Demaret, Jimmy (24 May 1910-28 Dec. 1983), professional golfer, was born James Newton Demaret in Houston, Texas, the son of John O'Brien Demaret, a carpenter; his mother's name is unknown. He grew up in Houston, began caddying at the age of eight, and won his first competitive tournament three years later in 1923. Demaret completed two years of high school before starting his professional golf career. He married a redhead named Idella Adams, and the couple had a daughter.

After brief stints in the pro shops of several clubs in the Houston area, as well as a number of singing gigs in nightclubs, Demaret achieved his first professional golf success in 1934 when he won the Texas PGA Championship in Dallas. Demaret spent the rest of the Great Depression touring and playing in minor tournaments in Texas and California. In 1938, after he won his fifth consecutive Texas PGA title, Demaret joined the regular tour and captured his first victory of national significance in the San Francisco Match Play tournament by beating Sam Snead. He soon developed a reputation as an extroverted, flashily dressed player with a solid game.

One of Demaret's finest seasons on the professional circuit was in 1940 when he won seven events, including the U.S. Masters and the Western Open. His Masters victory was record-setting in that he shot 67 in the first round. His score of 30 over the last nine holes, comprised of six birdies and three pars, was the lowest to that date and has been matched only a few times by the likes of Ben Hogan and Gary Player. In 1941 Demaret won three tournaments, among them the Argentine Open, and in 1943 he added two more minor events.

Demaret served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; his career was interrupted at the most unfortunate time because he was at his competitive peak in the early 1940s. After winning several minor tournaments in 1945-1946, Demaret came back in 1947 with another impressive season. That year he won six titles, including his second Masters, edging Byron Nelson by two strokes. He also collected the Vardon Trophy, given to the PGA tour player with the season's lowest stroke average, and he was the tour's leading money winner, collecting $27,936. In 1948 he broke the U.S. Open scoring record with a 278 at the Riviera Country Club, but finished two strokes behind Ben Hogan.

Demaret was one of Hogan's few close friends, and in 1954 he published My Partner, Ben Hogan, a book that chronicled the life and career of Hogan in the aftermath of his life-threatening auto accident. Demaret and Hogan were a feared match-play team in four-ball tournaments and in Ryder Cup matches. Demaret's Ryder Cup record from 1947 to 1951 was a perfect six wins and no losses. He won his third Masters, and his last major title, in 1950 when he shot 69 in the last round to overtake Jim Ferrier, former Australian Amateur and Open champion.

Over the next seven seasons, Demaret collected a handful of minor tournaments. In 1957, at age 47, he failed by one stroke to get into a playoff for the U.S. Open held at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Though he never won the U.S. Open, the British Open, or the PGA Championship, he did win 44 professional events (31 sanctioned by the PGA), became the first man to win three Masters titles, and was elected to the PGA Golf Hall of Fame in 1960. Demaret retired from competitive golf in 1963.

Demaret spent the last twenty years of his life working as a television commentator, as host of the "Wonderful World of Golf" series during the 1960s, and as a consultant to a golf club manufacturer. The majority of his retirement, however, was spent managing the Champions Golf Club in Houston, which he co-owned with his lifelong friend Jack Burke. The course is one of Demaret's legacies to the game and was the site of the 1967 Ryder Cup matches and the 1968 U.S. Open. Demaret died of heart failure while working on the course he designed and built.

Demaret's professional record, while quite respectable, was overshadowed by his extremely popular personality and style. He was golf's most colorful figure in his era and, thus, a true gate attraction in the manner of Walter Hagen of the Golden Twenties. His trademark was not so much his solid and steady game as his sense of humor and outlandish wardrobe--particularly his collection of hats, or "lids," which ranged from a Scotch-plaid fedora to a Swiss yodeler's cap to the "wildest tam you ever did see." In an era when most golfers wore gray or white, Demaret adorned himself in electric blue, bright apricot, or canary yellow. Behind the smile was a respected and loved player who made a significant contribution as one of the game's finest ambassadors. Sam Snead observed, "Of all the guys on the tour, I think [Demaret] was more well-liked than anybody, by the pros and the fans both. He was a wonderful guy."

Demaret's My Partner, Ben Hogan (1954) focuses primarily on Hogan but does include some information on Demaret's career, especially in the early years. Obituaries are in the Houston Chronicle and the New York Times, both 29 Dec. 1983.