David Graham (golfer)

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David Graham
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Anthony David Graham
Born (1946-05-23) 23 May 1946
Windsor, Australia
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight 152 lb (69 kg; 10.9 st)
Nationality  Australia
Career
Turned professional 1962
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 38
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 8
European Tour 2
Japan Golf Tour 1
PGA Tour of Australasia 8
Champions Tour 5
Other 20
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 2)
Masters Tournament 5th: 1980
U.S. Open Won: 1981
The Open Championship T3: 1985
PGA Championship Won: 1979

Anthony David Graham, AM[1] (born 23 May 1946) is a former professional golfer from Australia.

Born in Windsor, Australia, Graham turned professional in 1962 at age 16 and spent much of his career in the United States, playing on the PGA Tour. Turning age 50 in 1996, he joined the Senior PGA Tour, later known as the Champions Tour. Although known for his success in the U.S., he won events on six continents in his career, an achievement he shares with Gary Player, Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer.

In 1976, after several successful years on tours around the globe, Graham came to prominence with two wins on the PGA Tour, and then came from behind to secure a victory over the reigning champion Hale Irwin in the Piccadilly World Match Play Championship.[2]

Graham won two major championships, the 1979 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills near Detroit, and the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion, just west of Philadelphia.[3][4] He also finished third at the 1985 Open Championship, after sharing the third-round lead. Both of his major victories came in remarkable fashion. In the 1979 PGA Championship, he stood on the last tee at 7 under par for his final round and leading by two, but double-bogeyed the last hole for a 65 to drop back into a playoff with Ben Crenshaw. At each of the first two sudden-death holes he holed long putts to keep the playoff alive and finally won at the third extra hole. At the 1981 U.S. Open, Graham shot a 67 in the final round to overturn a three-shot deficit to overnight leader George Burns to win by 3 strokes. He became the fourth Australian major champion (after Jim Ferrier, Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle) and the first to win a U.S. Open.

Graham also participated on the Australian teams that won the World Cup (in 1970) and the Alfred Dunhill Cup (in 1985 and 1986). At the end of 1981, he was ranked 7th on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings. Despite his two majors and wins on all the leading tours, Graham has not been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

On 27 June 2004, during the final round of the Bank of America Championship on the Champions Tour, Graham collapsed over a putt on the eighth green. He was later diagnosed with congestive heart failure, ending his competitive golf career at age 58.[5] He is now retired and resides at Iron Horse Golf Club in Whitefish, Montana.

Graham was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988 and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1990.[1][6]

Professional wins (38)

PGA Tour wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 3 Jul 1972 Cleveland Open 68-73-68-69=278 −6 Playoff Australia Bruce Devlin
2 18 Jul 1976 American Express Westchester Classic 63-68-70-71=272 −12 3 strokes United States Ben Crenshaw, United States Tom Watson,
United States Fuzzy Zoeller
3 29 Aug 1976 American Golf Classic 69-67-69-69=274 −14 4 strokes United States Lou Graham
4 5 Aug 1979 PGA Championship 69-68-70-65=272 −8 Playoff United States Ben Crenshaw
5 25 May 1980 Memorial Tournament 73-67-70-70=280 −8 1 stroke United States Tom Watson
6 24 Jan 1981 Phoenix Open 65-68-69-66=268 −16 1 stroke United States Lon Hinkle
7 21 Jun 1981 U.S. Open 68-68-70-67=273 −7 3 strokes United States George Burns, United States Bill Rogers
8 8 May 1983 Houston Coca-Cola Open 66-72-73-64=275 −9 5 strokes United States Lee Elder, United States Jim Thorpe,
United States Lee Trevino

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1972 Cleveland Open Australia Bruce Devlin Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 1972 Liggett & Myers Open United States Lou Graham, United States Hale Irwin, United States Larry Ziegler L Graham won with birdie on third extra hole
D. Graham and Ziegler eliminated with par on first hole
3 1979 PGA Championship United States Ben Crenshaw Won with birdie on third extra hole

Australasian wins (8)

European Tour wins (2)

Other wins (15)

Champions Tour wins (5)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 16 Feb 1997 GTE Classic −9 (71-68-65=204) 3 strokes United States Bob Dickson
2 30 Mar 1997 Southwestern Bell Dominion −10 (68-69-69=206) 1 stroke United States John Jacobs
3 21 Sep 1997 Kroger Senior Classic −16 (67-68-65=200) 1 stroke United States Buddy Allin, United States Larry Nelson
4 1 Feb 1998 Royal Caribbean Classic −11 (67-68-67=202) Playoff United States Dave Stockton
5 17 Oct 1999 Raley's Gold Rush Classic −17 (63-71-65=199) 4 strokes United States Larry Mowry

Champions Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1996 Emerald Coast Classic United States Bob Eastwood, United States Mike Hill,
United States Dave Stockton, United States Lee Trevino
Trevino won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1998 Royal Caribbean Classic United States Dave Stockton Won with birdie on tenth extra hole

Major championships

Wins (2)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner(s)-up
1979 PGA Championship 4 shot deficit −8 (69-68-70-65=272) Playoff 1 United States Ben Crenshaw
1981 U.S. Open 3 shot deficit −7 (68-68-70-67=273) 3 strokes United States George Burns, United States Bill Rogers

1 Defeated Crenshaw with a birdie on third extra hole.

Results timeline

Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament DNP T36 CUT T29 DNP DNP DNP T6 T9 WD
U.S. Open CUT CUT T47 T58 T18 T29 CUT CUT CUT 7
The Open Championship T32 CUT DNP DNP T11 T28 T21 CUT T39 DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP CUT CUT DNP 10 T4 CUT CUT 1
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament 5 7 19 46 T6 T10 T28 T27 DNP DNP
U.S. Open T47 1 T6 T8 T21 T23 T15 T51 T47 T61
The Open Championship T29 T14 T27 T14 CUT T3 T11 34 CUT T61
PGA Championship T26 T43 T49 T14 T48 T32 T7 CUT T17 CUT
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open 64 60 DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T8 CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T66 T52 DNP CUT CUT CUT

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.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 1 6 7 14 12
U.S. Open 1 0 0 1 4 8 22 17
The Open Championship 0 0 1 1 2 7 19 14
PGA Championship 1 0 0 2 4 6 22 13
Totals 2 0 1 5 16 28 77 56
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 20 (1979 U.S. Open – 1984 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1979 U.S. Open – 1980 Masters)

Team appearances

  • World Cup (representing Australia): 1970, 1971
  • Dunhill Cup (representing Australia): 1985 (winners), 1986 (winners), 1988

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Graham, Anthony David, AM". It's an Honour. Retrieved 22 September 2013. 
  2. "Graham wins Piccadilly golf title". Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa). UPI. 11 October 1976. p. 9. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  3. "Graham conquers Open crew". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. 22 June 1981. p. 17. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  4. Jenkins, Dan (29 June 1981). "Graham Didn't Crack". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  5. Yocum, Guy (June 2006). "My Shot: David Graham". Golf Digest. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  6. "Anthony 'David' Graham AM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 22 September 2013. 

External links

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