Jack Burke Jr. , oldest living Masters champion, dies at 100 in Houston
Jack Burke Jr. loved to play golf as much as he enjoyed teaching it.
In a golfing life that spanned just over a century, he delivered the largest comeback in Masters history, built the fabled Champions Golf Club in Houston and left everyone he met with homespun wisdom on golf and life.
“Leisure time is dangerous. You might wind up inside a bottle of bourbon,” Burke once said about retirement. “You were put on this Earth to produce, so get with it.”
Burke, who was the oldest living Masters champion, died Friday morning in Houston. He was 100, just 10 days short of his next birthday.
“I went to see him last Friday, and he did what he did best, giving me golf lessons and life lessons,” PGA champion Hal Sutton said. “He lived a productive life. This is a celebration of his life more than anything.”
Burke was a Marine during World War II. His induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 was as much about his influence on golf as the two majors he won in 1956. And he was renowned for his sharp wit that never left him.
“Why did golf give us 34 rules when God only gave us 10 commandments?” he said over dinner at his home in Houston in 2020.
Burke won the Masters and the PGA Championship in 1956 when he was the PGA player of the year. He was best known for staging the greatest comeback in Masters history when he overcame an eight-shot deficit in the final round to beat Ken Venturi.
In conditions so blustery only two players broke par, Burke posted a 1-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Venturi, who shot 80. Burke recalled a key putt on the 17th hole when the wind was so strong it had blown sand out of the bunker.
“The wind grabbed that thing and kept blowing it down the hill, until it plunked dead in the middle of the hole. It was a miracle, the best break of my career. You better believe wind affects putts,” he said. “A golf ball weighs 1.62 ounces. Can a 20-mile-per-hour wind affect that ball as it rolls? You tell me.”
Later that year, Burke defeated Ted Kroll, 3 and 2, to win the PGA Championship.