A no-nonsense character who won countless major championships and broke all manner of records, 'Slammin' Sam Snead's death on 23 May, 2002 marked the end of golf's most prolific era.

Altogether, he won an incredible 82 PGA Tour events, seven majors, three Masters, three PGA Championships and one British Open. Despite his failure to win a US Open, he remains the world record holder for the most golf wins to this day.

During a career on the green that spanned almost 70 years, he won an estimated total of 160 professional tournaments and was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Beyond the sheer magnitude of his achievements, Mr Snead will always be remembered for the style and grace he brought to the game, as well as his trademark straw hat, cocky grin and homespun humour.

Samuel Jackson Snead was born on 27 May 1912, in Virginia, America. He grew up during the Depression, the youngest of five brothers, caddying at the local resort hotel in order to supplement his family's income.

An all-round athlete, he taught himself to play golf at an early age, using clubs carved from tree limbs by his father. He finally burst onto the professional circuit in 1937, at the PGA Tour, where he stunned crowds with his long drives and smooth swing. That year, he won four events, including the Oakland Open and became the third highest money-winning golfer with $10,243.

Less than a year later, he was number one and, in 1938, won the Greater Greensboro Open. He would go on to win this event a record number of eight times.

1939 saw the first of several successive failures in the US Open, the only major event he never won which, perhaps rather unfairly, left his outstanding golfing career slightly tarnished.

The advent of World War Two called Mr Snead to service in the Navy from 1942 to 1944, but a postponed induction allowed him to enter and win his first major, the 1942 PGA. During the late 1940s, he also won three USPGA Championships, a further PGA Championship, the Vardon Trophy, a Masters, and the British Open. However, his best year by far came in 1950 when he won a record 11 events.

He was a member of the Ryder Cup squad ten times between 1937 and 1969, including a spell as team captain in 1959.

In later years, Mr Snead became the oldest player to win a PGA Tour event at the Greater Greensboro Open in 1965, aged 52. From 1984 to 2002, he hit the honoury opening

tee shot at The Masters and, though he left the Tour in 1979, played well into his 60s on the Senior PGA Tour, winning eleven titles in total.

He died four days short of his 90th birthday on 23 May 2002, at his home in Virginia, after suffering from a series of strokes.

A fan favourite, Mr Snead was an extremely gifted athlete, so limber that, even in his early 80s, he could easily kick the top of a door frame. Many commented on his agility and seemingly effortless swing, including fellow golfer John Schlee , who said, 'Watching Sam Snead practice hitting golf balls is like watching a fish practice swimming.'

Some say his most impressive feat came in 1979 at the Quad Cities Open, where he became the first player on the PGA Tour to ever shoot his age, a 67 at age 67.

Perhaps a sign of failing health, for the first time he needed someone else to tee up the ball at his final appearance at the Masters in 2002. His ceremonial opening shot flew into the gallery and struck a fan in the face, breaking the man's glasses.

He wrote two best-selling books during his career, 'How to Play Golf' in 1946 and 'The Education of a Golfer' in 1962.