GREAT AMERICAN TOUR PLAYER – CRAIG WOOD

He somehow gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to great golfers in the 1930s and 1940s, but Craig Wood could compete with the best of them.  He not only won 21 PGA Tour events, but he also captured the 1941 Masters and US Open titles, and appeared on three Ryder Cup teams.   Long before Greg Norman famously lost all four majors in playoffs, Wood became the first to accomplish the dubious fete.  In fact, Wood’s career was eerily similar to that of Norman’s in many respects.  Both were fine drivers of the golf ball; both were blond; both were snakebit in big events.  Wood had a 3-stroke lead in the 1935 Masters when Gene Sarazen scored a historic double-eagle two on the 15th hole to tie Wood.  Sarazen went on to win the Monday playoff.   Wood was known as the longest hitter in the game during his time, frequently hitting 300-yard drives when 260 was considered long.  His last victory was in the 1944 Durham Open.  He died in 1968, but he lived long enough to see his hometown Lake Placid Golf & Country Club (New York) change its name to Craig Wood Golf Course in 1954 – a name the course still bears to this date.  He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008.