the 60s and 93 times was under par.

In short, Nelson was dominant. He also led the golf world in nicknames. He was “Lord Byron,” and “Big Byron” and “Mr. Golf.” He was just about untouchable for the year, entering 30 events, 28 times finishing in the top five.

And over a span of five months, Nelson was simply unbeatable. No one had heard of being “in a zone,” as it related to sports in 1945. A zone was where you couldn’t park your car. Nelson had another word for how he felt on the golf course.

“I called it a trance,” he said. “I had blinders on.”

We may never see someone do it again.

“I don’t know if it’s possible,” Jack Nicklaus said.

Nelson agrees.

“I would never even feel that something I had done somebody else couldn’t do,” he said. “Except this.

“I don’t know if it’s the greatest feat in golf, because there have been a lot of great ones. I’ll tell you, though, I don’t think anybody will ever win 11 tournaments in a row again. They could play much better than I played and still not win 11 in a row.”

Nelson was born in Ft. Worth, Tex., and learned to play as a caddie at Glen Garden Country Club, where Hogan also caddied. Nelson struggled after he turned pro in 1932, but turned his career into something special when he won the Masters in 1937. He also won the U.S. Open in 1939; the PGA Championship in 1940, when he beat Sam Snead in the match-play final; the Masters again in 1942, when he beat Hogan in a playoff; and the PGA again in 1945, when it was No. 9 in his streak.

Nelson won five events in 1946, but decided to retire to his ranch at 34. He finished with 54 tournament titles, trailing only Snead with 81, Nicklaus with 70, Hogan with 63 and Arnold Palmer with 60.

Elected to the PGA Hall of Fame in 1953, Nelson was a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

His play for five months in 1945 might have been enough to earn those Hall-of-Fame berths.

Snead knows how it felt to run up against Nelson while he was in a trance. Nelson’s streak might have ended at one if not for what happened at Charlotte, N.C., March 16-21, 1945. Snead three-putted the final hole, leaving him and Nelson tied after 72 holes. They were tied again after an 18-hole playoff, then Nelson wound up winning a second 18-hole playoff by four shots.

Snead said Nelson was something special, and so was the 11-tournament streak.

“You won’t see that again,” said Snead, 82. “Byron was very, very good. I always thought he was a better driver, a better long-iron player than Hogan. Hogan was a better putter.

“You know, Byron dedicated himself. He didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t party. I always thought Byron missed a whole lot in life. He doesn’t think he missed anything.”

During his streak, Nelson’s style might have helped him on the courses that are separated from today’s finely manicured layouts more by condition than years. Nelson learned to play on hard ground in Texas, so he had the ability to pick the ball out of tricky lies with his irons and fairway woods.

“I didn’t top it, I just skinned it,” said Nelson, who also might have benefited from a PGA schedule that had no tournaments after April 9 until June 7.

There were only three close calls in Nelson’s streak. The first was against Snead at Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte. The next was at Llarnech Country Club in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Inquirer Invitation. It was June 14-17, No. 7 in Nelson’s streak and Nelson got it against Harold (Jug) McSpaden.

Probably no golfer was closer to Nelson than McSpaden, who was also declared unfit for military duty in World War II on medical grounds. McSpaden became Nelson’s chief foil on the golf course, finishing second to Nelson seven times in 1945.

“I don’t think anyone could have beaten him,” said McSpaden, 86. “The man played extremely well. Finishing second all those times, heck, at least I enjoyed playing. That’s the point. I was hittin’ to where I was lookin’.”

On the last day at Philadelphia, Nelson was four under par through 12 holes when a friend told him McSpaden was about to finish with a 66.

“I did a quick calculation and said, ‘My goodness, that means I’ve got to shoot five under from here in,’ ” Nelson said. “That’s what happened. If I hadn’t found out the score, I would have lost. That was a good break, accidentally.”

The last close call was in the PGA Championship at Moraine Country Club in Dayton, Ohio, July 9-15.

Nelson was two-down to Mike Turnesa at the 15th hole and watched Turnesa knock an iron 12 feet from the hole. Nelson hit his two feet inside Turnesa’s ball. Turnesa two-putted and Nelson birdied. Nelson was one-down.

At the 16th, Turnesa two-putted for par from 20 feet and Nelson birdied from three feet. They were even.

At the par-five 17th, Turnesa was on the green in two. Nelson hit driver and a four-wood to 25 feet. Turnesa two-putted for a birdie, but Nelson holed his putt for an eagle and won, one-up.

“I sneaked that one out,” Nelson said.

He won No. 11, the Canadian Open, the first week of August at Thornhill Country Club in Toronto, then arrived in Memphis for the Memphis Invitational at Chickasaw Country Club, Aug. 16-19.

The streak stopped there. Nelson shot 73 in the second round and never recovered, finishing in a tie for fourth with McSpaden. Thirty-year-old Fred Haas Jr., an amateur, won by five shots.

His streak over, Nelson hopped into a car with McSpaden and headed for the next tournament in Knoxville. Nelson won by 10 shots.

But a year later, he retired, weary of the grind and eager to get back to his Fairway Ranch, about halfway between Ft. Worth and Denton.

Nelson left on his own terms.

“He was a great player, a great guy,” Snead said. “There weren’t a lot of players playing (in 1945), but if you win 11 caddie tournaments, it’s quite an achievement.”

Golf has seen nothing like it, not before, and not for the last 50 years. The clock chimed in Nelson’s den. Outside, the ice from a storm the previous night continued to melt and chunks noisily slid down the roof.

Nelson leaned back in his chair.

“Sometimes I feel like it’s longer than 50 years ago that it happened,” he said of his streak. “It does seem like a long time ago. And yet, when I think about it, it doesn’t seem that long. My mind is refreshed.”

Maybe it’s the view.

Byron Nelson’s Streak for the Ages

Byron Nelson’s streak of 11 tournament victories in a row in 1945:

Date Event Comment March 11 Miami Four Ball Wins event with partner Jug McSpaden March 21 Charlotte Open Wins playoff with Sam Snead; 16-under in regulation March 25 Greater Greensboro Open Wins by 8 with 13-under 271 April 1 Durham Open Wins by 5 with 4-under 276 April 8 Atlanta Iron Lung Tournament Wins by 9, 13-under 263 June 10 Montreal Open Wins by 10 with 20-under 268 June 17 Philadelphia Inquirer Inv. Wins by 2 with 19-under 269 July 1 Chicago Victory National Wins by 7 with 13-under 275 July 15 PGA Championship (Match Play) Wins event by beating Sam Byrd in final, 4 and 3 July 29 Tam O’Shanter Wins by 11 with 19-under 269 Aug. 4 Canadian Open Wins by 4 with par 280.