Sam Snead was one of the goliath’s greats, a player who maintained competitiveness at the highest levels into his sixties and died an all-time PGA Tour-winning champion. Sam Snead was a U.S. pro golfer with a fantastic resume of wins throughout his PGA Tour career. However, Sam Snead won more Pro Golfers Association events than any other champ, with conservative estimates pegging his winnings in World Championship events at 135. Legendary golfer Sam Snead also won seven major championships and 82 PGA Tour events, placing him at the top of all-time wins, ahead of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
Sam Snead won his final PGA Tour event 30 years after winning his first, making him perhaps the longest-lasting and consistent golfer the game has ever seen. While some golfers have won multiple majors, some within golf regard Sneads resume as being even more impressive due to the length he was able to remain professionally involved with the game of golf; it was 41 years between his first and final win on the PGA Tour.
Ranking tied for sixth all-time in major career wins and first in all-time in career PGA Tour wins, this should make Sam Snead a lock to make any golfer’s list of the greatest ever. As a high-level senior (over-50) golfer in the days before the Champions Tour existed, Snead won what is now called the Senior PGA Championship six times, in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1972, and 1973. In 1949, Snead won nine events on the Senior PGA Tour, including two majors, including the 1943-1945 Masters and PGA Championship and was awarded golfer of the year.
Snead also finished third in the PGA Tour Money list, earning $10,243 a year after becoming golf’s leading money winner, winning $19,334 total. Snead held the record for the most wins in a PGA Tour event past age 40, with 17, until that record was broken in 2007 by Vijay Singh in the Mercedes-Benz Championship. To put that hold in perspective, Sam Snead had nine more career wins than Nicklaus, 18 more than Hagan, 38 more than Gary Player, 58 more than Gary Player, and 73 more wins than Bobby Jones, though Jones had primarily retired from competitive golf by the time he was 28.
Sam Snead, in full Samuel Jackson Snead, nicknamed Slammin Sam, born May 27, 1912, near Hot Springs, Virginia, United States, died May 23, 2002. During World War II, Snead served in the American Navy from 1942 until 1944. He participated in Cmdr. Gene Tunney’s athletic training programme in San Diego was medically discharged in September 1944 due to a back issue. His nephew played professionally and was also an accomplished golfer, winning events in the PGA and Champions tournaments.
