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Amazing Amateurs - Frank Stranahan
Club voids invite amid controversy
Posted: Wednesday April 04, 2001 1:05 AM
Updated: Tuesday March 26, 2002 6:20 PM
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Frank Stranahan (right), shown here with golfer Toney Penna, was told during a practice round in 1948 that his invitation to that year's Masters had been revoked. File/The Augusta Chronicle |
By Mike Garbett
The Augusta Chronicle
No one remembers that Frank Stranahan was the first amateur to make a serious challenge at the Masters Tournament.
His place in Masters lore instead is marked by a confrontation with Augusta National Golf Club officials, one that resulted in Stranahan's invitation being revoked.
Playing as an amateur, he finished tied for second in 1947 with Byron Nelson - two strokes behind Jimmy Demaret, a three-time winner.
A year later he arrived in town and soon found himself surrounded by controversy.
On Monday of tournament week, as he approached the eighth green during his practice round, Stranahan was informed by an Augusta National spokesman that his invitation had been withdrawn by the tournament committee, and he was asked to leave the golf course.
Curt Sampson, author of The Masters: Golf, Money and Power in Augusta, Georgia, writes that Stranahan was dismissed after he ignored instructions to hit no more than one ball to the greens. Stranahan did hit more than one ball in '47, breaking the tournament rule.
Stranahan insists to this day that he hit only one ball but did drop additional balls on the greens to work on his putting, a practice permitted then as it is now.
Stranahan, now 78, prefers not to talk about the events leading to his dismissal, telling Sports Illustrated in 1998, ``I don't want to go into that. I've heard a lot of stories, but I'm not going to tell you those.''
What's often lost in the controversy is that Stranahan was invited back by Masters officials the next year and continued to play in the Masters every year through 1959. In his 13 appearances, he had eight finishes in the top 24.
The son of the founder of Champion Spark Plugs, Stranahan was strong and athletic. He also was mischievous. A body builder, Stranahan liked to carry free weights with him on his travels.
``A favorite trick of his was to ask unsuspecting bellboys to bring his luggage, then laugh as they struggled to carry his bags,'' wrote David Owen in The Making of the Masters: Clifford Roberts, Augusta National and Golf's Most Prestigious Tournament.
A year before his run-in with tournament officials, Stranahan's final-round 4-under-par 68 - the day's best round - vaulted him into contention, but he never seriously challenged for the title.
He opened with rounds of 73 and 72 and was at 1-over heading into the weekend.
A 70 on Saturday moved him to 1-under through 54 holes, and his final-round 68 matched the low round of the tournament.
Stranahan, by no means, was a one-hit wonder.
He won the British Amateur twice and was the runner-up to Ben Hogan in the 1953 British Open before turning pro a year later.
He won twice during his seven-year pro career, retiring in 1960 to begin a career in business.
| Stranahan at the Masters |
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| Year |
Place |
Score |
| 1946* |
20 |
76-74-73-75-298 |
| 1947* |
T2 |
73-72-70-68-283 |
| 1949* |
T19 |
70-77-75-74-296 |
| 1950* |
T14 |
74-79-73-71-297 |
| 1951* |
T32 |
74-74-74-79-301 |
| 1952* |
T19 |
72-74-76-76-298 |
| 1953* |
T14 |
72-75-69-75-291 |
| 1954* |
T43 |
79-75-72-78-304 |
| 1955 |
T15 |
77-76-71-71-295 |
| 1956 |
T22 |
72-75-79-76-302 |
| 1957 |
Missed cut |
79-75-154 |
| 1958 |
Missed cut |
72-79-151 |
| 1959 |
T34 |
74-72-73-77-296 |
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*-amateur
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