Gay Brewer

Gay Brewer

Personal information
Full name	Gay Robert Brewer, Jr.
Born	(1932-03-19)March 19, 1932 Middletown, Ohio
Died	August 31, 2007(2007-08-31) (aged 75) Lexington, Kentucky
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Nationality	United States
Children	Erin, Kelly
Career
Turned professional	1956
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	17
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	10
PGA Tour Champions	1
Other	5 (regular) 1 (senior)
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	Won: 1967
U.S. Open	5th/T5: 1962, 1964
The Open Championship	T6: 1968
PGA Championship	T7: 1972

Gay Robert Brewer, Jr. (March 19, 1932 – August 31, 2007) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament.

Life

Brewer was born in Middletown, Ohio, and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. As an amateur, Brewer won the Kentucky State Boys Golf Championship in three consecutive years from 1949 to 1951 while attending Lafayette high school. In 1949, he also won the U.S. Junior Amateur, the most prestigious amateur event for golfers under the age of eighteen. In 1952, Brewer won the Southern Amateur.

Brewer attended the University of Kentucky on a football scholarship because the school did not have golf scholarships. Head coach Bear Bryant used him in practice as a holder for the kicker on field goals and extra points. Brewer stayed at the school for two years.

Brewer turned professional in 1956 and made his first cut, at the Agua Caliente Open, tying for 12th. His first top-10 as a pro came at the Philadelphia Daily News Open (tied for eighth), and his first top-five performance was at the Miller High Life Open in Milwaukee (tied for fifth). Playing on the PGA Tour in 1965, he won the Hawaiian Open. At the 1966 Masters Tournament, he bogeyed the final hole to finish in a three-way tie for the lead after regulation play but ended up finishing third to Jack Nicklaus following an 18-hole playoff. He came back to win the prestigious event the next year, scoring a one stroke victory over lifelong friend Bobby Nichols in the first live television broadcast of a golf tournament from the United States to Europe. Brewer called winning the 1967 Masters "the biggest thrill I've had in golf".^[1] He went on to become a member of the 1967 Ryder Cup winning team, going 3-2 in his five matches, including a win (4 and 3 over Hugh Boyle) and a loss (2 and 1 to Peter Alliss) in singles play. That same year at the Pensacola Open, he set a PGA Tour record for the best 54-hole total on a par-72 course. His score of 25-under par 191 is a record that still stands over forty years later. Only Steve Stricker's 25-under on the par-71 TPC Deere Run at the 2010 John Deere Classic (25-under 188) has matched it. In the direct opposite vein, at the 1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic he tied the record at the time for a player having the largest lead (six strokes) with 18 holes to play and then losing. He finished inside the top 10 on the Tour's money list three times (1961, 1966 and 1967), with his best performance his fifth-place finish ($75,688) in 1966. His top earning year came in 1973, when he made $89,911 (21st place).

Brewer's 1966 performances earned him the Golf Digest's Most Improved Golfer award and his 1967 performances earned him the cover of the August 7th issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. He won the 1972 Canadian Open and was again part of the U.S. team that won the 1973 Ryder Cup.

Overall, Brewer was victorious in 10 tour events during his career. He was known for his jovial personality and his unusual golf swing.^[1] Brewer joined the Senior PGA Tour and won the 1984 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament with Billy Casper and at age sixty-three he won the 1995 MasterCard Champions Championship. His final competitive round was at the 2001 Masters Tournament.^[1]

In 2006, Brewer was voted to the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2007, the golf course in Lexington where he learned to play was renamed the "Gay Brewer Jr. Course at Picadome."

Brewer died at his home in Lexington, Kentucky from lung cancer.^[2] At the time of his death, he was engaged to Alma Jo McGuire.^[3] He is interred at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington.

Amateur wins

This list may be incomplete.

1949 Kentucky State Boys, U.S. Junior Amateur
1950 Kentucky State Boys
1951 Kentucky State Boys
1952 Southern Amateur

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Aug 20, 1961	Carling Open Invitational	−3 (72-72-66-67=277)	1 stroke	Billy Maxwell
2	Nov 26, 1961	Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational	−13 (69-66-74-66=275)	1 stroke	Johnny Pott
3	Dec 3, 1961	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	−14 (69-64-70-71=274)	4 strokes	Arnold Palmer
4	May 5, 1963	Waco Turner Open	−12 (72-70-71-67=280)	1 stroke	Ted Ball
5	Sep 26, 1965	Greater Seattle Open Invitational	−9 (69-72-66-72=279)	Playoff	Doug Sanders
6	Nov 7, 1965	Hawaiian Open	−7 (74-72-67-68=281)	Playoff	Bob Goalby
7	Mar 7, 1966	Pensacola Open Invitational	−16 (65-69-67-71=272)	3 strokes	Bruce Devlin
8	Mar 26, 1967	Pensacola Open Invitational	−26 (66-64-61-71=262)	6 strokes	Bob Keller
9	Apr 9, 1967	Masters Tournament	−8 (73-68-72-67=280)	1 stroke	Bobby Nichols
10	Jul 9, 1972	Canadian Open	−9 (67-70-68-70=275)	1 stroke	Sam Adams, Dave Hill

PGA Tour playoff record (2–5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1959	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	Pete Cooper, Arnold Palmer	Palmer won with par on fourth extra hole
2	1965	Greater Seattle Open Invitational	Doug Sanders	Won with par on first extra hole
3	1965	Hawaiian Open	Bob Goalby	Won with birdie on first extra hole
4	1966	Masters Tournament	Tommy Jacobs, Jack Nicklaus	Lost 18-hole playoff (Nicklaus:70, Jacobs:72, Brewer:78)
5	1966	Tournament of Champions	Arnold Palmer	Lost 18-hole playoff (Palmer:69, Brewer:73)
6	1969	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	Dave Hill, Tommy Jacobs, R. H. Sikes	Hill won with birdie on first extra hole
7	1974	American Golf Classic	Jim Colbert, Forrest Fezler, Raymond Floyd	Colbert won with par on second extra hole Brewer and Fezler eliminated with par on first hole

Other wins (5)

This list is probably incomplete.

1951 Kentucky Open (as an amateur)
1965 PGA National Four-ball Championship (with Butch Baird)
1967 Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship
1968 Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship
1972 Pacific Masters

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Sep 3, 1984	Citizens Union Senior Golf Classic	−9 (68-69-67=204)	2 strokes	Billy Casper, Rod Funseth

Other senior wins (1)

This list is probably incomplete.

1984 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Billy Casper)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1967	Masters Tournament	2 shot deficit	−8 (73-68-72-67=280)	1 stroke	Bobby Nichols

Results timeline

Tournament	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	T11	CUT	T25	CUT	3	1	T35	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	CUT	5	CUT	T5	16	T36	T38	T9	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T6	15
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	CUT	T49	8	T28	27	T28	T20	T25

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament	T31	CUT	DNP	T10	CUT	CUT	T23	CUT	T29	CUT
U.S. Open	7	T9	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	26	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T32	DNP	DNP	T10	38	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	DNP	T7	T64	T17	T33	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	CUT	T15	45	47	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000	2001
Masters Tournament	CUT	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	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

Summary

Tournament	Wins	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	1	1	2	3	7	39	12
U.S. Open	0	0	2	5	7	17	10
The Open Championship	0	0	0	2	3	6	5
PGA Championship	0	0	0	2	5	13	11
Totals	1	1	4	12	22	75	38

Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1965 U.S. Open – 1967 U.S. Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1972 PGA – 1973 Open Championship)

References

1 2 3 Kelley, Brent. "Gay Brewer bio".
↑ "1967 Masters champion Brewer dies at 75 from lung cancer". PGA tour. August 31, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-04.
↑ "Gay Brewer, 1967 Masters champ, dead at 75". Golf.com. August 31, 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-04-12.

External links

Gay Brewer at the PGA Tour official site
Gay Brewer at Find a Grave

Masters Tournament champions

† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire

Gay Brewer in the Ryder Cup

United States Ryder Cup team – 1967
Julius Boros Gay Brewer Billy Casper Gardner Dickinson Al Geiberger Gene Littler Bobby Nichols Johnny Pott Arnold Palmer Doug Sanders Ben Hogan (non-playing captain)
Won: 23.5 – 8.5

United States Ryder Cup team – 1973
Tommy Aaron Homero Blancas Gay Brewer Billy Casper Dave Hill Lou Graham Jack Nicklaus Arnold Palmer Chi-Chi Rodríguez J. C. Snead Lee Trevino Tom Weiskopf Jack Burke Jr. (non-playing captain)
Won: 19 – 13

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