Golf’s Toughest Competitor Lloyd Mangrum

Posted by Rubell on July 1, 2009 at 2:32 pm

People say Tiger Woods is golf’s fiercest competitor, but such talk would just make Lloyd Mangrum laugh. You see, Mangrum was, is, and likely always will be golf’s toughest tough guy. Tiger stares down 3-foot putts; Mangrum stared down death.

Contemporaries called Mangrum “Mr. Icicle” for his cool confidence under pressure, and for his frosty personality. So quiet as to appear condescending, Mangrum showed little emotion. Other golfers respected his ability and feared his temper.

Sam Snead remembered sitting with Mangrum at a restaurant once when Lloyd accidentally tripped a passerby. The irate man rose and started yelling at Mangrum. The golfer listened for a minute, silent and stone-faced. Then, in a flash, Mangrum picked up the sugar bowl and slammed it into the man’s face. Crunch, crash, splattering blood.

Years later, after Mangrum died—which meant he was safe saying it—Snead revealed: “Some of us weren’t sure he was quite right mentally because of what he went through in the war.”

Decorated Soldier in Patton’s Army
Lloyd Mangrum earned four Battle Stars and received two Purple Hearts fighting in World War II. Serving in a forward reconnaissance group of the 9th Division of General Patton’s Third Army, Mangrum landed on Omaha Beach as part of the D-Day invasion, helped win the Battle of the Bulge, and fought to the war’s final days in Czechoslovakia. Of his original platoon, only Mangrum and one other man survived the war.

Enduring such hardships, Mangrum returned home to find that, “Golf is a cinch compared to what I went through in the war.” He went on to win 36 tournaments, ranking him in the top 15 of all time. He twice earned the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average, tallied an incredible record on four Ryder Cup teams (once serving as playing captain), and, in 1998, was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Yet despite all these accomplishments very few golf fans today know anything about Lloyd Mangrum. Sportswriter Jim Murray dubbed Mangrum “the forgotten man of golf.” Certainly, his reputation suffered because of when he played. Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson all collected more victories, and even Hogan (nicknamed “the Iceman”) possessed a warmer personality.

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