The best golfer from every U.S. state

Virginia: Sam Snead

Whenever you talk about the greatest golfers of all time regardless of the state that they’re from, the three names that you’ll most often hear are Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, all three of whom have been mentioned previously on this list. However, none of that trio rank first when it comes to the number of PGA Tour wins all time. That distinction instead belongs to the great Sam Snead, who undoubtedly is the greatest to ever come out of the state Virginia.

Snead started his pro career on the PGA Tour in 1936 and wasted little time getting to capturing titles. He was able to win his first tournament as a rookie and simply just kept on winning from there on out. What’s crazy is that, even though Snead served in the Navy during World War II from 1942-44, he was still able to continue having success and set the mark for the most wins in history on the PGA Tour. To snapshot the longevity of his career, Snead’s first win came in 1936, and his last came in 1965 — when he won at 52 years old, the oldest player to win on the PGA Tour.

Snead won seven majors throughout his career, but fell short of winning the career grand slam as he could only ever finish second at the U.S. Open, which he did on four occasions. Still, Snead had a career that was synonymous with winning and clearly is the best from the state of Virginia.