Doug Sanders

George Douglas Sanders (July 24, 1933 – April 12, 2020) was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on the PGA Tour and had four runner-up finishes at major championships.

Early life He was born into a poor family in Cedartown, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, where his father farmed and drove trucks. 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.

Amateur career Sanders accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for the Gators golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition in 1955. 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. Sanders won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur—the only amateur ever to do so—and turned professional shortly thereafter. Sanders was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour until Scott Verplank in 1985.

Professional career 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 putt to win, then lost the resulting 18-hole playoff by a single stroke the next day to Jack Nicklaus. His final victory on tour came in June 1972 at the Kemper Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Lee Trevino.

Sanders is remembered for an exceptionally short, flat golf swing — a consequence, it appears, of a painful neck condition that radically restricted his movements.

He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1967, which won in Houston.

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.

Personal life Sanders was a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "Peacock of the Fairways." Esquire magazine named Sanders one of America's Ten Best Dressed Jocks in August 1972.

Sanders identified himself as the lead character, a playboy PGA Tour golfer, in the golf novel Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins.

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.

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.

Death Sanders died in his adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, on April 12, 2020, from natural causes. He was 86.

Awards and honors

In 1972, Sanders was a inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame In 1975, Georgia Sports Hall of Fame In 2011, Sanders was inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame In 2013, he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great"

Amateur wins 1955 Mexican Amateur

Professional wins (24) PGA Tour wins (20) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up1Jul 8, 1956Canadian Open(as an amateur)69-67-69-68=273−15Playoff Dow Finsterwald2Jun 1, 1958Western Open 69-68-70-68=275−131 stroke Dow Finsterwald3Dec 6, 1959Coral Gables Open Invitational 68-71-69-65=273−113 strokes Dow Finsterwald4Mar 5, 1961Greater New Orleans Open Invitational68-65-69-70=272−165 strokes Gay Brewer, Mac Main5May 14, 1961Colonial National Invitation 69-75-67-70=281+11 stroke Kel Nagle6May 21, 1961Hot Springs Open Invitational68-68-69-68=273−151 stroke Dave Ragan, Jerry Steelsmith7Aug 6, 1961Eastern Open Invitational72-66-68-69=275−131 stroke Ken Venturi8Nov 19, 1961Cajun Classic Open Invitational67-67-67-69=270−146 strokes Ken Still9Mar 11, 1962Pensacola Open Invitational67-67-67-69=270−181 stroke Don Fairfield10Aug 19, 1962St. Paul Open Invitational66-69-69-65=269−193 strokes Dave Hill11Aug 26, 1962Oklahoma City Open Invitational70-69-74-67=280−82 strokes Johnny Pott12Apr 14, 1963Greater Greensboro Open68-65-68-69=270−144 strokes Jimmy Clark 13Mar 7, 1965Pensacola Open Invitational (2)68-71-65-73=277−11Playoff Jack Nicklaus14Mar 14, 1965Doral Open Invitational 65-71-71-67=274−141 stroke Bruce Devlin15Feb 6, 1966Bob Hope Desert Classic70-72-68-73-66=349−11Playoff Arnold Palmer16Mar 27, 1966Jacksonville Open Invitational71-65-66-71=273−151 stroke Gay Brewer17Apr 3, 1966Greater Greensboro Open (2)65-70-71-70=276−8Playoff Tom Weiskopf18Mar 5, 1967Doral Open Invitational (2)68-71-66-70=275−91 stroke Harold Henning, Art Wall Jr.19Dec 13, 1970Bahama Islands Open66-70-68-68=272−16Playoff Chris Blocker20Jun 4, 1972Kemper Open71-68-68-68=275−131 stroke Lee Trevino

PGA Tour playoff record (5–5) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult11956Canadian Open(as an amateur) Dow FinsterwaldWon with par on first extra hole 21961Phoenix Open Invitational Arnold PalmerLost 18-hole playoff;Palmer: −3 (67),Sanders: E (70) 31962West Palm Beach Open Invitational Dave RaganLost to birdie on second extra hole41964 Greater Greensboro Open Julius BorosLost to par on first extra hole 51965Pensacola Open Invitational Jack NicklausWon with birdie on third extra hole61965Greater Seattle Open Invitational Gay BrewerLost to par on first extra hole71966Bob Hope Desert Classic Arnold PalmerWon with birdie on first extra hole81966Greater Greensboro Open Tom WeiskopfWon with par on second extra hole91970The Open Championship Jack NicklausLost 18-hole playoff;Nicklaus: E (72),Sanders: +1 (73)101970Bahama Islands Open Chris BlockerWon with par on second extra hole

Far East Circuit wins (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner-up1Mar 25, 1963Yomiuri International68-77-71-73=289+15 strokes Hideyo Sugimoto

Far East Circuit playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult11964Philippine Open Peter ThomsonLost to bogey on first extra hole

Other wins (2) 1957 Colombian Open 1959 Sahara Pro-Am

Senior PGA Tour wins (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner-up1Sep 25, 1983World Seniors Invitational70-70-73-70=283−51 stroke Miller Barber

Results in major championships Amateur Tournament19551956U.S. AmateurR128R64The Amateur ChampionshipR256

Professional Tournament195719581959Masters TournamentT31U.S. OpenCUTThe Open ChampionshipPGA ChampionshipT2

Tournament1960196119621963196419651966196719681969Masters TournamentT29T11T33T28T11T4T16T12T36U.S. OpenT46T2T11T21T32T11T8T34T37The Open ChampionshipCUT11CUTT2T1834PGA ChampionshipT33T15T17T28T20T6T28T8CUT

Tournament1970197119721973197419751976Masters TournamentCUTU.S. OpenT37CUTT45The Open Championship2T94T28T28PGA ChampionshipT41CUTT7

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,Past Winners & Results U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,USGA Championship Database Open Championship,1976 Open Championship leaderboard PGA Championship,PGA Championship Media Guide - Doug Sanders 1956 British Amateur

Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 1 1 5 11 10U.S. Open 0 1 0 1 2 5 13 11The Open Championship 0 2 0 3 4 6 11 9PGA Championship 0 1 2 3 6 9 14 12Totals 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)

Doug Sanders

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