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Craig Wood
Personal information
Full name	Craig Ralph Wood
Born	November 18, 1901(1901-11-18) Lake Placid, New York
Died	May 7, 1968 (aged 66) Palm Beach, Florida
Nationality	United States
Career
College	None
Turned professional	1920
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	22
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	21
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 2)
The Masters	Won: 1941
U.S. Open	Won: 1941
Open Championship	2nd: 1933
PGA Championship	2nd: 1934
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2008 (member page)

Craig Ralph Wood (November 18, 1901 – May 7, 1968) was an American professional golfer in the 1930s and 1940s, the winner of 21 PGA Tour titles including two major championships and a member of three Ryder Cup teams (1931, 1933, 1935).

Wood was born in Lake Placid, New York.

Despite his two major championships, Wood is probably most well known as the victim of Gene Sarazen's famous double eagle in the 1935 Augusta National Invitational (now known as the Masters Tournament). The shot left the two players tied at the end of regulation and Sarazen went on to victory in a 36-hole playoff.

This was the fourth runner-up and third playoff loss for Wood in a major in just two years. In the 1933 British Open at St Andrews, Denny Shute had defeated Wood in another 36-hole playoff. In the spring of 1934, Wood was the runner up by a single shot to Horton Smith at the first Masters and later that year he was defeated on the 38th hole by Paul Runyan in the PGA Championship which was then decided by match play. After Sarazen's shot, Wood was left with his second consecutive Masters runner-up and a reputation of being "jinxed". At the 1939 U.S. Open he birdied the 72nd hole and was again in a playoff, but this time Byron Nelson was the winner, making Wood the first player to lose all four major championships in extra holes. Greg Norman is the only other player to suffer this fate.

In 1941, at the age of 39, Wood finally beat his "jinx" in noteworthy fashion, winning the Masters Tournament and becoming its first wire-to-wire champion with rounds of 66-71-71-72=280 and a three shot victory over Byron Nelson. Only four other men have equalled his wire-to-wire feat, Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Raymond Floyd (1976), and Trevor Immelman (2008). He followed his Masters success by winning the 45th U.S. Open at The Colonial Club in Fort Worth, Texas. His score of 284 beat out another former nemesis Denny Shute by three. This was the first time someone had successfully captured the first two major championships of the year.

In 1954, the Lake Placid Golf and Country Club changed its name to the Craig Wood Golf Course in honor of its native son.^[1]

Wood died in Palm Beach, Florida.

Wood was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008 on the PGA Tour ballot.^[2]

PGA Tour wins (21)

• 1928 (1) New Jersey PGA Championship
• 1929 (2) Oklahoma City Open, Hawaiian Open
• 1930 (1) New Jersey PGA Championship
• 1931 (1) Harlingen Open
• 1932 (3) New Jersey PGA Match Play Championship, San Francisco Open-Match Play, Pasadena Open
• 1933 (2) Los Angeles Open, Radium Springs Open
• 1934 (2) Galveston Open Championship, New Jersey Open
• 1936 (1) General Brock Open
• 1938 (1) Augusta Open-Forest Hills
• 1940 (2) Metropolitan Open, Miami Biltmore International Four-Ball (with Billy Burke)
• 1941 (2) The Masters, U.S. Open
• 1942 (1) Canadian Open
• 1944 (1) Durham Open

Major championships are shown in bold.
(missing one win)

Other wins

this list may be incomplete

• 1925 Kentucky Open
• 1938 New Jersey PGA Championship

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1941	The Masters	3 shot lead	-8 (66-71-71-72=280)	3 strokes	Byron Nelson
1941	U.S. Open	2 shot lead	+4 (73-71-70-70=284)	3 strokes	Denny Shute

Results timeline

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
DQ = Disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF, F = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most major championship wins

References