The "ultimate" golf trivia test - the major winners

[Rondoraymundo]

I thought I'd have a little fun with a golf trivia test in which the answers are all major championship winners. To make it fair I've pulled some questions from golf history prior to the ole Google because nowadays anytime a sports figure sneezes it makes the net. Some of these questions are also in a riddle form to make them un-Googleable. Have at it, I'll post the answers in a week or so.

1. "Mr. Jet Lag"

2. Giant killer slays giant with giant's own clubs.

3. A shot of streptomycin would have changed his life and golf history.

4. Too busy preparing for the Ryder Cup to defend his Open Championship.

5. Lays up on a par three all four rounds, makes four pars, wins major by one stroke.

6. Plays 108 holes, 36 in a qualifier and 72 in the tournament. Misses one fairway, wins major.

7. At a US Open one year an old man was so poorly dressed he was asked to leave the pro shop. Later he was denied access to the players locker room when all he wanted to do was to chat with the pros. Leaving that debacle he was recognized by Arnold Palmer who put his arm around him, striking up a conversation about putting. In typical Arnie fashion he makes the old man his personal guest for the tournament. Who was he?

8. Sneaks a club past tournament officials in his overcoat. Uses said club to win major.

9. Needs 7 shillings to win the Open Championship.

10. The only golfer to ever complete the "grand slam" of professional majors in a calendar year.

[Rondoraymundo]

Folks I apologize. Apparently, just like the game of golf, my trivia test is too hard for AGF members. What was I thinking?

[reeve21]

Very tough. Years ago I followed golf quite closely. I can make a decent guess at a couple of them. Nice job, I hope someone else can do better!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Rondoraymundo

Folks I apologize. Apparently, just like the game of golf, my trivia test is too hard for AGF members. What was I thinking?

It is hard, but that's what makes it fun. These days, no sense in posting something that can be easily googled as you say.
So far, I think I have 5 solid answers and a few guesses. Was waiting until I could dig up more. You gave us a about a week, right?

[AX17609]

I'm virtually a full-time golfer, and I'm embarrassed to say that I only know two of them.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I'm virtually a full-time golfer, and I'm embarrassed to say that I only know two of them.

Me too...pretty tough

[jseth]

Yep... VERY difficult, most of them... I have to ask: "Did YOU know the answers when you created the 'quiz'"? Or is this just arcane information that you cobbled together...

I can hazard a guess at a few and know a couple others... but I will be interested to see the answers, along with the original descriptions, when the time comes...

(So you know: when Bobby Jones won all 4 "majors", they were not even close to being considered "professional major championships"... I sure hope that's not the answer! Your test is hard enough without misleading information!)

[Gitfiddlemann]

I think Bobby Jones has to be the answer to Nr. 10. There is no other name that fits in all of golf history.
So, I give him the benefit of the doubt as to the use of the word "professional" in his description, since the pros at that time would not have been allowed to compete in two of those wins. Maybe he meant to phrase it differently.

[Rondoraymundo]

Originally Posted by jseth

Yep... VERY difficult, most of them... I have to ask: "Did YOU know the answers when you created the 'quiz'"? Or is this just arcane information that you cobbled together...

I can hazard a guess at a few and know a couple others... but I will be interested to see the answers, along with the original descriptions, when the time comes...

(So you know: when Bobby Jones won all 4 "majors", they were not even close to being considered "professional major championships"... I sure hope that's not the answer! Your test is hard enough without misleading information!)

Oh, yes I DO know the answers and had to think long and hard about how to pose the questions in such a way as to make them impervious to net scrutiny.

Suffice to say, there is a unique and interesting story behind each one which will be provided along with the answers. I don't think the questions have misleadingly information. All of the information is historically correct.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Here's what I have so far. A few I know to be right, the others are best guesses. I'm stuck with the rest of the questions. These are really difficult. But, as I said, the challenge is what makes it interesting. Thanks for your efforts in this regard.

1. "Mr. Jet Lag"
Best guess: Jordan Spieth. He seems to fit the description. A couple of years ago, in his Grand Slam attempt, he was (nearly) winning all over the world (Australia, US, Europe).

2. Giant killer slays giant with giant's own clubs.
Best guess: Jack Fleck, who beat Hogan in a US Open playoff.

3. A shot of streptomycin would have changed his life and golf history.
Best guess: The great Harry Vardon, who won 6 British Opens, and a US Open, but never fully recovered his greatness after coming down with tuberculosis.

5. Lays up on a par three all four rounds, makes four pars, wins major by one stroke.
Billy Casper. That one I remembered from not along ago, a story relayed by a TV announcer (forget which one now) about the importance of strategy in golf, and that it's not always about length off the tee.

10. The only golfer to ever complete the "grand slam" of professional majors in a calendar year.
The legendary Bobby Jones. I can't find any other name that fits.

Still working on the rest, but I'm not hopeful with guesses. Maybe we can collaborate as a group to fill all the answers correctly!

[AX17609]

#8 has to be Gene Sarazan with his secret sand wedge.

#10 is confusing (as jseth has already noted), because at the time Jones won the Grand Slam, two of the "majors" weren't professional.

[Gitfiddlemann]

I'll add one more guess to the pile:

4. Too busy preparing for the Ryder Cup to defend his Open Championship.

Arnold Palmer, winner of the 62 Open, and last playing captain in Ryder Cup history: 1963.

Added yet one more: (this quiz is a real magnet)

6. Plays 108 holes, 36 in a qualifier and 72 in the tournament. Misses one fairway, wins major.

I couldn't find those stats per se, so I'm going to go with one of the best ball strikers in golf history:
Ben Hogan, probably at a British Open, given the 36 hole qualifying clue.

[Rondoraymundo]

I don't have time right now to write the stories behind all 10 questions in one post. I'm currently on vacation with limted internet access. So I'll give the answers as I can get to them.

So, Starting with question 1: "Mr. Jet Lag."

I thought I was giving one away here as this one is way too easy. The answer is Gary Player.

No professional athlete has ever traveled as much as Player has to compete in athletic contests. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Player has racked up literally millions of miles in the air traveling to golf tournaments around the world. I have always thought that his career win totals, including majors, suffered because of jet lag.

Here is an interesting story about the effects of jet lag on baseball players in America, where the time zone difference is only four hours. Player routinely had a much bigger time difference in jet lag coming over to the States from Africa.

https://news.northwestern.edu/storie...eball-players/

[Rondoraymundo]

Duplicate post.

[Rondoraymundo]

andreF is correct. The answer to question 2 is indeed Jack Fleck and its really quite a story. Fleck came literally out of nowhere to defeat legendary ball striker and 9 time major winner Ben Hogan after tying him in regulation play and forcing an 18 hole playoff the next day. It's considered one of the biggest upsets in 20th century American sports, right up there with Willie Joe's Jets, Seabiscut, the Miracle Mets, and Herb Brooks' band of "underachievers." And he did it with Ben Hogan clubs. Here's the backstory:

Jack Fleck was another journeyman pro who, after serving in WWII, tried to make a living playing some local and PGA events. He knocked around for a few years never winning anything on the Tour. His paying gig was running a golf course in Davenport, Iowa with his wife. After a couple of years with no positive results to show for it, Fleck decided that if he couldn't break through with a win in the 1955 season that he give up the idea of the Tour and go back to being a club pro full time.

Fleck had heard that Ben Hogan had started a golf club manufacturing company and was making irons that were on the cutting edge of technology. If he was going to give it his all, why not do it with the best fiddlesticks he could find? He called Hogan' s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, trying to see if he could buy a set and ended up talking to the great man himself. They struck up a friendship and Hogan offered to give Fleck a set of irons at no cost.

Now Hogan wasn't being totally altruistic here. The start-up costs for the company had set him back a bit and he had also poured money into research and design. He simply had no money for endorsements. If he wanted his good friend Jimmy Demaret to play his clubs he'd have to beat the lucrative contract that Demaret had with Wilson Sporting Goods. The truth is, Hogan needed players like Fleck, who had no endorsements, to play his clubs for PR reasons alone. So when the 1955 US Open began, the only two players in the field who were playing Hogan irons were Ben Hogan and Jack Fleck.

After the first round Fleck was nine shots off the lead, but slowly and surely closed the gap to tie Hogan when he sank a clutch putt for a birdie on the last hole. The next day in an 18 hole playoff, Fleck outplayed Hogan from tee to green while sinking clutch putts to win by three strokes. Coming at the end of Hogan's effective playing career it was his last real shot at winning his fifth US Open. Fleck would go on to win just two other tournaments on the PGA Tour.