Like the sand wedge he invented, the major championships he won and the elegant sportsmanship he displayed, Gene Sarazen was the very essence of golf.

"When you discuss or research the history of golf, the name Gene Sarazen is unavoidable," Jack Nicklaus said. "He was the cornerstone of the game we all enjoy today."

Sarazen died yesterday at age 97 from complications of pneumonia at Naples, Fla. Community Hospital, said his lawyer, John Cardillo. He had been hospitalized for several days.

Not only was Sarazen the first to win all four major championships, he put the Masters on the map with his "shot heard 'round the world."

"He will be remembered for as long as golf is played," Byron Nelson said.

With his signature knickers and quick wit, the "Squire" played everyone from Harry Vardon to Bobby Jones to Nicklaus.

A former caddie, Sarazen was inspired by watching Francis Ouimet win the 1913 U.S. Open. Nine years later, Sarazen won the U.S. Open with a final-round 68 to defeat Jones and Walter Hagen, then won the PGA Championship later that season at Oakmont. He beat Hagen in the PGA in 1923 and won seven major championships in all.

But Sarazen's career was defined in 1935 at a new course in Georgia where Jones invited his friends to compete in the Augusta National Invitation Tournament--later known as the Masters.

Trailing Craig Wood by three strokes with four holes remaining, Sarazen holed a 235-yarder with a 4-wood on No. 15 for a double-eagle 2, the rarest shot in golf. He tied Wood in regulation and beat him in a playoff.

The victory made Sarazen the first of only four players to win the career Grand Slam. And with one shot, he made the Masters perhaps the most famous tournament in the world.

"It was a spectacular shot, the one everybody talks about, but I take my greatest pride in having won the U.S. and British Opens in the same year, 1932," Sarazen once said.

"Nowadays, wherever I go, people say, 'That's the man who got the double eagle.' Actually, it was just a piece of luck. They forget the championships I won."

Asked what he thought about Tiger Woods winning the Masters at age 21, Sarazen quipped, "I won two majors when I was 20."

He stopped playing golf in 1973, but went out in fashion with a hole-in-one at the famous Postage Stamp hole at Royal Troon.

"The game has lost one of its great heroes," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "Gene Sarazen dedicated his life to golf and became one of the game's legendary figures."

Since 1981, Sarazen has joined Nelson and Sam Snead in hitting a ceremonial tee shot to officially start the Masters. He hit his drive this year about 140 yards down the left side of the fairway.

"Gene was a pioneer participant in the Masters tournament and held a special relationship with Augusta National," club chairman Hootie Johnson said. "We will miss him very much next year on the first tee. He was a great champion and ambassador for golf."