When golf fans think of the Masters, they probably think of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer or Tiger Woods. Fans most certainly don’t think of Charles Kunkle Jr.
In fact, most golf fans have likely never heard the name.
Kunkle played basketball at Duke but didn’t start playing golf till after college. He is credited with starting the Sunnehanna Amateur. He played in five straight U.S. Amateurs and a quarterfinal appearance in 1955 punched his ticket for a trip down Magnolia Lane. In full, his list of accomplishments in business and community affairs is staggering.
Kunkle is also a Masters record holder but not the kind you’d brag about under the Big Oak. Further, he’s likely one of the key reasons there’s a 36-hole cut at the Masters.
In 1956, in the 20th playing of the Masters Tournament, the amateur Kunkle shot 78, 12 shots back of fellow amateur Ken Venturi’s 66. The man known as Kunk followed his 78 up with a Friday 82 and Saturday 85.
It all bottomed out Sunday when Kunkle carded a 95, still the highest score ever posted, which included a front-nine 49, also a record. His four-day total of 340 is yet another record he holds and this is the one that’ll likely never be broken because it’s unimaginable to think that the Masters Tournament would ever go back to being an event that doesn’t have a 36-hole cut, which Augusta National installed starting in 1957.
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