Charles Robert Coe (October 26, 1923 – May 16, 2001) was an American amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er who is considered by many to be one of the greatest American amateurs in history. A two-time U.S. Amateur winner, Coe never turned professional either because, as he stated in 1998, "When I was growing up, golf was a gentleman's game," or because his wife said, "if I thought I was going to raise three children out of a suitcase, I was crazy". He had a successful career in the oil business. Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Coe served as a pilot during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and later attended the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

from 1946 to 1948. He won the Big Seven Conference championship all three years. He was a member of the Gamma Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi. Coe won the

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 ...

in 1949, beating Rufus King 11 & 10 in the finals, and won it again in 1958 with a 5 & 4 victory over

Tommy Aaron Thomas Dean Aaron (born February 22, 1937) is an American former professional golfer who was a member of the PGA Tour during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Aaron is best known for winning the 1973 Masters Tournament. He is also known for an erro ...

. He finished runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1959 tournament. Coe won the

Western Amateur The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association. The Western Amateur features an international field of top-ranked amateur golfers. It was first ...

in 1950, and made the finals of the

British Amateur The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

in 1951, losing to

Dick Chapman Richard Davol Chapman (March 23, 1911 – November 15, 1978) was an American amateur golfer. ''Time'' magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf". Chapman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the 1940 U.S. Amateur golf ch ...

. He won four Trans-Mississippi Amateurs, in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1956. He played on six

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 ...

teams from 1949 to 1963, including as playing captain on the 1959 team, and was non-playing captain on a seventh team in 1957. Coe made 19 Masters Tournament appearances and owns almost every Masters amateur record, including most cuts made (15); top-25 finishes (9); top-10 finishes (3); eagles (6), rounds played (67) and most times low amateur (6). Coe won low amateur honors at Augusta in four consecutive decades: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He also holds the amateur records for best finish (2nd in 1961), lowest third round score (67 in 1959), and lowest 72-hole score (281 in 1961). In 1961, Coe rallied in the final round from six shots down to finish one stroke behind

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

. In 1964, Coe received the Bob Jones Award, given by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Coe was posthumously named an honoree at the 2006

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large n ...

. When he died, the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' quoted a Castle Pines golf club member saying, "Charlie Coe was an amateur at everything except life." The Charlie Coe Golf Center at the University of Oklahoma is named in his honor. He was inducted into the

Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame The Jim Thorpe Association is a civic and charity organization based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its parent corporation is the Jim Thorpe Athletic Club. It is named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe Award The organization has ...

in 1987. Coe died in his sleep on May 16, 2001 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.Amateur golfer Charlie Coe dies at 77
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Amateur wins (7)

''this list is probably incomplete'' *1947 Trans-Mississippi Amateur *1949

, Trans-Mississippi Amateur *1950

*1952 Trans-Mississippi Amateur *1956 Trans-Mississippi Amateur *1958

*1963 Mt. Vernon Classic

Major championships

Amateur wins (2)

Results timeline

''Note: Coe never played in

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

nor the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.'' LA = Low amateur
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place Source for The Masters
www.masters.com
Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur
USGA Championship Database
Source for 1959 British Amateur
The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1959, pg. 9.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

: 1949 (winners),

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

(winners),

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

(winners),

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

(winners, non-playing captain)

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

(winners, playing captain),

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

(winners),

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 ...

(winners) *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eise ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

Americas Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

: 1952 (winners), 1954 (winners), 1958 (winners), 1960 (winners), 1961 (winners), 1963 (winners)

References

External links

Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame profileArticle on Coe at the MastersCharlie Coe Golf Learning Center at the University of OklahomaEncyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Coe, Charles Robert (1923-2001)1951 British Amateur film clip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Charles American male golfers Amateur golfers Oklahoma Sooners men's golfers Golfers from Oklahoma American World War II pilots American military personnel of World War II People from Ardmore, Oklahoma 1923 births 2001 deaths