A stroke of luck

Here’s a photograph from the June 12 1933 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a golfer who had just won the U.S. Open.

Johnny Goodman (1909-1970) grew up in tough circumstances in South Omaha: his mother died when he was 11, after giving birth to her 13th child, and his father abandoned the family. Despite this start, Goodman went on to win about 60 tournaments as an amateur, supporting himself by working as an insurance salesman. He remains the last amateur to have ever won the U.S. Open.