Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who has won numerous tournaments at both the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament.

Early life

Stadler was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

His father started him in golf at age four, and he displayed a talent for golf early in life. Stadler attended

La Jolla High School La Jolla High School (LJHS) is a comprehensive high school for grades 9–12 located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. Opened in 1922, La Jolla High School (LJHS) is the second-oldest campus in the San Diego Unified School Distric ...

He won the 1973

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

, while attending the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, where he was a teammate of future PGA Tour winners Mark Pfeil and Scott Simpson. Stadler was an All-American all four years – first-team his sophomore and junior years; second-team his freshman and senior years. Stadler finished college in 1975 and turned professional in 1976.

Professional career

Stadler won his first two PGA Tour events in 1980, at the

Bob Hope Desert Classic The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...

and the

Greater Greensboro Open The Wyndham Championship is a professional golf tournament in North Carolina on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in Greensboro and was originally the Greater Greensboro Open. History Founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open, it was usua ...

. His career year was 1982 when he won four PGA Tour events including the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

after a playoff with

Dan Pohl Danny Joe Pohl (born April 1, 1955) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He won two PGA Tour tournaments (the 1986 Colonial in a 1-hole playoff win against Payne Stewart and the 1986 World Seri ...

and the

World Series of Golf The World Series of Golf was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. From its inception in 1962 through 1975, it was an unofficial 36-hole event matching the winners of the four major champi ...

at the end of the year. Stadler won the money list for the only time. His next win was at the 1984

Byron Nelson Classic The AT&T Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020 ...

. Despite playing relatively well, Stadler did not win a PGA Tour event for over 7 years (May 1984 – November 1991) during the heart of his career. During this period he recorded six runner-up performances and dozens of top-10s on the PGA Tour. He had more success at winning international tournaments. He won the 1985

Swiss Open The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with Eu ...

on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

and the 1987

Dunlop Phoenix Tournament The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. It is played in November at the Phoenix Country Club in Miyazaki, Miyazaki is the capital city of Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. The city was founded on April ...

on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...

. He had great success at the

Scandinavian Enterprise Open The Scandinavian Enterprise Open was a golf tournament on the European Tour that was played in Sweden until 1990, when it had a prize fund of £400,000, which was mid-range for the tour at that time. In 1991, the tournament was merged with fell ...

too, an official event on the European Tour, finishing runner-up at the 1983 and 1986 events until finally winning in 1990. His winless streak in America was broken at the final event of the 1991 season, defeating Russ Cochran in a playoff at the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

. Stadler won the

B.C. Open The B.C. Open was a PGA Tour golf tournament in New York, held annually from 1971 to 2006. In 1971, it was called the Broome County Open, and the next year it switched to the B.C. Open. In 1973, it became a PGA Tour regular 72-hole money event. F ...

in 2003, becoming the first player over age 50 to win a PGA Tour event in 28 years and the first player ever to win on the

after he had won on the Champions Tour. He won 13 PGA Tour events in all, and played on the 1983 and 1985

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

teams. In 1994 he was the featured coach for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

video game

Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Regarded by ''Travel and Leisure'' blog as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastlin ...

. In 1996 he appeared as himself in the film ''

Tin Cup ''Tin Cup'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy and sports film co-written and directed by Ron Shelton, and starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo with Cheech Marin and Don Johnson in major supporting roles. The film received generally positive r ...

''. Stadler began playing on the Champions Tour upon becoming eligible in June 2003. His greatest successes came during his first two years of eligibility; he was the leading money winner in his first full year on that tour in 2004. Stadler underwent total left-hip-replacement surgery in Los Angeles on September 15, 2010, which limits his playing time. Very popular with the galleries, Stadler is affectionately called "The

Walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...

" for his portly build and ample

mustache A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...

. He currently lives in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. His son

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

is also a PGA Tour champion. Stadler and his son Kevin are the only father and son who have both won on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Stadler's brother Gary Stadler is a Billboard-charting recording artist.Billboard Magazine, April 28, 2001 through May 17, 2001 - ''Fairy HeartMagic'' by Gary Stadler on Sequoia Records, chart position # 24 on Top 25 New Age Albums Stadler announced that the

2014 Masters Tournament The 2014 Masters Tournament was the 78th edition of the Masters Tournament, the first of golf's four major championships in 2014. It was held April 10–13 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Bubba Watson won his second Masters, ...

, his 38th and in which he played with Kevin, was his last.

Amateur wins

*1973

*197
Southwestern Amateur

Professional wins (30)

PGA Tour wins (13)

Craig Stadler at 2011 Principal Charity Classic

PGA Tour playoff record (3–3)

European Tour wins (3)

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

South American Tour wins (1)

*1992

Argentine Open The Argentine Open or Abierto de la República or Abierto de Argentina is one of the oldest national golf open championships. First played in 1905, when it was called the Open Championship of the River Plate, it has featured numerous notable winn ...

Other wins (4)

Other playoff record (1–1)

Champions Tour wins (9)

Champions Tour playoff record (1–2)

Major championships

Wins (1)

¹Defeated Pohl with par on first extra hole.

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut (3rd round cut in 1975 and 1985 Open Championships)
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1990 PGA – 1993 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament

Senior major championships

Wins (2)

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

(winners) Professional *

: 1983 (winners),

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

UBS Cup The UBS Cup was a team golf tournament contested by the United States and a team representing the "Rest of the World" which ran from 2001 to 2004. In 2001 and 2002 it was called the UBS Warburg Cup. Six golfers on each side had to be 50 or over, and ...

: 2003 (tie), 2004 (winners) *

Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was an unofficial golf event held in November at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada. The tournament was a unique stroke play event, and, as the name suggests, pitted three teams, with three members per team, ...

(representing Champions Tour): 2003, 2004, 2005 (winners), 2006

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stadler, Craig American male golfers USC Trojans men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Winners of men's major golf championships Winners of senior major golf championships Golfers from San Diego Golfers from Denver 1953 births Living people