Ken Still

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Ken Still (born February 12, 1935) is an American professional golfer who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour.

Still was born in Tacoma, Washington. During his early twenties he worked as a bullpen catcher in the Dodgers organization, and caught for Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

Still won 3 PGA Tour events. In 1969 he won the Florida Citrus Open Invitational in Orlando in the spring, and the Greater Milwaukee Open in the summer. He also played on the Ryder Cup team that year.

The 1969 Ryder Cup was marred by acrimony and gamesmanship between the American and British teams – and Ken Still was right in the middle of it. Britain's non-playing captain Eric Brown set the tone by instructing his players not to look for the opposition ball if it ended up in the rough. Ken Still, in the first-day foursomes, had been guilty of childish gamesmanship at the expense of Briton Maurice Bembridge when he regularly stood too close as his opponent was putting. Later, Still responded to what he felt was recurring gamesmanship by Bernard Gallacher by knocking aside his ball marker and shouting, "You can have the hole – and the goddamn Cup!" This nearly led to a fistfight between the two men. Still's playing partner, Dave Hill, also had harsh words for Gallacher, and threatened to wrap a 1-iron around his head. Ultimately all of this led to one of the most famous gestures of sportmanship in the history of sport: in the final singles encounter Jack Nicklaus had Tony Jacklin pick-up a missable putt so the match would end in a 16-16 tie.[1]

Still had two top-10 finishes in major championships during his career: a 5th place finish at the 1970 U.S. Open, and a T-6 at The Masters in 1971. After reaching the age of 50 in 1985, he began play on the Senior PGA Tour and continued to play in this venue until the late 1990s. He has lived at the Fircrest Golf Club in Fircrest, Washington since the 1950s.

[edit] PGA Tour wins

[edit] Other regular career wins

  • 1964 British Columbia Open

[edit] References

  1. ^ Golf today Price article on the games sportsmanship (URL last accessed August 13, 2006)