Cyril Walker (September 18, 1892 – August 6, 1948) was an English professional golfer born in Manchester who emigrated to the United States in 1914.
Cyril Walker | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Born | Manchester, England | September 18, 1892
Died | August 6, 1948 Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S. | (aged 55)
Weight | 118 lb (54 kg; 8.4 st) |
Sporting nationality | England United States |
Career | |
Status | Professional |
Professional wins | 7 |
Number of wins by tour | |
PGA Tour | 6 |
Other | 1 |
Best results in major championships (wins: 1) | |
Masters Tournament | 61st: 1934 |
PGA Championship | T3: 1921 |
U.S. Open | Won: 1924 |
The Open Championship | T18: 1926 |
Walker won the 1924 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills Country Club, while playing out of Englewood Golf Club in New Jersey. He beat defending champion Bobby Jones by three strokes.[1][2][3][4] This was his only top ten finish in seven appearances at the U.S. Open. He was a small man, weighing only 118 pounds (54 kg).[5]
Walker won six PGA events between 1917 and 1930.[6] He also won the Indiana Open in 1916.
In 1928, he became the pro at the Saddle River Golf and Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.[7]
Walker's slow pace of play,[8][9] combined with his sometimes-combative personality, eventually made him unpopular with fellow players and tournament sponsors. This hastened his exit from the then-nascent professional golfers' tournament circuit. While a club pro at Saddle River in 1933, he was arrested for destroying the signs of a neighboring course.[7]
An alcohol addiction further hastened his downward spiral during the 1930s and he ultimately found himself in a near-destitute condition working as a caddie in Florida at the Miami Beach municipal course in 1940,[10] and later as a dishwasher.[11]
Walker died of pleural pneumonia in a Hackensack, New Jersey jail cell where he had gone for shelter.[11][12][13][14][15]
Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1924 | U.S. Open | Tied for lead | +9 (74-74-74-75=297) | 3 strokes | Bobby Jones |
Tournament | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |
---|---|---|---|---|
U.S. Open | NT | NT | ||
The Open Championship | NT | NT | NT | NT |
PGA Championship | QF | NT | NT |
Tournament | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
U.S. Open | 13 | T40 | 23 | 1 | T47 | T55 | ||||
The Open Championship | T18 | |||||||||
PGA Championship | SF | R16 |
Tournament | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | NYF | NYF | NYF | NYF | 61 |
U.S. Open | CUT | ||||
The Open Championship | |||||
PGA Championship | QF |
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
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