THE "SLEEPING GIANT"
It was August 1945, Byron Nelson had just won his 10th straight PGA tournament, the Tam O'Shanter in Chicago, with a score of 19 under. Nelson and a field of the best tour professionals of the time prepared to move on to compete in the Canadian Open a week later. Along with Nelson were such US greats as Sam Snead, previous winner of the Canadian Open in 1938, 1940 and 1941, Tony Penna, Claude Harmon, Kye Laffoon and Harold "Jug" McSpadden who came to town with a round of 59 to his credit. The Canadian contingent included Stan Leonard, Toronto Maple Leaf hockey star Bill Ezinicki, Thornhill's own Ernie Nerlich and Pat Fletcher who would later become the last Canadian to win the Canadian Open in 1954. Our club's second professional Arthur Hulbert and his successor, the legendary Joe Noble, also competed. Today two of our holes are named after them, the 7th for Hulbert and the 2nd for Noble. As the best in the world made their way to the Toronto area, little did they know that a "Sleeping Giant" awaited them in a small Police Village north of the city known as Thornhill and that Byron Nelson and the little Village were soon to become a part of golf history.
The "Sleeping Giant" was created by RCGA officials from our club who felt that the Thornhill course was not long or tough enough and feared that scores in the 60's would prevail. After approval from the RCGA, the officials were allowed to make changes to the Thornhill course. The 2nd tee was moved back to the middle of the 18th fairway adding 40 yards to the hole. The 4th tee was set next to the 3rd green and the 4th hole on the Valley course became the 4th green. This not only added 50 yards to the 4th but it also meant that the players had to cross the river four times en route to the 4th green. The 7th hole (our present 12th) was extended to 215 yards, to where the stone plaque commemorating the event is today. The old par four 17th was changed to a brutal 259 yard par three. The officials could never have realied that their changes were to transform Thornhill into one of the toughest par 70's that the pros would ever face, changes that would bring the greatest pros of the day to their knees.
As in most PGA tournaments wonderful anecdotes emerge, the following are but a few from the 1945 Canadian Open.
The entire four days of the tournament were played in hot, steamy weather which took its toll on players and spectators. The popular phrase heard each day was "Thornhill is worse than the Sahara Desert". Nelson showed up for his final round very tired, sporting a few blisters on his hands. After paring the first hole he proceeded to the 2nd hole not prepared for the unthinkable that was about to happen. Nelson topped his tee shot into the river below the present day 2nd tee. After taking a drop, he hit his third shot into the river again around the 135 yard mark. As Byron walked up the fairway he was probably thinking ahead to another penalty drop, a fifth shot to the green and a possible triple bogey. When he got to the river the ball was visible since the extreme hot weather had dried up much of the river bed. He was able to hit his fourth shot to the green about ten feet from the pin and made a fantastic bogey five. Nelson's Canadian caddy later became a golf pro in the US and when interviewed in 1995 on the fiftieth anniversary of Nelson's amazing records in 1945, remarked in all his fifty years as a golf professional, Nelson's five on the 2nd hole at Thornhill was the greatest bogey that he had ever seen.
During the third round Nelson, Tony Penna and Claude Harmon were playing together. The players debated what to hit off the tee on the 4th hole into a head wind. Nelson chose a driver and was queried by the others since they had to clear the third crossing of the river. Nelson replied that he would hit his ball in front of the wide maintenance bridge at the river so if he was short his ball would run over the bridge. To the amazement of Harmon and Penna, Nelson did exactly what he said he would do. Later in the same round, Nelson had to borrow a new ball from Penna, definitely a "nono" by today's rules, however during the war years golf balls were scarce and borrowing was allowed.
Our own John Parkinson was a Marshall at the Open and relates this story about Sam Snead on the 7th hole (our present 12th). Snead hit his tee shot on to the 6th fairway, hit the next shot over the trees to the green and made the putt for his par three. He left the green commenting furiously about the hole being too tough. Slamming Sam finished at 14 over par for the tournament. When questioned at a later tournament about his poor showing at Thornhill, Snead commented that, in his opinion, the first seven holes at Thornhill were the toughest he had ever played. Members, next time you have a bad round and want to slit your wrists, remember the words of Sam Snead and his score of 14 over par.
Ever wonder why out 11th hole is called "Nelson's Folly"? In 1945 the pros played one round on Thursday, one on Friday and two rounds on the Saturday to allow them more time to travel to the next tournament. During his second round on Saturday Nelson was leading the tournament by 4 shots but was not under par. He felt the pressure to break par since he had never shot par in any of his tournament wins up until then, so he attempted to drive the 11th, ended up in trouble and made a bogie, however he was able to hang on to finish with a score of 280, the only PGA tournament he won at even par up until that time. He would win one more PGA tournament in 1946, the LA Open at Riviera where he carded an even par score of 284. Nelson chalked up his 11th straight victory that day at Thornhill and went on to the next PGA tournament in Memphis Tennessee anticipating winning his 12th straight, however it was not to be. In Tennessee his string was broken by a young amateur named Freddie Haas Jr. Nelson went on to win the next PGA tournament in Knoxville with a score of 12 under. Even though his string was broken he was able to add another five wins during the year for a record setting 18 and $51,500 in winnings. Nelson still holds one other record set in 1945 which is 19 consecutive rounds under 70. His 1945 record scoring average of 68.33 held up for 55 years, it was broken by Tiger Woods in the year 2000. Nelson's record of 113 consectutive times finishing in the money has also been broken by Tiger Woods.
Nelson went on to win a further six PGA tournaments in 1946 and then announced his retirement the end of the year, he was only thirty four years of age. Over the next twenty years Byron made frequent starts on the PGA tour. His wins during that time include the Texas PGA Open in 1948, the Crosby Invitational in 1951 and the French Open in 1955. He always said that he played golf in order to make enough money to someday purchase his dream, a Texas ranch. His dream came true in 1947, he purchased a 750 acre ranch between Dallas and Fort Worth, where he lived with his wife Peggy until he passed in 2006.
Sometime during the Open the famed Seagram Cup, emblematic of the Canadian Open, disappeared and had the officials running around in a panic to locate it. They received a call from a local youngster who told them that he saw two boys take the cup but he knew where they lived in Willowdale. The cup was retrieved by the police without incident or charges and presented to Nelson on time.
All of us, as members of Thornhill, should take pride in knowing that our golf course provided the setting for one of the greatest accomplishments in the world of sport, one that will live on in the record books of golf forever, a record that is considered by most as unbreakable, "Lord" Byron Nelson's straight PGA tournament victory, the 1945 Canadian Open at Thornhill Golf and Country Club.