George Archer
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George William Archer (October 1, 1939 – September 25, 2005) was an American golfer who won twelve events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship.
Archer was eventually to reach 6 feet 5½ inches (1.97 m) tall, and as a boy he dreamed of a basketball career, but he took up golf at high school after working as a caddy at his local club. He turned professional in 1964 and claimed the first of 12 victories on the PGA Tour at the Lucky International Open the following year. The leading achievement of his career was his win at The Masters, which is one of golf's four major championships, in 1969. His other top ten finishes in the majors came at the U.S. Open, where he came 10th in 1969 5th in 1971, and at the PGA Championship, where he took 4th place in 1968.
Archer was hampered by injuries throughout his career and has had surgery on his left wrist (1975), back (1979), left shoulder (1987). In 1996 he had his right hip replaced and two years later he became the first man to win on the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) after having a hip replacement. In total he won nineteen times on the Senior Tour between 1989 and 2000, but he did not win a senior major.
Archer is considered one of the game's all-time great putters, and at one time held the PGA Tour record for fewest putts over four rounds with 95 putts at the 1980 Sea Pines Heritage Classic.
He also holds the distinction of being the only player in Champions Tour history to win a tournament in all decades of its existence.
He was born in San Francisco, California and died in Incline Village, Nevada.
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[edit] Illiteracy
Six months after his death, Archer's widow, Donna, revealed in the March/April 2006 issue of Golf For Women magazine that he had suffered his entire life from a severe form of learning impairment. Despite years of effort and the consultation of many experts, he was never able to read more than the simplest sentences and could only write his own name. She reported that they never revealed this truth beyond their family and that Archer lived in constant fear that the secret of his illiteracy would be revealed.[1]
[edit] PGA Tour wins (12)
- 1965 (1) Lucky International Open
- 1967 (1) Greater Greensboro Open
- 1968 (2) Pensacola Open Invitational, Greater New Orleans Open Invitational
- 1969 (2) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, The Masters
- 1971 (2) Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, Greater Hartford Open Invitational
- 1972 (2) Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open, Greater Greensboro Open
- 1976 (1) Sahara Invitational
- 1984 (1) Bank of Boston Classic
Major championship is shown in bold.
[edit] Other regular career wins (8)
- 1963 Trans-Mississippi Amateur, Northern California Open, Northern California Medal Play, San Francisco City Championship
- 1968 PGA National Team Championship (with Bobby Nichols)
- 1969 Argentine Masters
- 1981 Colombian Open
- 1982 Philippines Invitational
[edit] Champions Tour wins (19)
- 1989 (1) Gatlin Brothers Southwest Classic
- 1990 (4) MONY Senior Tournament of Champions, Northville Long Island Classic, GTE Northwest Classic, Gold Rush at Rancho Murieta
- 1991 (3) Northville Long Island Classic, GTE North Classic, Raley's Senior Gold Rush
- 1992 (3) Murata Reunion Pro-Am, Northville Long Island Classic, Bruno's Memorial Classic
- 1993 (4) Ameritech Senior Open, First of America Classic, Raley's Senior Gold Rush, PING Kaanapali Classic
- 1995 (2) Toshiba Senior Classic, Cadillac NFL Golf Classic
- 1998 (1) First of America Classic
- 2000 (1) MasterCard Championship
[edit] Other senior career wins (4)
- 1990 Sports Shinko Cup, Princeville Classic
- 1991 Sports Shinko Cup
- 1994 Chrysler Cup (individual)
[edit] Results in major championships
Tournament | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | T16 | T22 | 1 |
U.S. Open | T39 | DNP | T17 | WD | T16 | T10 |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | WD |
PGA Championship | DNP | T61 | DNP | T55 | T4 | T69 |
Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | T31 | 35 | T12 | T43 | WD | CUT | CUT | T19 | WD | DNP |
U.S. Open | T30 | T5 | T65 | T34 | DNP | DNP | DNP | T27 | CUT | DNP |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
PGA Championship | T61 | T34 | T36 | T51 | DNP | DNP | DNP | T19 | 61 | DNP |
Tournament | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | CUT | T11 | T30 | T12 | T25 | T53 | CUT | DNP | CUT | T43 |
U.S. Open | DNP | T58 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
PGA Championship | T17 | CUT | T34 | T67 | DNP | T47 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 |
---|---|---|---|
The Masters | 49 | WD | 51 |
U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP |
PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP |
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Profile on the PGA Tour's official site
- An interview from 2003
- The Secret They Shared Golf For Women, March/April, 2006]
- Find-A-Grave profile for George William Archer