Ralph J. Guldahl was an American professional golfer, one of the top five players in the sport from 1936 to 1940. He won sixteen PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments, including three majors.
Guldahl started playing on the professional tournament circuit in 1931, and won an event in his rookie season before turning 20 years of age, setting a record that would not be matched until 2013, when Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic. In 1933, at the age of 21, Guldahl went into the last hole of the U.S. Open tied for the lead with Johnny Goodman. A par would have taken him into a playoff, but he made bogey and finished second. After further frustrating failures, Guldahl quit the sport temporarily in 1935 and became a car salesman.
Comeback
Guldahl made a comeback part way through the next PGA Tour season in 1936, won the prestigious Western Open and finished second on the money list. He won the Western Open in 1937 and 1938 as well. That tournament was recognized as one of the world's most important events at the time, on the level of a major championship or close to it. Guldahl's manner of play was relaxed: "He paused to comb his hair before every hole, and would forestall any suspense by announcing exactly where he intended to plant the ball."
Breakthrough at major level
Guldahl won three major championships. He claimed the U.S. Open title in 1937, with a then-record score of 281. He successfully defended the national title with his win in 1938, and was the last to win the U.S. Open while wearing a necktie during play in 1938. Guldahl was runner-up at the Masters in both 1937 and 1938, before taking that title in 1939. He played on his only Ryder Cup team in 1937, the last before a decade hiatus due to World War II. Guldahl reached the top in golf ahead of more famous players of his generation, including Sam Snead and fellow Texans Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Jimmy Demaret, who all went on to build much longer and more productive pro careers. Guldahl's 16 PGA Tour wins all came in a ten-year span between 1931 and 1940. Guldahl put together five straight seasons—from 1936 to 1940—with multiple PGA Tour titles.
Book contract and decision to retire
Guldahl was offered a book contract for a guide to golf, taking two months to complete Groove Your Golf, a book that used high-speed photographs of Guldahl on each page to create "flip-book" movies. After completing the book in 1939, he returned to the PGA Tour. His last two wins came in 1940. Two-time PGA champion Paul Runyan commented, "It's the most ridiculous thing, really. Guldahl went from being temporarily the best player in the world to one who couldn't play at all." His son, Ralph, claimed that his father over-analyzed his swing and it fell apart. According to his wife, Laverne: "When he sat down to write that book, that's when he lost his game." In an interview with The New York Times in 1979, Guldahl himself offered a different explanation for the slump in his game. When asked about destroying his talent by practicing in front of a mirror while writing the book, he responded: "Nonsense. No such thing ever happened." During the interview, he offered several reasons for retiring: he was tired of life on the road; he wanted more time with his family; and the wartime slowdown in tournaments caused his game to grow rusty and he had little inclination to train. "I never did have a tremendous desire to win." Paul Collins summed up Guldahl's decision to retire with these words: "Guldahl's fate had little to do with overthinking his game, and much to do with the untutored Dallas boy who once loved to play abandoned courses and baseball diamonds alone. Far more than fame, what Ralph Guldahl wanted was a nice, quiet game of golf." Guldahl played occasionally in the 1940s but then quit tournament golf for good, except for several seasons in the 1960s, when he played in the Masters, as an eligible past champion, without notable success.
Club professional
He spent the rest of his working life as a club professional. In 1961, he became the club pro at the new Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, California, where he was an instructor until his death. Among his students was billionaire Howard Hughes.
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
