Byron Nelson holds the PGA Championship trophy he won in Hershey, Pa., on Sept. 2, 1940. Nelson, who had the greatest year in the history of professional golf when he won 18 tournaments in 1945, including a record 11 in a row, died Tuesday at 94.

IRVING, Texas — Byron Nelson's mechanics were so perfect that the U.S. Golf Association nicknamed its robotic swing device the "Iron Byron." He was such a Masters icon that Augusta National named a bridge after him in 1958, then a few years ago added a statue of him, too.

And the man known as "Lord Byron" was so beloved in golf he became the first player after whom a PGA Tour stop was named.

Yet what will forever define the story of the courtly Texan with the elegant stroke and personality to match always comes back to 1945, when Nelson completed the greatest year in the history of the game: 18 wins, and a mesmerizing 11 of those in a row.

"The Streak" is a record that no golfer has ever approached. Many believe no one ever will.

Nelson died Tuesday at 94, the end of a life spanning eras from hickory shafts and meager prize money to titanium heads and multimillionaires.

His wife, Peggy Nelson, told family friend Angela Enright that her husband appeared fine as she left their Roanoke home for Bible study Tuesday morning.

"I'm so proud of you," he told her, something he often said about her church involvement, Enright said. When she returned, Peggy Nelson found her husband on the back porch, which faces the woodworking shop where he spent much of his free time.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office said he died of natural causes.

Arnold Palmer called Nelson "one of the greatest players who ever lived."

"I don't think that anyone will ever exceed the things that Byron did by winning 11 tournaments in a row in one year," Palmer said in a statement.

The closest any player has come to Nelson's streak is six, first by Ben Hogan in 1948. When Tiger Woods reached that number in 1999-2000, Nelson was typically gracious when putting his own mark into perspective.

"Anytime you make a record stand for 55 years, why, you've done pretty good," he told The Associated Press.

Nelson won 18 tournaments in 1945, also a record for a calendar year. He captured 31 of 54 tournaments in 1944-45, and won a total of 52 events, including five majors: the Masters in 1937 and '42, the U.S. Open in 1939 and the PGA Championship in 1940 and '45.

Then, at age 34, he retired after the 1946 season to spend more time on his Texas ranch.

"When I was playing regularly, I had a goal," Nelson recalled years later. "I could see the prize money going into the ranch, buying a tractor, or a cow. It gave me incentive."

Nelson's long, fluid swing is considered the model of the modern way to strike a golf ball. In 1968, he was the first player to have a PGA Tour event named for him, an honor that remained his alone until the former Bay Hill Invitational, scheduled for March, was renamed the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

"We have lost a giant in the game ... someone who elevated the game in every way: as a player, an ambassador and a gentleman," said Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion and winner of Nelson's tournament in 1983. "Whoever came up with 'Lord Byron,' they got it exactly right."

Nelson held the PGA Tour records for most consecutive made cuts (113) and for single-season scoring average (68.33) until both were broken by Woods, who called him "the greatest ambassador golf has ever known."

"He retired early," Woods said early Wednesday from the American Express Championship outside London. "All he wanted to do was make enough money to buy his ranch. If he had kept playing like guys do now, more than likely he would have won more tournaments than anyone."