Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox golfer George Douglas Sanders (July 24, 1933 – April 12, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on the PGA Tour and had four runner-up finishes at major championships.
Early yearsEdit
He was born into a poor family in Cedartown, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, where his father farmed and drove trucks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=gghofprofile>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sanders was the fourth of five children and picked cotton as a teenager. The family home was near a nine-hole course and he was a self-taught golfer.<ref name=sijan62>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Amateur careerEdit
Sanders accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida in Gainesville,<ref name=sijan62/> where he played for the Gators golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition in 1955.<ref name=ufmediasupplement>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his single year as a Gator golfer, Sanders and the team won a Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship and earned a sixth-place finish at the NCAA championship tournament—the Gators' best national championship finish at that time.<ref name=ufmediasupplement/> Sanders won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur—the only amateur ever to do so—and turned professional shortly thereafter.<ref name=gshofprofile>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sanders was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour until Scott Verplank in 1985.
Professional careerEdit
Sanders had thirteen top-ten finishes in major championships, including four second-place finishes: 1959 PGA Championship, 1961 U.S. Open, 1966 and 1970 Opens. In 1966, he became one of the few players in history to finish in the top ten of all four major championships in a single season, despite winning none of them. He took four shots from just 74 yards as the leader playing the final hole of the 1970 Open Championship at St Andrews, missing a sidehill Template:Convert putt to win, then lost the resulting 18-hole playoff by a single stroke the next day to Jack Nicklaus.<ref name=kelley>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His final victory on tour came in June 1972 at the Kemper Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Lee Trevino.<ref name=sntikg>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sanders is remembered for an exceptionally short, flat golf swing — a consequence, it appears, of a painful neck condition that radically restricted his movements.<ref name=kelley/>
He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1967, which won in Houston.
Personal lifeEdit
Sanders was a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "Peacock of the Fairways."<ref name=kelley/> Esquire magazine named Sanders one of America's Ten Best Dressed Jocks in August 1972.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sanders identified himself as the lead character, a playboy PGA Tour golfer, in the golf novel Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Sanders wrote a golf instruction book, "Compact Golf", published in 1964, the title of which linked to Sanders' short golf swing. His autobiography "Come swing with me" was published in 1974.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
In his autobiography, Sanders said he was invited and intended to accompany fellow pro golfer and 1964 Open winner Tony Lema on the flight in a private plane in 1966 that crashed with no survivors. Sanders changed his schedule at the last minute and did not join Lema on the flight.<ref name=":0" />
After retiring from competitive golf, Sanders was active in his own corporate golf entertainment company for nearly 20 years, and sponsored the Doug Sanders International Junior Golf Championship in Houston, Texas. From 1988 to 1994, he also sponsored the Doug Sanders Celebrity Classic.
Sanders died in his adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, on April 12, 2020, from natural causes.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He was 86.
HonorsEdit
Sanders was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Georgia Sports Hall of Fame,<ref name=gshofprofile/> and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.<ref name=gghofprofile/> He was also inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Amateur winsEdit
- 1955 Mexican Amateur
Professional wins (24)Edit
PGA Tour wins (20)Edit
PGA Tour playoff record (5–5)
Far East Circuit wins (1)Edit
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mar 25, 1963 | Yomiuri International | 68-77-71-73=289 | +1 | 5 strokes | Template:Flagicon Hideyo Sugimoto |
Far East Circuit playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1964 | Philippine Open | Template:Flagicon Peter Thomson | Lost to bogey on first extra hole |
Other wins (2)Edit
- 1957 Colombian Open
- 1959 Sahara Pro-Am
Senior PGA Tour wins (1)Edit
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 25, 1983 | World Seniors Invitational | 70-70-73-70=283 | −5 | 1 stroke | Template:Flagicon Miller Barber |
Results in major championshipsEdit
Amateur
| Tournament | 1955 | 1956 |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Amateur | R128 | R64 |
| The Amateur Championship | R256 |
Professional
| Tournament | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T31 | ||
| U.S. Open | CUT | ||
| The Open Championship | |||
| PGA Championship | T2 |
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T29 | T11 | T33 | T28 | T11 | T4 | T16 | T12 | T36 | |
| U.S. Open | T46 | T2 | T11 | T21 | T32 | T11 | T8 | T34 | T37 | |
| The Open Championship | CUT | 11 | CUT | T2 | T18 | 34 | ||||
| PGA Championship | T3 | 3 | T15 | T17 | T28 | T20 | T6 | T28 | T8 | CUT |
| Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | ||||||
| U.S. Open | T37 | CUT | T45 | ||||
| The Open Championship | 2 | T9 | 4 | T28 | T28 | ||
| PGA Championship | T41 | CUT | T7 |
Template:Legend
Template:Legend
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R256, R128, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Sources: Masters Tournament,<ref>Past Winners & Results Template:Webarchive</ref> U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,<ref>USGA Championship Database Template:Webarchive</ref> Open Championship,<ref>1976 Open Championship leaderboard</ref> PGA Championship,<ref>PGA Championship Media Guide - Doug Sanders</ref> 1956 British Amateur<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
SummaryEdit
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 10 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 11 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 9 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 12 |
| Totals | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 25 | 49 | 42 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 14 (1965 PGA – 1969 Masters)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1966 Masters – 1966 PGA)
See alsoEdit
- List of American Ryder Cup golfers
- List of Florida Gators men's golfers on the PGA Tour
- List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
- List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Official website
- Template:PGATour player
- Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Profile Template:Webarchive
Template:1967 United States Ryder Cup team Template:Authority control