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Ken Venturi (born 1931 in San Francisco,
California) was a prominent PGA TOUR|PGA Tour
professional during the late 1950's and early
1960's. Venturi first gained national attention in
1956 when, as an amateur, he came second in that
year's The Masters Tournament|Masters after
leading from the first round. Only a final round
80 under difficult conditions prevented him from
winning outright and thus becoming the first
amateur to do so in the history of The Masters.

In the early 50's, Venturi had been a pupil of the
great Byron Nelson and was also influenced by
playing partner Ben Hogan. With this fine tuning
combined with his tremendous talent, Venturi was a
regular winner during his early years on the PGA
Tour after turning pro at the end of 1956. He
again come close to winning the Masters in 1958
and 1960, both times being edged out by Arnold
Palmer.

After suffering minor injuries in an automobile
accident in 1961 however, Venturi's swing, and
thus his career began to slide. This slump lasted
until 1964 when, for no reason even Venturi could
fathom, he began playing well again. After a
couple of high finishes, Venturi reached the
pinnacle of his comeback by winning the U.S. Open
(golf)|U.S. Open at Congressional Country
Club|Congressional after nearly collapsing in the
scorching heat during the then 36-hole final
round. His win was actually the top sports story
of the year, and he received Sports Illustrated
magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award.

After 1964, Venturi's career again took a blow
when he was diagnosed with advanced carpal tunnel
syndrome in both wrists. After several surgeries
his condition was reversed, but he was
unfortunately never able to regain his past form.
After retiring from the Tour in 1967 with a total
of 14 career wins, Venturi spent the next 30 years
working as a color commentator for CBS Sports as
well as owning and operating a series of
instructional schools.

==External links==
* http://www.golfstarsonline.com/V/Ken_Venturi/
Ken Venturi at Golf Stars Online Directory of
interviews, sites and feature articles with or
about him