Frank Walsh: Masters Record-Setter, Almost a Major Champ
Full name: Frank Andrew Walsh
Date of birth: December 23, 1902
Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois
Date and place of death: April 7, 1992, in Martin, Florida
His Biggest Wins
The PGA Tour credits Walsh with two official wins on tour:- 1928 Wisconsin State Open
- 1935 Illinois PGA Championship
- 1938 New Hampshire Open
- 1940 New Jersey PGA Championship
- 1941 New Jersey PGA Championship
In the Majors: Near-Miss and Masters Record
Frank Walsh's main claim to fame today is that his name shows up in the list of finalists from the PGA Championship's match-play era, and in the Masters Tournament records.The major Walsh almost won was the 1932 PGA Championship. He made it to the final against Olin "King Kong" Dutra before falling (in a match scheduled for 36 holes), 4 and 3. Walsh had raced through the early rounds, beating Ted Longworth, 7 and 6, in the first round; Gene Kunes, 9 and 8, in Round 2; and Bobby Cruickshank, 8 and 7, in the quarterfinals. That set up a semifinal match against the defending champion, Tom Creavy. It took two extra holes (38 holes overall) for Walsh to win that one, 1-up. But then Dutra, on a hot streak both in the tournament and in the weeks leading up to the tournament, dispatched Walsh in the championship match.
That Walsh was even in the tournament was something of a win for him. Seven months earlier Walsh suffered a cracked skull and severe concussion in a one-car accident. He went two months without swinging a club. Walsh was a passenger in a car driven by fellow pro Craig Wood; Wood lost control and crashed into a ditch.
And the tournament record at The Masters? Alas, it's one Walsh would rather not have had — but he held it for more than 40 years.
In the second round of the 1935 Masters, Walsh scored 12 on the par-5 No. 8 hole. Nobody made a higher, single-hole score in The Masters until 1978.
Walsh's adventure on the hole started with multiple shots hooked deeper and deeper into trees. Then he found water. He bounced balls off trees several times. He whiffed one shot and advanced the ball just 10 yards with another. Eventually he found himself 100 yards away from the correct fairway, and then hit a ball onto the No. 9 tee box. From there, he finally reached the green and putted out for his 12.
Walsh did have a better experience later in that tournament, though. He was one of only a handful people (probably fewer than 20) who witnessed the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," Gene Sarazen's hole-out for a double eagle on No. 15 during the final round.
Walsh was the co-leader of the 1937 U.S. Open following the second round, but finished in 20th place. He was the solo leader after three rounds of the 1940 U.S. Open, but shot 79 in the final round and tied for 10th.
Overall, Walsh played in 29 majors, first in the 1926 U.S. Open, last in the 1954 U.S. Open. He had only two other Top 10 finishes aside from the runner-up in the 1932 PGA, and that was the already mentioned tie for 10th in the 1940 U.S. Open, and tied ninth in the 1933 PGA Championship when he advanced into the Round of 16. He had Top 20 finishes in the 1931 U.S. Open (13) and in the 1940 Masters (t12).
More About Frank Walsh
Frank Walsh was never a big winner in the game, but in the 1920s and 1930s he recorded a few wins and was in contention many more times. He was certainly a nationally known golfer.He made his first start in an official PGA Tour tournament in the 1924 Western Open, where he finished 14th. Walsh finished runner-up in the Wisconsin State Open (sometimes called the Wisconsin PGA) in 1927, and then he won it won it in 1928. It was a PGA Tour event at the time, and this was the first of two official PGA Tour victories for Walsh. He also finished second twice in 1928, at the South Central Open and Chicago Open (by one stroke to Abe Espinosa), and finished inside the Top 25 in 13 out of 14 tour starts.
Walsh was second-place again in the Wisconson Open in 1929, meaning he finished 2-1-2 in that tournament from 1927-29.
One can find references to Walsh shooting a 57 in a tournament round, and it's true: It happened during the 1929 Catalina Open. But there's some important context that is sometimes left out: The golf course was only 4,700 yards long. Tony Manero had a 59 in the same round and won the tournament.
Walsh's next pro tournament win wasn't until 1935, and it was also the second of his two PGA Tour victories. It happened in the Illinois PGA Championship. He made 14 tour starts that year and was in the Top 10 in seven of them.
Walsh won more afterward, but not in tour events. But he didn't make his last start in a PGA Tour tournament until 1956.
PGA Tour records show Walsh made 158 career starts on the tour. In addition to those two victories he was runner-up 11 times, third place three times, had 33 Top 5 finishes and 65 total Top 10s. So in more than 41-percent of his PGA Tour starts, Walsh finished inside the Top 10.
Among his other second-place showings were the 1929 Florida Open (by 1 to Horton Smith), 1930 St. Petersburg Open, 1930 North and South Open, 1931 Texas Open and 1936 Tropical Open.
Walsh worked various club pro jobs throughout his career. For example, in 1930 he was pro at Butte de Morts Golf Club in Appleton, Wisc.; as of 1934 he was at Bryn Mawr Country Club in Chicago, Ill. From 1942 through 1951, he was the pro at Red Run Golf Club in Detroit, Mich. He resigned that position after needing a hospital stay to deal with bleeding ulcers.
Walsh turned to teaching and became a well-known instructor. He started booking clinics and lectures, as well as writing for the national golf magazines.
The 1976 reference work Who's Who In Golf referred to Walsh as "one of the great theorizers of golf." The editors wrote that Walsh, "analyzed and dissected the swing until there was not much left of it. He was a frequent contributor to the golf magazines of his day and expounded on his theories at length. His best known was the 'counter-clockwise' action, which closed the face of the club at the top of the swing. He even studied the effects of a wet golf glove versus a dry one after watching Harry Cooper dip his in a pail of water before teeing off."
Walsh had nine brothers and sisters, and several of his brothers also became golf professionals. One of them, Tom Walsh, served as president of the PGA of America in 1940-41.
Sources:
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Associated Press. "Condition Serious," Arizona Daily Star, January 26, 1932.
Barkow, Al. Golf's All-Time Firsts, Mosts, Leasts and a Few Nevers, Taylor Trade Publications, 2012.
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf, Volume 2, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Elliott, Len, and Kelly, Barbara. Who's Who in Golf, 1976, Arlington House Publishers.
Golfdom. "Tom Walsh: PGA, 1940, 1941," January 23, 1972.
Mabee, C.B. "Ramblin' Round," The (White Plains, N.Y.) Daily Reporter, December 17, 1929.
Palm Beach (Fla.) Post. Obituaries, Frank Andrew Walsh, April 10, 1992.
PGA of America. PGA Media Guide 2012, Championship Summaries, 1932.
PGATour.com. Players, Frank Walsh, https://www.pgatour.com/player/19330/frank-walsh/career.
Sills, Ted. "Ever Hear About That 12 Frank Walsh Shot on Bobby Jones' Course," The (Appleton, Wisc.) Post-Crescent, June 18, 1935.