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Doug Sanders

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Doug Sanders
Sanders, circa 1960s
Personal information
Full nameGeorge Douglas Sanders
NicknamePeacock of the Fairways
Born(1933-07-24)July 24, 1933
Cedartown, Georgia, U.S.
DiedApril 12, 2020(2020-04-12) (aged 86)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Sporting nationality United States
Career
CollegeUniversity of Florida
Turned professional1956
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins24
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour20
PGA Tour Champions1
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT4: 1966
PGA ChampionshipT2: 1959
U.S. OpenT2: 1961
The Open ChampionshipT2/2nd: 1966, 1970
U.S. AmateurR64: 1956
British AmateurR256: 1956

George Douglas Sanders (July 24, 1933 – April 12, 2020)[1] was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on the PGA Tour and had four runner-up finishes at major championships.

Early years

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He was born into a poor family in Cedartown, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, where his father farmed and drove trucks.[2][3] 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.[4]

Amateur career

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Sanders accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida in Gainesville,[4] where he played for the Gators golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition in 1955.[5] 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.[5] Sanders won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur—the only amateur ever to do so—and turned professional shortly thereafter.[6] Sanders was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour until Scott Verplank in 1985.

Professional career

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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 3-foot (0.9 m) putt to win, then lost the resulting 18-hole playoff by a single stroke the next day to Jack Nicklaus.[7] His final victory on tour came in June 1972 at the Kemper Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Lee Trevino.[8]

Sanders is remembered for an exceptionally short, flat golf swing — a consequence, it appears, of a painful neck condition that radically restricted his movements.[7]

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

Personal life

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Sanders was a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "Peacock of the Fairways."[7] Esquire magazine named Sanders one of America's Ten Best Dressed Jocks in August 1972.[9]

Sanders identified himself as the lead character, a playboy PGA Tour golfer, in the golf novel Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins.[10]

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.[11]

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.[11]

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.[12][13] He was 86.

Honors

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Sanders was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame,[14] Georgia Sports Hall of Fame,[6] and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.[3] He was also inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."[15]

Amateur wins

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  • 1955 Mexican Amateur

Professional wins (24)

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PGA Tour wins (20)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 Jul 8, 1956 Canadian Open
(as an amateur) 		69-67-69-68=273 −15 Playoff United States Dow Finsterwald
2 Jun 1, 1958 Western Open 69-68-70-68=275 −13 1 stroke United States Dow Finsterwald
3 Dec 6, 1959 Coral Gables Open Invitational 68-71-69-65=273 −11 3 strokes United States Dow Finsterwald
4 Mar 5, 1961 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational 68-65-69-70=272 −16 5 strokes United States Gay Brewer, United States Mac Main
5 May 14, 1961 Colonial National Invitation 69-75-67-70=281 +1 1 stroke Australia Kel Nagle
6 May 21, 1961 Hot Springs Open Invitational 68-68-69-68=273 −15 1 stroke United States Dave Ragan, United States Jerry Steelsmith
7 Aug 6, 1961 Eastern Open Invitational 72-66-68-69=275 −13 1 stroke United States Ken Venturi
8 Nov 19, 1961 Cajun Classic Open Invitational 67-67-67-69=270 −14 6 strokes United States Ken Still
9 Mar 11, 1962 Pensacola Open Invitational 67-67-67-69=270 −18 1 stroke United States Don Fairfield
10 Aug 19, 1962 St. Paul Open Invitational 66-69-69-65=269 −19 3 strokes United States Dave Hill
11 Aug 26, 1962 Oklahoma City Open Invitational 70-69-74-67=280 −8 2 strokes United States Johnny Pott
12 Apr 14, 1963 Greater Greensboro Open 68-65-68-69=270 −14 4 strokes United States Jimmy Clark
13 Mar 7, 1965 Pensacola Open Invitational (2) 68-71-65-73=277 −11 Playoff United States Jack Nicklaus
14 Mar 14, 1965 Doral Open Invitational 65-71-71-67=274 −14 1 stroke Australia Bruce Devlin
15 Feb 6, 1966 Bob Hope Desert Classic 70-72-68-73-66=349 −11 Playoff United States Arnold Palmer
16 Mar 27, 1966 Jacksonville Open Invitational 71-65-66-71=273 −15 1 stroke United States Gay Brewer
17 Apr 3, 1966 Greater Greensboro Open (2) 65-70-71-70=276 −8 Playoff United States Tom Weiskopf
18 Mar 5, 1967 Doral Open Invitational (2) 68-71-66-70=275 −9 1 stroke South Africa Harold Henning, United States Art Wall Jr.
19 Dec 13, 1970 Bahama Islands Open 66-70-68-68=272 −16 Playoff United States Chris Blocker
20 Jun 4, 1972 Kemper Open 71-68-68-68=275 −13 1 stroke United States Lee Trevino

PGA Tour playoff record (5–5)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1956 Canadian Open
(as an amateur) 		United States Dow Finsterwald Won with par on first extra hole
2 1961 Phoenix Open Invitational United States Arnold Palmer Lost 18-hole playoff;
Palmer: −3 (67),
Sanders: E (70)
3 1962 West Palm Beach Open Invitational United States Dave Ragan Lost to birdie on second extra hole
4 1964 Greater Greensboro Open United States Julius Boros Lost to par on first extra hole
5 1965 Pensacola Open Invitational United States Jack Nicklaus Won with birdie on third extra hole
6 1965 Greater Seattle Open Invitational United States Gay Brewer Lost to par on first extra hole
7 1966 Bob Hope Desert Classic United States Arnold Palmer Won with birdie on first extra hole
8 1966 Greater Greensboro Open United States Tom Weiskopf Won with par on second extra hole
9 1970 The Open Championship United States Jack Nicklaus Lost 18-hole playoff;
Nicklaus: E (72),
Sanders: +1 (73)
10 1970 Bahama Islands Open United States Chris Blocker Won with par on second extra hole

Far East Circuit wins (1)

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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 Japan Hideyo Sugimoto

Far East Circuit playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1964 Philippine Open Australia Peter Thomson Lost to bogey on first extra hole

Other wins (2)

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Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

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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 United States Miller Barber

Results in major championships

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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
  Top 10
  Did not play

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,[16] U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur,[17] Open Championship,[18] PGA Championship,[19] 1956 British Amateur[20]

Summary

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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 also

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References

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  1. ^ Mason, Peter (April 14, 2020). "Doug Sanders obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  2. ^ Goldstein, Richard (April 12, 2020). "Doug Sanders, 'Peacock of the Fairways,' Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Member – Doug Sanders". Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Wright, Alfred (January 22, 1962). "The bad-form champion of golf". Sports Illustrated. p. 36.
  5. ^ a b "Florida Men's Golf 2013 Media Supplement" (PDF). Gainesville, Florida: University Athletic Association. pp. 36–37. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Inductees – Doug Sanders" (PDF). Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Kelley, Brent. "Doug Sanders". About.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  8. ^ "Sanders nips Trevino in Kemper golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. June 5, 1972. p. 22.
  9. ^ "Esquire names Frazier". The New Courier. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 2, 1972. p. 12 – via newspapers.com. ... Doug Sanders, a golf pro selected over the more publicized fashion plates of the game, complete the Esquire "10 Best-Dressed Jocks"
  10. ^ Sampson, Curt (2000). The Eternal Summer: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Hogan in 1960, Golf's Golden Year. New York: Villard Publishing. ISBN 978-0375753688.
  11. ^ a b Sanders, Doug; Sheehan, Larry (1974). Come Swing with Me by Doug Sanders. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385056311.
  12. ^ McEwan, Michael (April 13, 2020). "Doug Sanders: Tributes paid to flamoyant golf great". bunkered. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  13. ^ Schupak, Adam (April 12, 2020). "Doug Sanders, winner of 20 PGA Tour events, has died". Golfweek. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  14. ^ "Inductees – Doug Sanders (1972)". Florida Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  15. ^ "Gator Greats". F Club, Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  16. ^ Past Winners & Results Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ USGA Championship Database Archived December 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ 1976 Open Championship leaderboard
  19. ^ PGA Championship Media Guide - Doug Sanders
  20. ^ "Defeat of Leading American". The Glasgow Herald. May 29, 1956. p. 4.
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