Seeing that the last living player from the inaugural Masters died reminded me I wanted to post this.
Using the earliest debut from this year’s field, and continuing that process, how many players would it take to get back to the beginning of the tournament?
Explanation for linking: say the earliest debut from this year’s field was 1955, and at the '55 tourney the earliest debut was 1931, etc.
I doubt if you can drill any shallower than this path.
Ernie Els played in this years US open and won the 1994 US Open
Arnold Palmer played the in the 1953 US Open which was also played by Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen played in the 1920 US Open which was also played by Harry Vardon (2nd place)
Harry Vardon won the 1900 US Open which Horace Rawlins also played and he won the first US Open in 1895.
Can you do any better without relying on winners?
Well I didn’t rely on winners. 1920 (Ted Ray) and 1953 (Ben Hogan) did not include a winner.
Did Els and Vardon win their Open debuts?