TOLEDO, OHIO | Since its founding more than a century ago, the Walker Cup has showcased the very best in amateur golf. So, as the American and Great Britain & Ireland teams prepare to meet at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland for the 51st playing of that biennial event, it seems a good time to remember one of the greatest ever to play the game in that realm, Frank Stranahan.
The scion of the Champion Spark Plug company that was among America’s most prosperous in the first half of the 20th century, Stranahan won more than 50 tournaments in an amateur career that ran from 1941 to 1954. Those victories included a pair of British Amateurs, with King George VI on hand to congratulate Stranahan when he triumphed in the 1950 edition. In addition, Stranahan captured four Western Amateur titles, prevailed in the equally esteemed North and South Amateur on three occasions and twice came out on top in the Canadian Amateur.
He was also a member of three winning Walker Cup teams, compiling a 3-2-1 record in the 1947, 1949 and 1951 matches.
Stranahan finished as low amateur in a professional event 51 times, which is another mark no other golfer has or ever will approach.
Perhaps even more impressive was Stranahan winning four PGA Tour titles during his time as an amateur; no other golfer with that status has ever won more than one. He also enjoyed a couple of epic years as an amateur. In 1947, for example, Stranahan finished second with Byron Nelson to Jimmy Demaret in that year’s Masters, was runner-up in the Open Championship as well as the PGA Tour’s Greater Greensboro Open and won the Canadian Amateur. The following season, he took the British, Canadian and Mexican amateurs and triumphed in the Miami Open on the PGA Tour.
Stranahan also posted a second runner-up finish in the Open Championship that Ben Hogan won at Carnoustie in 1953.
A longtime member of the Inverness Club in this city on Lake Erie, Stranahan finished as low amateur in a professional event 51 times, which is another mark no other golfer has or ever will approach.
“Frank was that rare amateur who was as good as the pros,” said Alan Fadel, a Toledoan and former tour professional who after being reinstated as an amateur won multiple Ohio state titles, was medalist 11 times in USGA qualifiers or championships and twice recorded top-10 finishes in the R&A Senior Amateur while also winning 11 club championships at Inverness. “Bobby Jones was one of those. Vinny Giles, Charlie Coe, Chick Evans and Francis Ouimet, too. Frank was extremely long, and his ball striking was very, very good.”
Given his playing résumé, it is no wonder that Stranahan was so highly regarded.
“If there was a Mount Rushmore of amateur golfers, he would definitely be on it,” said Inverness club historian Mike McCullough.
And while Stranahan did not compile as impressive a record as a PGA Tour professional from 1955 to 1964, he nonetheless managed to win both the Eastern Open and Los Angeles Open and thrice finish second on that circuit.