Albert Andrew Watrous (February 1, 1899 – December 3, 1983) was an American professional golfer who played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

in the 1920s and 1930s.

Early life

Born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

, of Polish descent, Watrous moved to

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

at an early age and played on the first two Ryder Cup teams in

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...

and

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

. Watrous was the club pro at

Oakland Hills Country Club Oakland Hills Country Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. It consists of two 18-hole courses designed by Donald Ross: the South Course (1918) and the ...

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, for 37 years. Watrous had tremendous success in Michigan events, winning the Michigan PGA Championship nine times and the Michigan Open six times.

1926 Open Championship

Watrous never won a major championship, but came very close in the

1926 Open Championship The 1926 Open Championship was the 61st Open Championship, held 23–25 June at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England. Amateur Bobby Jones won the first of his three Claret Jugs, two strokes ahead of runner-up Al Watro ...

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being designated a major c ...

. Playing with Bobby Jones in the final round, and tied with him, Watrous hit the green in two shots on the difficult par-4 17th hole, with Jones in trouble after his tee shot finished in sandy dunes and tall grass far left of the fairway. But from this very difficult position, Jones hit one of the greatest recovery shots in golf history from 175 yards, as his ball finished on the green nearer than Watrous', who three-putted, and finished second to Jones. Watrous did win the

PGA Seniors Championship The PGA Seniors Championship is a European Senior Tour golf tournament for men aged fifty and above. It was founded in 1957 and became part of the European Senior Tour on its founding in 1992. It was not held in 2016 or 2017 but returned in 2018 ...

three times after he turned 50.

Legacy and death

On June 14, 1979, Watrous was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. In 1982, he was inducted with the charter class at the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. A collegiate golf tournament named in his honor, the Al Watrous Memorial Intercollegiate Invitational, was first played in 2009. Watrous died on December 3, 1983, in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along t ...

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (8)

*1922 (1) Canadian Open *1925 (2) South Central Open, Corpus Christi Open *1927 (1) ''one win'' *1929 (1) ''one win'' *1932 (2) Mid-South Open (tie with

Henry Picard Henry Gilford Picard (November 28, 1906 – April 30, 1997) was an American professional golfer. Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Picard learned to play golf while caddying at the Plymouth Country Club. Already a talented player by his early 20s ...

and Al Houghton), Mid-South Bestball (with

Tommy Armour Thomas Dickson Armour (24 September 1896 – 11 September 1968) was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was nicknamed The Silver Scot. He was the winner of three of golf's major championships: 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA, and 1931 Open C ...

) *1933 (1) Lakeland Open Source

Other wins

:''Note: This list is probably incomplete.'' *1922 Michigan PGA Championship *1924 Michigan PGA Championship *1926 Michigan Open *1927 Michigan Open *1929 Michigan Open *1930 Michigan Open *1932 Michigan PGA Championship *1936 Michigan PGA Championship *1938 Michigan PGA Championship *1939 Michigan PGA Championship *1941 Michigan PGA Championship *1943 Michigan Open *1949 Michigan Open *1952 Michigan PGA Championship, Michigan Pro-Am *1954 Michigan PGA Championship, Michigan Pro-Am

Senior wins

*1950

PGA Seniors' Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

*1951

*1953 Michigan PGA Senior Championship *1954 Michigan PGA Senior Championship *1956 Michigan PGA Senior Championship *1957

, Michigan PGA Senior Championship,

World Senior Championship The World Senior Championship was a golf match held between the winners of the American PGA Seniors' Championship (now Senior PGA Championship) and the British PGA Seniors Championship. It was held from 1954 to 1978. It was a 36-hole match-play e ...

*1961 Michigan PGA Senior Championship

Results in major championships

NYF = tournament not yet founded
NT = no tournament
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 23 (1926 Open Championship – 1937 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1929 Open Championship – 1929 PGA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watrous, Al American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Michigan American people of Polish descent Sportspeople from Yonkers, New York 1899 births 1983 deaths