John Guthrie Bulla (June 2, 1914 – December 7, 2003) was an American professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er. Born in

Newell, West Virginia Newell is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northern Hancock County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Ohio River. The population was 1,203 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Weirton–Steubenville me ...

, Bulla 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 ...

, winning the 1941

Los Angeles Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

, and finished runner-up three times in the majors, including twice to

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

; at the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in 1946 and the Masters in 1949. Bulla's greatest moment might have been the British Open in 1939 at St Andrews. In miserable conditions, he drove flawlessly and never missed a fairway. The driver is on display in the Royal & Ancient Golf Club Museum, but his name is missing from the

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates fr ...

. Bulla finished early that day and was the leader in the clubhouse, which he held until Dick Burton, in the final group, caught him and won with a birdie on the last hole. Although Bulla never won a major, he finished in the top-10 12 times; twice each in the Masters and

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

and four times each at the British Open and U.S. Open. In January 2000, the Carolinas Golf Reporters Association inducted Bulla into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. He co-founded Arizona Airways,Johnny Bulla
/ref> which became Frontier Airlines in 1950. Bulla was a private pilot and before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he flew himself to various tournaments. He was later a commercial pilot with

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

, and shortly after the war, Bulla and several other touring pros bought a C-47 cargo plane from the U.S. Army Air Forces to fly themselves and their wives to golf tournaments, with Bulla at the controls. Bulla was the first to endorse merchandise sold outside the golf pro shop. He won the L.A. Open in 1941 with a discount golf ball, which sold for a quarter at

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, a ...

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (1)

*1941

Other wins (7)

*1947

Arizona Open The Arizona Open Championship is the annual open state championship of golf in Arizona. The competition is 54-holes of stroke play (3 rounds on an 18-hole course), with the winner being the player with the lowest total number of strokes. Following ...

*1950

*1951

Pennsylvania Open Championship The Pennsylvania Open Championship is the Pennsylvania state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Pennsylvania Golf Association. It has been played annually since 1912 (except for war years) at ...

*1958 Southern California PGA Championship,

*1959

Results in major championships

NT = no tournament
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1959 PGA Championship)
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 (1941 Masters – 1951 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1948 U.S. Open – 1949 Masters)

References

External links

Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame profileArizona Gravestones
– Johnny Bulla obituary * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulla, Johnny American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from West Virginia Commercial aviators People from Hancock County, West Virginia 1914 births 2003 deaths