Grady Neal Lancaster (born September 13, 1962) is an American
professional golfer who has played 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 ...
,
Nationwide Tour and the
PGA Tour Champions
PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour.
History and format
The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...
.
Lancaster was born, raised and makes his home in
Smithfield, North Carolina
Smithfield is a town in and the county seat of Johnston County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 10,966, and in 2019 the estimated population was 12,985. Smithfield is home to the Ava Gardner Museum and ...
. He turned pro in 1985 as a completely self-taught player. Lancaster started playing on mini-tours four months in 1989 before going to
Q School. He did not take his first golf lesson until 1992. His first golf lesson was given by L.B. Floyd, father of
Raymond Floyd.
Lancaster has 28 top-10 finishes in 579
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 ...
events, including a win at the 1994
GTE Byron Nelson Golf 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 ...
, which was shortened to 36 holes due to weather. (Prior to 1996, PGA Tour events shortened to 36 holes were considered official.) His best finish in a
major is a T-4 at the 1995
U.S. Open.
Lancaster set the 9-hole record at the
U.S. Open with 29 strokes at the
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
(4th round) and
1996 U.S. Opens (second round). This has been tied by
Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...
(
2003, second round),
Louis Oosthuizen
Lodewicus Theodorus "Louis" Oosthuizen (; born 1982) is a South African professional golfer who won the 2010 Open Championship. He has finished runner-up in all four major championships: the 2012 Masters Tournament, the 2015 and 2021 U.S. Op ...
(
2015, fourth round), and
Tom Kim
Kim Joo-hyung ( ko, 김주형; born 21 June 2002), commonly known as Tom Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer. He has won twice each on the PGA Tour, the Asian Tour, and the Korean Tour.
Early life and amateur career
Kim was born in Se ...
(
2023
Events
Predicted and scheduled events
* January 1
** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law.
** Croatia will adopt the eu ...
, third round).
In 2002, Lancaster came to the final hole of the
Bell Canadian Open with a two-shot lead. He made double bogey to drop into a
sudden death playoff with
John Rollins and
Justin Leonard
Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship.
Early years
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leonard graduated ...
. Rollins won on the first extra hole.
Lancaster played full-time on the PGA Tour from 1990 to 2005.
Lancaster placed fifth at the 2009 Q School tournament, but shoulder surgeries plagued him for years. He played in the 2012
Farmers Insurance Open, his first PGA Tour start since 2009. He made the cut at the
FedEx St. Jude Classic, his first since the 2009
Buick Open
The Buick Open was a PGA Tour golf tournament from 1958 to 2009. In 2007, the tournament was held at the end of June, a change from its traditional spot between The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Regardless, many prominent players ...
.
After turning 50, Lancaster played his first
Champions Tour event in October 2012 at the
SAS Championship and finished T8 at the tour's Q school. After ending his career as a touring professional, Lancaster became a PGA professional, competing in events sanctioned through the Carolinas section of the PGA. In 2017, Lancaster won Carolinas PGA Senior Professional Championship.
Professional wins (5)
PGA Tour wins (1)
''*Note: The 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic was shortened to 36 holes due to weather.''
PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)
Other wins (4)
*1985
Carolinas Open The Carolinas Open is a golf tournament played in the Carolinas, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is run by the Carolinas section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1923 at a variety of courses around both sta ...
*1989 Pine Tree Open,
Utah Open
*2017 Carolinas PGA Senior Professional Championship
Results in major championships
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
See also
*
1989 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
This is a list of the 1989 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates. 59 players earned their 1990 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 Sta ...
*
1990 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
*
1999 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the 40 players who earned their 2000 PGA Tour card through Q School in 1999.
*Players in yellow were 2000 PGA Tour rookies.
2000 Results
*PGA Tour rookie in 2000
T = Tied
Green background indicates the player reta ...
*
2009 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
References
External links
*
*
Carolinas PGA profile of Lancaster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, Neal
American male golfers
PGA Tour golfers
PGA Tour Champions golfers
Golfers from North Carolina
People from Smithfield, North Carolina
1962 births
Living people