Lloyd Eugene Mangrum was an American professional golfer.
Background
Lloyd Eugene Mangrum was born on August 1, 1914, in Trenton, Texas, to James and Etta Mangrum. It was a golfing family, and Lloyd, with his older brother Ray, first played the game while working as a caddy at the Stevens Park municipal course.
Career
Unable to afford golf lessons, Mangrum later worked at Dallas's El Tivoli Country Club during the day as caddy master and assistant to pro-Johnny Parnell, and at night as the club security officer. Mangrum learned the game from such luminaries as Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Jimmy Demaret.
In 1928, Lloyd and Ray went to California, where Lloyd caddied at the Lakeside and Los Angeles country clubs. The following year, Lloyd turned professional at the age of fifteen. In 1933, he played in his first Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tournament. The 1930's began as lean years for the young professional, but toward the end of the decade, he began to display the skills that would ultimately make him one of the period's greatest money winners.
From 1934 through his retirement in 1962, Mangrum, in addition to his victories, had 28 second-place finishes, 43 thirds, 247 top-10 finishes, and 343 top-25 finishes. World War II interrupted Mangrum's professional career. He was drafted in January 1944 and served as a staff sergeant in the Third Army.
During the invasion of Normandy, his jeep overturned and his arm was broken in two places, and it looked as if he might never again play championship golf. Undaunted by that injury and by two shrapnel wounds to his chin and knee suffered in the Battle of the Bulge, Mangrum spent part of his convalescent period in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he won the British G. I. Championship.
In 1945, with four battle stars and two Purple Hearts, Mangrum returned to the United States and rejoined the PGA Tour. Prior to his military service, Mangrum showed signs of greatness; he was seventh on the money list in 1941, and he improved to fourth in 1942.
In 1946, he won his first and only major championship, the U. S. Open, played at Cleveland's Canterbury Golf Club. Mangrum had finished in a 72-hole tie at 284 strokes with Vic Ghezzi and Byron Nelson, and he defeated both of them in a 36-hole playoff. Mangrum's total of 428 strokes over 108 holes earned him a purse of $1, 500, another $1, 000 from the United States Golf Association, and a bonus of $5, 000 from the Wilson Sporting Goods Company, which he represented.
Additionally, Tam O'Shanter Country Club contracted Mangrum as its tour representative for an annual stipend of $10, 000. His greatest financial year on tour was 1948 when he won eight tournaments; his earnings of $45, 898 were second only to those of Ben Hogan. In 1950, Mangrum came close to winning another major victory in the U. S. Open, but he lost in a playoff to Hogan.
Mangrum played on the U. S. Ryder Cup team in 1941, 1947, 1949, and 1951; he served as a captain in 1953 and honorary captain in 1955.
Mangrum's instructional volume, Golf A New Approach (1949), reveals the inspirations for the major components of his game: "I patterned my swing after Sam Snead's, my short shots after Johnny Revolta's, and my putting after Horton Smith's. "
This book was written in response to a challenge issued by Bing Crosby following Mangrum's victory in the 1948 Pebble Beach tournament, which Crosby sponsored. Crosby wrote the foreword to the volume.
Mangrum suffered several heart attacks prior to his death in Apple Valley, California.
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Personality
Reputed to have been always of good humor, Mangrum was also noted for his strict adherence to the rules of golf, and for having at times penalized himself for infractions. Lloyd Mangrum was one of the pioneers of professional golf. When he turned professional, the sport was suffering during the Great Depression.
Approximately one-third of all country clubs were converted to municipal or public fee courses, and prize money was not plentiful. Mangrum, along with Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Jimmy Demaret, was an integral part of the nucleus of outstanding players who initially made golf attractive, and whose impetus started the steady growth and prosperity of the tour.
Although these men remain famous in the history of golf, they were not to reap the great financial benefits for which they were in large part responsible.
Connections
Mangrum was married to Eleta and they had three children.