Horton Smith
Smith in 1929
Personal information
Nickname	The Joplin Ghost
Born	(1908-05-22)May 22, 1908 Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 15, 1963(1963-10-15) (aged 55) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
College	Southwest Missouri State - NowMissouri State University
Turned professional	1926
Former tour	PGA Tour
Professional wins	34
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	30
Other	4
Best results in major championships (wins: 2)
Masters Tournament	Won:1934,1936
PGA Championship	T3:1928
U.S. Open	3rd:1930,1940
The Open Championship	T4:1930
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1990(member page) PGA Tour leading money winner 1936 Bob Jones Award 1962

Horton Smith (May 22, 1908 – October 15, 1963) was an Americanprofessional golfer, best known as the winner of the first and thirdMasters Tournaments.

Born inSpringfield, Missouri, Smith turned professional in 1926 and won his first tournament, theOklahoma City Open in 1928. In 1929 he won eight titles. This was an era of expansion and reorganization for professional golf. ThePGA Tour was founded in 1934, and Smith was one of the leading players of the early years of the tour, topping the money list in 1936. He accumulated 30PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them in 1941, and his twomajor championships came at theMasters, at the inaugural tournament in1934 and again in1936 (the latter was the first Masters to end on a Monday due to rain).^[1][2]

Smith was a member of fiveRyder Cup teams:1929,1931,1933,1935, and1937. His career Ryder Cup record was3–0–1, his only blemish a halved singles match against Bill Cox in 1935 atRidgewood Country Club in New Jersey. Smith was the only golfer to defeatBobby Jones during the latter'sGrand Slam year of 1930, at thestroke play Savannah Open in February.^[1][3] He played in every Masters through1963, the year of his death.^[4]

Smith served in theU.S. Army Air Forces duringWorld War II^[5] in the special services division coordinating athletics^[6] and was discharged as acaptain.^[7]

After the war, he became the club pro atDetroit Golf Club inMichigan in 1946, where he remained until his death.^[8] He was president of thePGA of America from 1952 to 1954. During that time black professionals continued to be excluded from PGA events despite Smith stating that he would support reviewing this rule when, in January 1952,Bill Spiller was excluded from theSan Diego Open while former boxerJoe Louis was allowed to play as an invitedamateur.^[9][10] The "Caucasian only" clause in the PGA of America's constitution was not amended until November 1961.^[11][12]

When he resigned as head professional of Oak Park Country Club in 1936, his elder brother Renshaw (1906–1971) replaced him at the club inRiver Grove, Illinois.

In 1963, Smith died at the age of 55 fromHodgkin's disease inDetroit. He had lost a lung tocancer six years earlier,^[4] and is buried in his hometown ofSpringfield, Missouri. He was the first of the former Masters champions to pass away followed byCraig Wood in 1968 andJimmy Demaret in 1983.

• Smith was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 1984.^[13]
• Smith was inducted into theWorld Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
• In 1960, awarded the Ben Hogan Award by the golf writers for overcoming a physical handicap and continued active participation in golf.^[14]
• In 1962, he was voted theBob Jones Award, the highest honor given by theUnited States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
• The PGA of America bestowed theHorton Smith Award, presented annually since 1965, to a PGA professional who has made "outstanding and continuing contributions to PGA education."^[15] On July 2, 2020, it was renamed thePGA Professional Development Award by the board of directors because Smith had been a supporter of the PGA's "Caucasian-only' membership clause that was part of their by-laws from 1934 to 1961.^[15]
• A municipal golf course in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri, is named for him.^[16]
• A golf tournament at the Detroit Golf Club is named for him.^[17]
• He is attributed with being the first professional golfer to study putting as a means to beat his opponents.^[18]
• In September 2013, Horton's green jacket, awarded in1949 for his Masters wins in 1934 and 1936, sold at auction for over $682,000; the highest price ever paid for a piece of golf memorabilia.^[19][20] It had been in the possession of his brother Ren's stepsons for decades.^[21]

• 1928 (2)Oklahoma City Open, Catalina Island Open
• 1929 (8) Berkeley Open Championship,Pensacola Open Invitational,Florida Open,La Gorce Open, Fort Myers Open,North and South Open,Oregon Open,Pasadena Open (December)
• 1930 (4) Central Florida Open, Savannah Open, Berkeley Open, Bay District Open
• 1931 (1)St. Paul Open
• 1932 (1)National Capital City Open
• 1933 (1)Miami International Four-Ball (withPaul Runyan)
• 1934 (3)Masters Tournament, Grand Slam Open,California Open
• 1935 (3) Palm Springs Invitational,Miami Biltmore Open,Pasadena Open
• 1936 (2)Masters Tournament, Victoria Open
• 1937 (3)North and South Open,Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (withHarry Cooper), Oklahoma Four-Ball (withHarry Cooper)
• 1941 (2) Florida West Coast Open,St. Paul Open

Major championships are shown inbold.

Source:^[22][23]

this list is probably incomplete

• 1929 French PGA Championship
• 1940Massachusetts Open
• 1948Michigan PGA Championship
• 1954Michigan Open

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1934	Masters Tournament	1 shot lead	−4 (70-72-70-72=284)	1 stroke	Craig Wood
1936	Masters Tournament (2)	3 shot deficit	−3 (74-71-68-72=285)	1 stroke	Harry Cooper

NYF = tournament not yet founded
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
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

• Most consecutive cuts made – 43 (1927 U.S. Open – 1946 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year

• Horton Smith at theWorld Golf Hall of Fame
• PGA of America Hall of Fame
• Horton Smith at golf.about.com at theWayback Machine (archived February 19, 2014)
• Horton Smith atFind a Grave

• American male golfers
• PGA Tour golfers
• Ryder Cup competitors for the United States
• Winners of men's major golf championships
• World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
• Golfers from Missouri
• Golfers from Detroit
• Sportspeople from Springfield, Missouri
• Deaths from lymphoma in the United States
• Deaths from cancer in Michigan
• Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma
• Burials at Springfield National Cemetery
• 1908 births
• 1963 deaths
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2022
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