Just a quick note to let you know that Frank Stranahan passed away yesterday. His son Lance told me it was all pretty quick and he died peacefully, he was still going to the gym three times a week up to a couple of weeks ago and he was still hitting it pretty good on the range. Frank was one of the great Amateurs perhaps his story is only second best to Bobby Jones, Frank came second in the US Masters and in our Open was runner up in 47 to Fred Daly and in 53 to Ben Hogan, he had quite a few other top 10s in Majors. He was an American that supported our Open throughout the 50's. As some of you may know we named our second course 'The Stranahan' which opened a couple of years back. Frank worked on weights and was an inspiration and friend to Gary Player, he would have been 91 in August.
I learned a lot about Frank Stranahan while researching "From Fields to Fairways." Stranahan was the glamor boy at the 1950 U.S. Amateur at Minneapolis Golf Club: He was heir to a Toledo spark plug fortune, he had a fabulous physique from his dedication to body building, he was reigning British amateur champ, and he had Byron Nelson for a swing coach. Stranahan knocked off a relative unknown named Arnold Palmer in the first round, and was odds-on favorite to win after defending champ Charlie Coe was eliminated.
If somebody wanted to make a movie from the opposite point of view of "The Greatest Game Ever Played" -- i.e., from Goliath's side of the story -- the 1950 U.S. Am would make great source material. Stranahan breezed his way to the finals -- Byron Nelson left town before the semi-final match, apparently convinced Stranahan didn't need any more help from him -- but he couldn't win over the fans. "They certainly weren't very appreciative of my efforts out there today," he said after reaching the semis. "You'd think they'd at least have applauded a little when I won."
It was going to be worse in the finals. He was up against Sam Urzetta, the longest of long-shots, an unemployed former college basketball player who played golf to honor his older brother, who'd been the better player but was killed in World War II. The headline in the Minneapolis Star the morning of the final match said "Millionaire's son vs. janitor's son."
Urzetta had the crowd from the first tee, and finally won it on the 39th hole when Stranahan drove out of bounds. It was a wildly popular win, but sportswriter Charlie Johnson of the Minneapolis Tribune had the good grace to write that Stranahan was a total gentleman despite the crowd's animosity. "Yes, we'll tab this Stranahan boy as a victim of circumstances and conditions over which he had not control, but he is a real sportsman every inch of the way."