George Douglas Sanders (July 24, 1933 – April 12, 2020) was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on 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 ...

and had four runner-up finishes at major championships.

Early years

He was born into a poor family in Cedartown, Georgia, northwest of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where his father farmed and drove trucks. Sanders was the fourth of five children and picked

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

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 The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, where he played for the Gators golf team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) competition in 1955. In his single year as a Gator golfer, Sanders and the team won a

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(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 Scott Rachal Verplank (born July 9, 1964) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early years and amateur career Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Verplank was a leading member of the W.T. W ...

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 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

at the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast. ...

, 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 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, which won in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Personal life

Sanders was a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

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 Daniel Thomas Jenkins (December 2, 1928 – March 7, 2019) was an American author and sportswriter who often wrote for ''Sports Illustrated''. He was also a high-standard amateur golfer who played college golf at Texas Christian University. Ear ...

. 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 Anthony David Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. He died two years later ...

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. 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

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. From 1988 to 1994, he also sponsored the

Doug Sanders Celebrity Classic The Doug Sanders Celebrity Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from 1988 to 1994. It was played in Kingwood, Houston, Texas at the Deerwood Club. The purse for the 1994 tournament was US$500,000, with $75,000 going to the winner. T ...

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

Honors

Sanders was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame,

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in the United States at . Exhibitions The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Induc ...

, and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. He was also 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)

PGA Tour playoff record (5–5)

Far East Circuit wins (1)

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

Yomiuri International

Other wins (2)

*1957 Colombian Open *1959 Sahara Pro-Am

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

Amateur Professional 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, U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, Open Championship, PGA Championship, 1956 British Amateur

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 14 (1965 PGA – 1969 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1966 Masters – 1966 PGA)

References

External links

* *
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Doug American male golfers Florida Gators men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Cedartown, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area 1933 births 2020 deaths