Gentleman Byron

December 12, 2007

I’m working my way through a new book by Mark Frost called MATCH, THE: THE DAY THE GAME OF GOLF CHANGED FOREVER and ran across an amazing story about Byron Nelson. In the account, Eddie Lowery (Francis Ouimet’s caddy, now a rich businessman), had arranged for Byron Nelson and Ken Venturi to play a series of exhibition matches up and down the west coast:

In each exhibition they played against the host club’s head professional and reigning amateur champion in a best-ball match. At every stop, Byron made a point of inquiring who held the local scoring record, which usually belonged to one or the other of their opponents that day. Byron told Ken that wherever he went, no matter how well he was playing, he should never break that record as a show of respect to his host; that was the way gracious visitors were supposed to behave.

There’s a reason Byron Nelson was considered a gentleman by everyone he met.