Jack Fleck

Jack Fleck
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name	Jack Donald Fleck
Born	(1921-11-07)November 7, 1921 Bettendorf, Iowa, U.S.
Died	March 21, 2014(2014-03-21) (aged 92) Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	167 lb (76 kg; 11.9 st)
Nationality	United States
Spouse	Carmen Fleck (m. 2001) Lynn Burnsdale Fleck (m. 1949–75, her death)
Children	Craig H.
Career
College	None
Turned professional	1939
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour
Professional wins	7
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	3
Other	2 (regular) 2 (senior)
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T11: 1962
U.S. Open	Won: 1955
The Open Championship	DNP
PGA Championship	T7: 1962

Jack Donald Fleck (November 7, 1921 – March 21, 2014) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1955 in a playoff over Ben Hogan.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Early years

Born in 1921 and raised in Bettendorf, Iowa,^[4]^[5] Fleck's parents were poor farmers who had lost their land in the 1920s. He attended Davenport High School and played on its golf team. Fleck started as a caddy for a local dentist in the mid-1930s, turned professional in 1939,^[6] and worked as an assistant golf pro at the Des Moines Country Club for five dollars a week prior to World War II. He joined the military in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy as a quartermaster;^[7] he participated in the D-Day invasion from a British rocket-firing ship off Normandy's Utah Beach.^[8] Within two weeks after his discharge from the service, Fleck was on the PGA's winter golf tour with pro friends trying to qualify for PGA Tour events.

Pro career

After a few years of competing in local and PGA Tour events, Fleck decided to play full-time on the Tour for two years. Within six months, Fleck had his first win — on the biggest stage in men's professional golf — at the 1955 U.S. Open. Fleck won an 18-hole Sunday playoff by three strokes over his idol, Ben Hogan, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.^[1]^[2]^[9] His first round deficit of nine strokes (behind Tommy Bolt), was the greatest number overcome by a U.S. Open winner.^[10] The following year he resigned his job as a municipal club pro in Davenport and moved to the Detroit area in October 1956.^[11]

Fleck made three playoffs on tour in 1960, winning at the Phoenix Open in February.^[12]^[13] He tied for third at the U.S. Open in 1960, and won his third and last tour event in October 1961, The Bakersfield Open, also in a playoff.^[14] Fleck finished in the top ten at the PGA Championship in 1962 at Aronimink near Philadelphia, a tie for seventh, then left the tour in 1963. He was a club pro in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California (Plumas Lake CC), and attempted a comeback on tour in 1970.^[15] Following the death of his wife Lynn in 1975, he qualified for the U.S. Open in 1977 at age 55, but missed the cut.^[16]

Less than two years later, Fleck won the PGA Seniors' Championship in February 1979,^[17] also won in a playoff,^[18] a year prior to the formation of the Senior PGA Tour.^[19] He was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.^[20]

In 1993, needing money to salvage a little golf course he owned in rural Arkansas that had been damaged by flooding, a place he called Li'l Bit of Heaven, he sold his 1955 U.S. Open gold medal.^[19] He lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas with his wife Carmen Fleck.^[21]

Personal

Fleck met his first wife, Lynn Burnsdale of Chicago, when she stopped in the municipal course's pro shop in Davenport in 1949 with a club that needed repair. They were married six weeks later and late the next year added their only child, a son. Fleck wanted to name him Snead Hogan Fleck, but they settled on Craig, after Craig Wood, the winner of the Masters and U.S. Open in 1941.^[7] Lynn is credited with encouraging him to play on tour in the early 1950s and again in the early 1970s.^[7]^[15] She died in 1975 and Fleck remarried in 1980.^[3]^[16] He married his wife Carmen in 2001.^[4] He died on March 21, 2014, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the age of 92.^[22]^[23] He was the oldest living U.S. Open champion at the time of his death.^[24]

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Jun 19, 1955	U.S. Open	76-69-75-67=287	+3	Playoff	Ben Hogan
2	Feb 15, 1960	Phoenix Open Invitational	68-68-71-66=273	−11	Playoff	Bill Collins
3	Oct 1, 1961	Bakersfield Open	71-71-69-65=276	−12	Playoff	Bob Rosburg

PGA Tour playoff record (3–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1955	U.S. Open	Ben Hogan	Won 18-hole playoff (Fleck:69, Hogan:72)
2	1960	Phoenix Open Invitational	Bill Collins	Won 18-hole playoff (Fleck:68, Collins:71)
3	1960	St. Petersburg Open Invitational	George Bayer	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
4	1960	Insurance City Open	Bill Collins, Arnold Palmer	Palmer won with birdie on third extra hole Collins eliminated with birdie on first hole
5	1961	Bakersfield Open	Bob Rosburg	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Major championship shown in bold

Other wins (2)

1952 RGCC Shelden Invitational
1954 RGCC Shelden Invitational
1964 Illinois PGA Championship
1965 Illinois Open Championship

Senior wins (2)

1979 PGA Seniors' Championship
1995 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Tommy Bolt)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1955	U.S. Open	3 shot deficit	+7 (76-69-75-67=287)	Playoff ¹	Ben Hogan

¹ Defeated Hogan in an 18-hole playoff – Fleck 69 (–1), Hogan 72 (+2).

Results timeline

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T43	T26	T39	T18
U.S. Open	CUT	DNP	DNP	T52	DNP	1	CUT	T26	CUT	T19
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	R64	DNP	R16	R32	R64	WD	DNP

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	T34	WD	T11	42	CUT	DQ	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T3	T27	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	T19	T7	WD	DNP	T20	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Note: Fleck never played The Open Championship.
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
DQ = Disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament	Wins	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	2	10	7
U.S. Open	1	1	2	2	3	13	6
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
PGA Championship	0	0	0	2	5	11	8
Totals	1	1	2	4	10	34	21

Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (three times)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1955 U.S. Open – 1955 PGA)

References

1 2 Grimsley, Will (June 20, 1955). "Jack Fleck Registers 69 to Beat Ben Hogan by 3 Strokes for National Open Title". Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press. p. 7.
1 2 Wind, Herbert Warren (June 27, 1955). "Jack, The Giant Killer". Sports Illustrated: 17–23.
1 2 Bonk, Thomas (June 11, 1995). "He wasn't Hogan's hero". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
1 2 "Jack Fleck (1921- )". Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
↑ "Sports Pudit". Retrieved December 7, 2010.
↑ Jack Fleck, Davenport, 1972
1 2 3 Thimmesch, Nick (September 18, 1955). "Meet the new king of golf". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Family Weekly magazine. p. 4.
↑ Murray, Jim (January 31, 1967). "Jack Fleck: lonesome anti-hero". Spokesman-Review. p. 11.
↑ "Biographical information from Jack Fleck Golf". Retrieved June 15, 2006.
↑ U.S. Open Records - Best Comeback by Winner, Final 54 Holes
↑ "Jack Fleck takes job as club pro in Detroit". Spencer Daily Reporter. Spencer, Iowa. Associated Press. October 11, 1956. p. 9.
↑ Wood, Bob (February 16, 1960). "Jack Fleck wins Phoenix golf title". News and Courier. Charleston, South Carolina. Associated Press. p. 2B.
↑ "Jack Fleck is mining gold on golf's tournament trail". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 3, 1960. p. 2-sports.
↑ "Jack Fleck nips Bob Rosburg in Bakersfield Open playoff". Rome News-Tribune. Rome, Georgia. Associated Press. October 2, 1961. p. 7.
1 2 Robinson, Bill (March 3, 1970). "Remember me?: Fleck is back to try again". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. p. 1C.
1 2 Grimsley, Will (June 18, 1977). "Jack Fleck's story is one of life's ironies". Times-News. Hendersonville, North Carolina. Associated Press. p. 7.
↑ "Tournament Info for: 1979 Senior PGA Championship". PGA of America. February 1–4, 1979. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
↑ "Fleck triumphs in playoff". Palm Bach Post. February 5, 1979. p. B7.
1 2 Fields, Bill (June 4, 2004). "Jack Fleck's visit to Valhalla". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on July 6, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
↑ "Jack Fleck, Davenport". Iowa Golf Association. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
↑ Fleck, Jack. Be a Golf Tour Champion.
↑ Tays, Al (March 21, 2014). "Jack Fleck, upset Hogan in '55 U.S. Open, dies at 92". Golf Channel.
↑ "Jack Fleck, 1955 U.S. Open champ, passes away". PGA Tour. March 21, 2014.
↑ Crouse, Karen (June 2, 2012). "Finally Passing Test of Time". The New York Times. Retrieved January 12, 2014.

External links

Google Books Bettendorf Iowa's Exciting City published 2000
Jack Fleck at the PGA Tour official site

U.S. Open champions

1895 Horace Rawlins 1896 James Foulis 1897 Joe Lloyd 1898 Fred Herd 1899 Willie Smith 1900 Harry Vardon 1901 Willie Anderson† 1902 Laurie Auchterlonie 1903 Willie Anderson† 1904 Willie Anderson 1905 Willie Anderson 1906 Alex Smith 1907 Alec Ross 1908 Fred McLeod† 1909 George Sargent 1910 Alex Smith† 1911 John McDermott† 1912 John McDermott 1913 Francis Ouimet#† 1914‡ Walter Hagen 1915 Jerome Travers# 1916 Chick Evans# 1917–18 Cancelled due to World War I 1919 Walter Hagen† 1920 Ted Ray 1921‡ Jim Barnes 1922 Gene Sarazen 1923 Bobby Jones#† 1924 Cyril Walker 1925 Willie Macfarlane† 1926 Bobby Jones# 1927 Tommy Armour† 1928 Johnny Farrell† 1929 Bobby Jones#† 1930 Bobby Jones# 1931 Billy Burke† 1932 Gene Sarazen 1933 Johnny Goodman# 1934 Olin Dutra 1935 Sam Parks, Jr. 1936 Tony Manero 1937 Ralph Guldahl 1938 Ralph Guldahl 1939 Byron Nelson† 1940 Lawson Little† 1941 Craig Wood 1942–45 Cancelled due to World War II 1946 Lloyd Mangrum† 1947 Lew Worsham† 1948 Ben Hogan 1949 Cary Middlecoff 1950 Ben Hogan† 1951 Ben Hogan 1952 Julius Boros 1953‡ Ben Hogan 1954 Ed Furgol 1955 Jack Fleck† 1956 Cary Middlecoff 1957 Dick Mayer† 1958 Tommy Bolt 1959 Billy Casper 1960 Arnold Palmer 1961 Gene Littler 1962 Jack Nicklaus† 1963 Julius Boros† 1964 Ken Venturi 1965 Gary Player† 1966 Billy Casper† 1967 Jack Nicklaus 1968 Lee Trevino 1969 Orville Moody 1970‡ Tony Jacklin 1971 Lee Trevino† 1972 Jack Nicklaus 1973 Johnny Miller 1974 Hale Irwin 1975 Lou Graham† 1976 Jerry Pate 1977 Hubert Green 1978 Andy North 1979 Hale Irwin 1980 Jack Nicklaus 1981 David Graham 1982 Tom Watson 1983 Larry Nelson 1984 Fuzzy Zoeller† 1985 Andy North 1986 Raymond Floyd 1987 Scott Simpson 1988 Curtis Strange† 1989 Curtis Strange 1990 Hale Irwin† 1991 Payne Stewart† 1992 Tom Kite 1993 Lee Janzen 1994 Ernie Els† 1995 Corey Pavin 1996 Steve Jones 1997 Ernie Els 1998 Lee Janzen 1999 Payne Stewart 2000‡ Tiger Woods 2001 Retief Goosen† 2002‡ Tiger Woods 2003 Jim Furyk 2004 Retief Goosen 2005 Michael Campbell 2006 Geoff Ogilvy 2007 Ángel Cabrera 2008 Tiger Woods† 2009 Lucas Glover 2010 Graeme McDowell 2011‡ Rory McIlroy 2012 Webb Simpson 2013 Justin Rose 2014‡ Martin Kaymer 2015 Jordan Spieth 2016 Dustin Johnson

† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire; # indicates the event was won by an amateur

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