Johnny Revolta shines in 1935 PGA at Twin Hills
THE PGA came and went last weekend with great drama -- Brooks Koepka held off Tiger Woods to win at Bellerive in St. Louis -- and made me think of one of the greatest sporting events in Oklahoma City history.
No. Not the 1988 PGA at Oak Tree, won by Jeff Sluman 30 years ago. Oak Tree is in Edmond.
Twins Hills Golf & Country Club is in Oklahoma City, hard by Interstate 35 a few miles north of downtown, but I-35 was still decades away when the PGA came to Twin Hills in 1935. And just like Sluman, whose only major title came at Oak Tree, the ‘35 PGA was captured by a golfer who never had won a major and never would win another.
Johnny Revolta was a 24-year- old who, like many golfers in his day, both was a club professional and a touring pro. He was a budding star; his 1935 victory total numbered five, including the prestigious Western Open, and he was on the U.S. Ryder Cup team that year.
Pictures of Revolta show a young man who looks a little like a cross between Johnny Manziel and Trae Young, with wavy, black hair. Revolta was born in St. Louis, but his family moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1923, when Revolta was 12. He won the state caddie championship at age 14 and worked at a variety of golf clubs from 1930-36, including Milwaukee’s Tripoli Country Club from 1934-36.
By 1935, Revolta was a force on the PGA Tour; he would win the money list that year, earning $9,543.
But Revolta hadn’t won a major title. In 1933, Revolta tied for 15th in the U.S. Open and reached the round of 32 in the PGA (which was match play until 1958). In 1934, Revolta tied for 18th in the inaugural Masters, tied for eighth in the U.S. Open and reached the round of 16 in the PGA. In 1935, Revolta tied for 13th in the Masters and tied for 36th in the U.S. Open.
So he was primed to contend for the 1935 PGA at Twin Hills, which was Johnny Revolta played Oct. 17-23.
According to Twin Hills’ website, the club dates back to 1920, when oilmen Al Maidt, Bob Conliff, Gus Mattison, Leslie Norris and Bill Buchholz commissioned Perry Maxwell to design and build the course on its present 160-acre site. Soon after completing the course, the founders sold the course to the Dorset Carter family.
It is believed that Dorset Carter purchased the club in 1921 for his son, Keefe Carter, an accomplished golfer who in 1925 would win the Western Open.
From the Aug. 7, 1921 Oklahoman: “Plans for the new Twin Hills clubhouse have been received by Keefe Carter, owner of the club, and work will start as soon as the new ninth green is ready for play. This is necessary as the clubhouse will be located on the point where [the] ninth green now stands. Much time has been taken in planning the clubhouse so as to give the Twin Hills golfers what they want in the way of an up-to- date clubhouse. ( The) building will be constructed of native stone. Cost is estimated at about $40,000. Carter said (the) professional’s shop will be located on the first floor, along with the locker and shower room. New clubhouse will have locker facilities for 240 players with eight showers. Ladies’ dressing room and showers will be on the second floor. Grill room also will be on the second floor. A long corridor connects the grill room with the large living room. The card room is next to the grill room.”
The official founding date of Twin Hills is 1923, which is when the clubhouse was completed. The club was officially incorporated as memberowned in 1946.
In addition to the 1935 PGA, Twin Hills has hosted the Western Amateur, the Western Junior Open, the Oklahoma City Open, the U.S. Junior Open and the NAIA National Championship.
But clearly, it’s grandest event was that 1935 PGA. The field was superb, highlighted by Gene Sarazen, the PGA champion of 1922, 1923 and 1933. Sarazen would win seven majors in all and is one of five players -- joining Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods -- to win each of the four majors at least once.
Walter Hagen was in the field, too. Hagen was a five-time PGA champ -1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927. He was 43 at the time of the 1935 PGA but had 11 major titles, including two U.S. Opens and four British Opens. The Masters didn’t begin until 1934, but Hagen won five Western Opens, when that tournament was a virtual major, before the concept really took hold. Nicklaus and Woods lead the list of majors champions, with 18 and 14, respectively. Hagen is next with 11. It is not clear that Nicklaus’ and Woods’ accomplishments surpass Hagen’s.
Tommy Armour was in the 1935 PGA. Armour was a Scotsman and war hero -- he temporarily lost his sight in a mustard gas explosion during the Great War, which we now call World War I. Armour recovered, resumed golfing and won three majors -- the 1927 U.S. Open, the 1930 PGA and the 1931 British.
Other past PGA champs in the field included Paul Runyan (1934) and Leo Diegel (1928, 1929).
The field of 143 players played 36 qualifying holes to produce a 64- golfer bracket. Hagen won the qualifying with a one-under 139. Revolta was fourth at 144.
For reasons only golfers can explain, Revolta and Hagen were matched in the first round. Revolta beat the legend, 1-up. Revolta sailed into the quarterfinals and beat Eddie Schultz 4 and 2, then dispatched Al Zimmerman 4 and 3.
In the finals against Armour, Revolta dominated, winning the 36-hole match 5 and 4. Some even speculated that Revolta gave Armour a hole, on No. 13, taking a dubious double bogey. No matter. Revolta won the 14th (32nd in the match) to close out the match.
In 172 holes during the PGA, Revolta had only one three-putt. His only double bogey was that suspicious 13th hole in the afternoon round of the final.
Here’s how Oklahoman sports editor Bus Ham wrote up the victory:
“A craggy-faced, wavy-haired boy who only a relatively few years ago was picking up a few dollars a day as a caddie, is going back to Milwaukee from Oklahoma City Thursday morning with the National P.G.A. crown adorning his proud head.
“Johnny Revolta, a 24-year- old Italian who dared defeat Walter Hagen, the grandest figure in golf, and then swept aside five subsequent opponents, is this new ruler of the professional clan.
“His final victim was Tommy Armour, that aristocrat of the links who has held almost every golfing title that it is possible for a man to affix to his name.
“Grim-jawed and merciless, squareshouldered Revolta, to whom some of the galleryites alluded as ‘ Raviola,’ conquered Armour in what amounted to a rout in the 36-hole championship engagement at Twin Hills Wednesday.
“On a day that was cold and gray, bringing out every kind of comforter, old or new, from neck-wrapper to top coat, Johnny crushed Tommy by 5 and 4.
“There were those in the hurrying herd of 2,500 followers of the struggle who suspected Revolta of pulling his punches late in the afternoon when he had the 40-year- old World war veteran far down, but not out.
“A man with the heart of Tommy Armour is never out, and this former United States, Great Britain and P.G.A. champion fought Revolta to the last ditch, although the body could not put into action the commands of the heart and head.
“His strength sapped by grueling matches Monday and Tuesday -- a 39hole battle with Ed Dudley and then a 2-1 combat with Al Watrous -- Armour was at a decided physical disadvantage from the outset.
“He had the sympathy of the sentimental throng which often expressed itself in such phrases as ‘Poor old Tommy,’ but that was of little assistance to him against such a tenacious foe as Revolta.”
Revolta went on to a solid career. He was back on the Ryder Cup team in 1937. He eventually won 18 PGA Tour events. He earned the nickname “Iron Master” because of his short game. Revolta’s book, Johnny Revolta’s Short Cuts to Better Golf, published in 1949, is still in print. He was head pro at Evanston Golf Club in Skokie, Illinois, from 1935 to 1966 and still taught there during summers into the late 1980s. Revolta died in Palm Springs, California, in 1991, at the age of 79.
Revolta played in 21 Masters, including as late as 1962. His last cut made in Augusta was a tie for 13th in 1952. Revolta played in 16 U.S. Opens, including as late as 1961; he tied for 30th in 1957 at the age of 46. Revolta played in the British Open only once, 1937, tying for 32nd. Americans regularly played in the British Open only after Arnold Palmer made it popular to do so in 1960. And Revolta played in PGAs, as late as 1961. But he never made another top-10 in a major after 1935.
“Good and true all the way,” Ham wrote the day the 1935 PGA ended, “Revolta will be remembered by Oklahomans as the lad who wasn’t long off the tee, but seldom strayed more than a few yards off the dotted line, and is a genius at getting up and in from the edge of the green.”