With his riverboat - risk taker looks and fashionable game , Lloyd Mangrum was a popular and successful actor in the X after World War II , although he was overshadow by contemporariesBen HoganandSam Snead .
Mangrum grow up inTexasand turned pro at age 15 in 1929 , but he did n’t hit the Tour until the late thirties . He first made word in 1940 when he rack up his first victory at the Thomasville Open and shot a first - daily round 64 in the Masters ( an 18 - pickle criminal record that wasn’t agree for 25 years or broken for 46 ) before wind up secondly .
Mangrum link up theArmyin World War II and gain two Purple Hearts for being wounded during the Battle of the Bulge . He gain the first postwar U.S. Open in a tense playoff over Byron Nelson and Vic Ghezzi . All three players shot 72s in the 18 - gob playoff , necessitating another 18 kettle of fish . Mangrum snap another 72 , while the other two had 73s .
In 1948 , Mangrum start winning in bunches . He had seven wins that year , then added four in 1949 , five in 1950 , four in 1951 , two in 1952 , and four in 1953 .
He led themoneylist in 1951 and won the Vardon Trophy in 1951 and 1953 . In 1949 , he was part of the long playoff in PGA Tour history , going 11 trap with Cary Middlecoff at the Motor City Open before darkness arrived and the two were declared co - winners .
The 1946 U.S. Open remained Mangrum ’s only major victory . His next best probability come in the 1950 U.S. Open , where he and George Fazio lost a playoff to Ben Hogan .
Mangrum drop behind by one stroke on the sixteenth honey oil when he lifted his Lucille Ball to blow a hemipteran off of it . Cleaning your ball on the green was then not allowed , so he draw a two - cam stroke penalisation and ended up losing by four .
Mangrum was a repeated competitor in the Masters , finishing in the top eight every twelvemonth from 1947 - 56 , let in a second base in 1949 .
