Jack Fleck
| Jack Fleck | |
|---|---|
| — Golfer — | |
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Jack Donald Fleck |
| Born |
November 7, 1921 Bettendorf, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | March 21, 2014 (aged 92) Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 167 lb (76 kg; 11.9 st) |
| Nationality |
 United States
|
| Spouse | Carmen Fleck (m. 2001) Lynn Burnsdale Fleck (m. 1949–75, her death) |
| Children | Craig H. |
| Career | |
| College | None |
| Turned professional | 1939 |
| Former tour(s) |
PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour |
| Professional wins | 7 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 3 |
| Other | 2 (regular) 2 (senior) |
| Best results in major championships (wins: 1) |
|
| Masters Tournament | T11: 1962 |
| U.S. Open | Won: 1955 |
| The Open Championship | DNP |
| PGA Championship | T7: 1962 |
Jackson Donald "Jack" Fleck (November 7, 1921 – March 21, 2014) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1955 in a playoff over Ben Hogan.
Born in 1921 and raised in Bettendorf, Iowa, Fleck's parents were poor farmers who had lost their land in the 1920s. He attended Davenport High School and played on its golf team. Fleck started as a caddy for a local dentist in the mid-1930s, turned professional in 1939, and worked as an assistant golf pro at the Des Moines Country Club for five dollars a week prior to World War II. He joined the military in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy as a quartermaster; he participated in the D-Day invasion from a British rocket-firing ship off Normandy's Utah Beach. Within two weeks after his discharge from the service, Fleck was on the PGA's winter golf tour with pro friends trying to qualify for PGA Tour events.
After a few years of competing in local and PGA Tour events, Fleck decided to play full-time on the Tour for two years. Within six months, Fleck had his first win — on the biggest stage in men's professional golf — at the 1955 U.S. Open. Fleck won an 18-hole Sunday playoff by three strokes over his idol, Ben Hogan, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. His first round deficit of nine strokes (behind Tommy Bolt), was the greatest number overcome by a U.S. Open winner. The following year he resigned his job as a municipal club pro in Davenport and moved to the Detroit area in October 1956.
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