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CNN Live At Daybreak

'Slammin Sam' Snead Has Died

Aired May 24, 2002 - 05:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: One of the greatest golfers of all time has died. He was known as "Slammin Sam," and he won seven major championships and a record 81 PGA Tour events.

Our Jim Hoover tips a straw hat to Sam Snead, a legend on the links.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM HOOVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Samuel Jackson Snead was called a golfing stylist beyond compare. His achievements are beyond compare as well. But the man considered to be one of the most regal of players had modest beginnings.

He was born to poverty in Virginia in 1912. As a boy he whittled tree branches into golf clubs and hit rocks into tomato cans to simulate the game. He worked as a caddy making $20 a month until he saved enough money to buy his own clubs. A natural athlete who excelled in football, basketball and track in high school.

He won his first pro golf event 1936. He went on to win 81 times on the PGA Tour, more than any other player in history. He is credited with 135 career victories and claims to have captured 185 tournaments in all. Ironically, however, he never won the U.S. Open, finishing second four times.

But among his many victors were triumphs at the Masters in 1949, '52 and '54. And he won the PGA Championship three times in '42, '49 and '51. And he was also the PGA Tour's leading money winner three times. But golf's paydays then weren't what they are today. Snead's career earnings, just $620,000. Modern day players can win that in one weekend.

After winning the British Open in 1946, Snead's paycheck was $600, but it had cost him $2,000 just to get to St. Andrews. Said the frugal Snead, they asked me if I was coming back to defend, and I said are you kidding? Sure enough, he never played in another British Open.

Snead was also a member of 10 Ryder Cup teams and was team captain three times. He won six U.S. and five World Senior Championships, was a founding member of the Senior Tour in 1980. But Sam Snead was never one to act his age. In 1965 he won the Greater Greensboro Open for a record eighth time. He was 52 that weekend, the oldest winner on the tour. In 1974, the 62-year-old Snead tied for third at the PGA Championship, finishing behind the youngsters Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino. And at the 1979 Quad Cities Open became the first player to shoot his age when at 67 years young he turned in rounds of 67 and then 66.

The man in the straw hat remained a regular at the Masters, playing every year until 1983, and was an honorary starter along with fellow icons Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson after that.

Throughout it all, Samuel Jackson Snead never changed. Still seeing himself, not as a legend, but as that same simple country boy who was prone to laugh and loved to play.

SAMUEL JACKSON SNEAD: I've smelled the flowers and listened to the birds as I walked along. Yes, you're right, yes. I've had the most wonderful life anybody could ever want.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Sam Snead, 1912-2002.

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