By Timothy Malcolm, Houston Chronicle
Jack Burke Jr., the oldest living Masters champion and a titan of Houston golf, died on Jan. 19, just 10 days shy of his 101st birthday.
It's impossible to simplify Burke's singular presence in golf history. The 2000 inductee of the World Golf Hall of Fame who won the 1956 Masters Tournament after a historic comeback, and captured the PGA Championship that same year, devoted much of his time and resources to teaching amateur players and raising Houston's reputation for championship-level golf.
In 1957, Burke and three-time Masters champion and Houston native Jimmy Demaret, co-founded Champions Golf Club, which hosted the 1969 U.S. Open, the 2020 U.S. Women's Open and multiple PGA Tour events. Burke and his wife Robin sold the club in 2021 to his son Mike Burke.
Throughout his life, Burke thought of himself not just as a player, but also as an ambassador for Houston and teacher to anyone who would listen.
"I think sometimes when a golf pro takes a job, he forgets that golf pro is short for promoter," Burke told Sports Illustrated in 2020. "That’s what we should be about is promoting the game. That’s what my father did, and that’s all I wanted to do."
Burke was born in 1923 in Fort Worth. His father, Jack Burke Sr., turned professional around 1907 and finished second in the 1920 U.S. Open. Burke Sr. moved the family to Houston to become the club pro at River Oaks Country Club. The younger Burke started playing golf at age 7.
Burke graduated from St. Thomas High School and turned pro in 1941 before joining the Marine Corps. During World War II he served as a combat trainer in San Diego, then returned to professional play in 1946. His first outright PGA Tour victory came in the 1950 Rio Grande Valley Open. During that time, he served as assistant golf pro to Claude Harmon Sr. at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
In 1952, Burke transformed into a star golfer, winning the Texas Open in San Antonio and the Houston Open in consecutive weeks. He extended that streak to four consecutive tour victories with wins in Baton Rouge and St. Petersburg in the following two weeks. Burke is one of four golfers all-time to achieve this feat, the others being Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Tiger Woods.
After three top-10 finishes in four years at the Masters Tournament, Burke captured the green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club in 1956. He began the final round at the Masters trailing leader Ken Venturi by eight strokes, ultimately winning the tournament by one stroke. It remains the largest final-round comeback to ever win the Masters, and his final stroke total of 289 is tied for the highest winning score in tournament history.
Burke followed his Masters victory three months later with a playoff win over Ted Kroll in the 1956 PGA Championship at Blue Hill Country Club in Canton, Mass.
While playing on the tour, Burke realized that the U.S. Open and PGA Championship were routinely played on courses up north and sought to change that reality. That led to the creation of Champions Golf Club in partnership with Demaret, who served as Burke Sr.'s assistant years before. The 18-hole Cypress Creek course at Champions opened in 1959, and the 18-hole Jackrabbit followed in 1964. Designed by Ralph Plummer, Cypress Creek hosted the 1967 Ryder Cup, 1969 U.S. Open and five non-major Tour Championships (1990, '97, '99, 2001, '03). Cypress Creek also hosted the Houston Open annually between 1966 and '68, and again from 1970 to '71.
The George Fazio-designed Jackrabbit hosted one round of the 2020 U.S. Women's Open, which was played during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Cypress Creek hosted the tournament's other three rounds.
By 2019, Champions boasted 800 members. In 1967, Burke co-founded the best-ball stroke-play format Champions Cup Invitational, which spotlights Burke and the club's focus on amateur play. To Burke, working with younger and less-experienced golfers was key to growing the game.
"That’s what it is. An amateur game," Burke told the Houston Chronicle during his 100th birthday celebration in January 2023. "It’s a game, and there’s rules. The United States Golf Association puts out 25 rules. God put down only 10 commandments."
Over the last several decades, some of golf's greatest professionals have also visited Champions to gain some wisdom from Burke. Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson went to Champions to get putting lessons from Burke.
"I lost quite a few dinners to him with his 3-foot circle drill but it’s one of the many things he taught me that I use to this day," wrote Mickelson on social media platform X following the announcement of Burke’s passing. "His lessons will stay with me and the thousands of other golfers he has helped."
Butch Harmon, son of Claude Harmon Sr. who knew Burke his entire life, said at Burke's 100th birthday party last year that the golf legend made an impact on countless lives and on the game of golf in Houston and nationwide.
"The people that he has touched in the golf world, whether it be movie stars, athletes, members or anybody, he’s a walking encyclopedia," Harmon said in 2023. "For him to be on the earth for 100 years, there are millions of people that he has touched their lives through golf that don’t even realize it, because they may have spent five minutes with Jack.
"He’s just a treasure. In golf, yes, he’s a legend. As a human being, he’s one of the best people I’ve ever met."
