Jack Fleck | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Full name | Jack Donald Fleck |
Born | Bettendorf, Iowa, U.S. | November 7, 1921
Died | March 21, 2014 Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. | (aged 92)
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
Weight | 167 lb (76 kg; 11.9 st) |
Sporting nationality | ![]() |
Spouse | Carmen Fleck (m. 2001) Lynn Burnsdale Fleck (m. 1949–1975, her death) |
Children | Craig H. |
Career | |
College | None |
Turned professional | 1939 |
Former tour(s) | PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour |
Professional wins | 9 |
Number of wins by tour | |
PGA Tour | 3 |
Other | 4 (regular) 2 (senior) |
Best results in major championships (wins: 1) | |
Masters Tournament | T11: 1962 |
PGA Championship | T7: 1962 |
U.S. Open | Won: 1955 |
The Open Championship | DNP |
Jackson Donald Fleck (November 7, 1921 – March 21, 2014) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1955 in a playoff over Ben Hogan.[1][2][3]
Early years[edit]
Born in 1921 and raised in Bettendorf, Iowa,[4][5] Fleck's parents were poor farmers who had lost their land in the 1920s. He attended Davenport High School and played on its golf team. Fleck started as a caddie for a local dentist in the mid-1930s, turned professional in 1939,[6] and worked as an assistant golf pro at the Des Moines Country Club for five dollars a week prior to World War II. He joined the military in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy as a quartermaster;[7] he participated in the D-Day invasion from a British rocket-firing ship off Normandy's Utah Beach.[8] Within two weeks after his discharge from the service, Fleck was on the PGA's winter golf tour with pro friends trying to qualify for PGA Tour events.
Pro career[edit]
After a few years of competing in local and PGA Tour events, Fleck decided to play full-time on the Tour for two years. Within six months, Fleck had his first win — on the biggest stage in men's professional golf — at the 1955 U.S. Open. Fleck won an 18-hole Sunday playoff by three strokes over his idol, Ben Hogan, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.[1][2][9] His first round deficit of nine strokes (behind Tommy Bolt), was the greatest number overcome by a U.S. Open winner.[10] The following year he resigned his job as a municipal club pro in Davenport and moved to the Detroit area in October 1956.[11]
Fleck made three playoffs on tour in 1960, winning at the Phoenix Open in February.[12][13] He tied for third at the U.S. Open in 1960, and won his third and last tour event in October 1961, The Bakersfield Open, also in a playoff.[14] Fleck finished in the top ten at the PGA Championship in 1962 at Aronimink near Philadelphia, a tie for seventh, then left the tour in 1963. He was a club pro in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California (Plumas Lake CC), and attempted a comeback on tour in 1970.[15] Following the death of his wife Lynn in 1975, he qualified for the U.S. Open in 1977 at age 55, but missed the cut.[16]
Less than two years later, Fleck won the PGA Seniors' Championship in February 1979,[17] also won in a playoff,[18] a year prior to the formation of the Senior PGA Tour.[19] He was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.[20]
In 1993, needing money to salvage a little golf course he owned in rural Arkansas that had been damaged by flooding, a place he called Li'l Bit of Heaven, he sold his 1955 U.S. Open gold medal.[19] He lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas with his wife Carmen Fleck.[21]
Personal[edit]
Fleck met his first wife, Lynn Burnsdale of Chicago, when she stopped in the municipal course's pro shop in Davenport in 1949 with a club that needed repair. They were married six weeks later and late the next year added their only child, a son. Fleck wanted to name him Snead Hogan Fleck, but they settled on Craig, after Craig Wood, the winner of the Masters and U.S. Open in 1941.[7] Lynn is credited with encouraging him to play on tour in the early 1950s and again in the early 1970s.[7][15] She died in 1975 and Fleck remarried in 1980.[3][16] He married his wife Carmen in 2001.[4] He died on March 21, 2014, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the age of 92.[22][23] He was the oldest living U.S. Open champion at the time of his death.[24]
Professional wins (9)[edit]
PGA Tour wins (3)[edit]
Legend |
---|
Major championships (1) |
Other PGA Tour (2) |
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jun 19, 1955 | U.S. Open | 76-69-75-67=287 | +7 | Playoff | ![]() |
2 | Feb 15, 1960 | Phoenix Open Invitational | 68-68-71-66=273 | −11 | Playoff | ![]() |
3 | Oct 1, 1961 | Bakersfield Open | 71-71-69-65=276 | −12 | Playoff | ![]() |
PGA Tour playoff record (3–2)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1955 | U.S. Open | ![]() |
Won 18-hole playoff; Fleck: −1 (69), Hogan: +2 (72) |
2 | 1960 | Phoenix Open Invitational | ![]() |
Won 18-hole playoff; Fleck: −3 (68), Collins: E (71) |
3 | 1960 | St. Petersburg Open Invitational | ![]() |
Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
4 | 1960 | Insurance City Open Invitational | ![]() ![]() |
Palmer won with birdie on third extra hole Collins eliminated by birdie on first hole |
5 | 1961 | Bakersfield Open | ![]() |
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Other wins (4)[edit]
- 1952 RGCC Shelden Invitational
- 1954 RGCC Shelden Invitational
- 1964 Illinois PGA Championship
- 1965 Illinois Open Championship
Senior wins (2)[edit]
- 1979 PGA Seniors' Championship
- 1995 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Tommy Bolt)
Major championships[edit]
Wins (1)[edit]
Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1955 | U.S. Open | 3 shot deficit | +7 (76-69-75-67=287) | Playoff 1 | ![]() |
1 Defeated Hogan in an 18-hole playoff – Fleck 69 (–1), Hogan 72 (+2).
Results timeline[edit]
Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | T43 | T26 | T39 | T18 | ||||||
U.S. Open | CUT | T52 | 1 | CUT | T26 | CUT | T19 | |||
PGA Championship | R64 | R16 | R32 | R64 | WD |
Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | T34 | WD | T11 | 42 | CUT | DQ | ||||
U.S. Open | T3 | T27 | CUT | CUT | CUT | |||||
PGA Championship | CUT | T19 | T7 | WD | T20 | T49 |
Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | ||||||||
U.S. Open | CUT | |||||||
PGA Championship |
Note: Fleck never played The Open Championship.
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1960 PGA Championship)
DQ = disqualified
WD = withdrew
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" = tied
Summary[edit]
Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 |
U.S. Open | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 6 |
The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 8 |
Totals | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 34 | 21 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (three times)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1955 U.S. Open – 1955 PGA)
U.S. national team appearances[edit]
- Hopkins Trophy: 1956 (winners)
References[edit]
- ^ a b Grimsley, Will (June 20, 1955). "Jack Fleck Registers 69 to Beat Ben Hogan by 3 Strokes for National Open Title". Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press. p. 7.
- ^ a b Wind, Herbert Warren (June 27, 1955). "Jack, The Giant Killer". Sports Illustrated. pp. 17–23.
- ^ a b Bonk, Thomas (June 11, 1995). "He wasn't Hogan's hero". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ a b "Jack Fleck (1921- )". Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ "Sports Pudit". Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ Jack Fleck, Davenport, 1972 Archived 2012-07-28 at archive.today
- ^ a b c Thimmesch, Nick (September 18, 1955). "Meet the new king of golf". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Family Weekly magazine. p. 4.
- ^ Murray, Jim (January 31, 1967). "Jack Fleck: lonesome anti-hero". Spokesman-Review. p. 11.
- ^ "Biographical information from Jack Fleck Golf". Archived from the original on September 5, 2006. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
- ^ U.S. Open Records Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine - Best Comeback by Winner, Final 54 Holes
- ^ "Jack Fleck takes job as club pro in Detroit". Spencer Daily Reporter. Spencer, Iowa. Associated Press. October 11, 1956. p. 9.
- ^ Wood, Bob (February 16, 1960). "Jack Fleck wins Phoenix golf title". News and Courier. Charleston, South Carolina. Associated Press. p. 2B.
- ^ "Jack Fleck is mining gold on golf's tournament trail". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 3, 1960. p. 2-sports.
- ^ "Jack Fleck nips Bob Rosburg in Bakersfield Open playoff". Rome News-Tribune. Rome, Georgia. Associated Press. October 2, 1961. p. 7.
- ^ a b Robinson, Bill (March 3, 1970). "Remember me?: Fleck is back to try again". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. p. 1C.
- ^ a b Grimsley, Will (June 18, 1977). "Jack Fleck's story is one of life's ironies". Times-News. Hendersonville, North Carolina. Associated Press. p. 7.
- ^ "Tournament Info for: 1979 Senior PGA Championship". PGA of America. February 1–4, 1979. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ "Fleck triumphs in playoff". Palm Bach Post. February 5, 1979. p. B7.
- ^ a b Fields, Bill (June 4, 2004). "Jack Fleck's visit to Valhalla". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on July 6, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
- ^ "Jack Fleck, Davenport". Iowa Golf Association. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Fleck, Jack. Be a Golf Tour Champion.
- ^ Tays, Al (March 21, 2014). "Jack Fleck, upset Hogan in '55 U.S. Open, dies at 92". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on February 28, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- ^ "Jack Fleck, 1955 U.S. Open champ, passes away". PGA Tour. March 21, 2014.
- ^ Crouse, Karen (June 2, 2012). "Finally Passing Test of Time". The New York Times. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
Further reading[edit]
- Barkow, Al (2012). The Upset: Jack Fleck's Incredible Victory over Ben Hogan at the U.S. Open. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61374-075-0.
- Sagebiel, Neil (2012). The Longest Shot: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-66184-7.
External links[edit]
- Google Books Bettendorf Iowa's Exciting City published 2000
- Jack Fleck at the PGA Tour official site
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