Snead, raised in the backwoods of West Virginia, liked to cultivate his rustic image as the hillbilly boy from mountain country, but he was no bucolic hick when the stakes got serious, whether that be for a private bet - Snead was a notoriously ruthless adversary when his own money was on the line - or when a major title was at stake. He won the Masters and the US PGA Championship three times each, and the Open - at St Andrews in 1946, on one of only three appearances in the championship - once. But he never won the US Open. That latter fact is the one that is eternally recalled in any evaluation of Snead's record, largely because he quite often contrived to squander his chances of victory, and often quite spectacularly. However, it is unfair to dwell on the one blemish in a career which features a record 84 official US tour victories, a figure that the man himself reckons should be doubled to take account of regional events.

Snead has the most natural, fluid swing the game has ever seen. The physical ease with which he could generate immense power enabled him to become the first golfer to break 60 in a significant competition (a 59 at his home course, The Greenbrier, in 1959; to be the oldest winner of a US tournament (52 years 10 months at Greensboro in 1965; to finish tied third when aged 62 in the 1974 US PGA Championship; and to be the first man to beat his age on the US tour (scoring 66 when he was 67 at the Quad Cities Open in 1979. Rather like Hogan, Snead suffered terrible putting problems (the 'yips') as his career progressed, leading to him trying several different techniques on the greens.

"There's an old saying: If a man comes home with sand in his cuffs and cockleburs in his pants, don't ask him what he shot." - Sam Snead

Sam is famous for his near misses at the US Open.

Sam's sidewinder putting style is less pretty but it did enable him to cope with the yips.