Set against the background of the Great Depression, this book presents the life of Ralph Guldahl, who for a brief period in the 1930s was widely recognized as the best golfer in the world. From 1936 to 1940, he won two successive U.S. Opens, one Masters title and three successive Western Opens, held the best scoring average award and was a Ryder Cup player with a 100 percent record. After this memorable run, he “lost his game” and almost disappeared from view. This biography is the first to trace the rise and decline of his career and answer the question: “What happened to Ralph Guldahl?”

Kevin Kenny is a retired university lecturer who lives in Dublin Ireland.

Kevin Kenny
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 192
Bibliographic Info: 21 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2016
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6262-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2456-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 3
1. The Texas Rangers 7
2. The Comeback 37
3. Oakland Hills 48
4. Cherry Hills 85
5. The Masters 103
6. The Decline 122
Epilogue 154
Appendix 165
Chapter Notes 172
Bibliography 178
Index 181

“Ralph Guldahl’s rapid rise and fall has been a curiosity of golf historians for a long time. Kevin Kenny’s richly documented story of the hardscrabble days of professional golf during the Depression and pre–World War II, when the tour was filled with immense talent, confirms Ralph Guldahl beat them all for a short while.”—Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters champion and Ryder Cup player and captain