Former PGA champ Runyan dies

Charles Rich

GLENDALE -- The legend who mastered the short game and played an

integral role locally with golf has died.

Paul Runyan, a two-time PGA champion, died Sunday in Palm Springs. He

was 93.

The “Play for the Children” Paul Runyan Orthopaedic Hospital Golf

Classic has been played at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale. The April

event was renamed in honor Runyan, who won 26 times on the PGA Tour.

The event is geared to raise money for the Orthopaedic Hospital and

raise awareness for the hospital’s various programs. The Orthopaedic

Hospital is a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1922. It

originally treated just children, but is now a recognized nationally as a

orthopaedic referral center that manages children and adults.

“The hospital does a lot for children, and I’m honored to be a part of

it,” Runyan told the News-Press in 2000. “This is my chance to do

something on a personal level, rather than a financial level.”

Runyan was inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame in 1959 and the World

Golf Hall of Fame in 1990. He competed in the first Masters event in

Augusta, Ga. in 1934 and defeated legendary Sam Sneed to capture the PGA

championship in 1938.

Runyan topped Sneed 8 and 7 in the 36-hole final, thanks to a stellar

short game in which he made every putt. He was known as “Little Poison”

and competed with legendary athletes like Sneed, Walter Hagen and Gene

Sarazen. He continued to give lessons into 2002 at Palm Desert’s Golf

Center.