Doug Sanders


George Douglas Sanders was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on the PGA Tour and had four runner-up finishes at major championships.

Early years

Born into a poor family in Cedartown, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, where his father farmed and drove trucks. Sanders was the fourth of five children and picked cotton as a teenager. The family home was near a nine-hole course and he was a self-taught golfer.

Amateur career

Sanders accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for the Gators golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association competition in 1955. In his single year as a Gator golfer, Sanders and the team won a Southeastern Conference championship and earned a sixth-place finish at the NCAA championship tournament—the Gators' best national championship finish until that time. Sanders won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur—the only amateur ever to do so—and turned professional shortly thereafter. Sanders was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour until Scott Verplank in 1985.

Professional career

Sanders had thirteen top-ten finishes in major championships, including four second-place finishes: 1959 PGA Championship, 1961 U.S. Open, 1966 and 1970 British Opens. In 1966, he became one of the few players in history to finish in the top ten of all four major championships in a single season, despite winning none of them. He took four shots from just 74 yards as the leader playing the final hole of the 1970 British Open at St Andrews, missing a sidehill putt to win, then lost the resulting 18-hole playoff by a single stroke the next day to Jack Nicklaus. His final victory on tour came in June 1972 at the Kemper Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Lee Trevino.
Sanders is remembered for an exceptionally short, flat golf swing — a consequence, it appears, of a painful neck condition that radically restricted his movements.
He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1967, which won in Houston.

Personal

Sanders was a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "Peacock of the Fairways." Esquire magazine named Sanders one of America's Ten Best Dressed Jocks in August 1972.
Sanders identified himself as the lead character, a playboy PGA Tour golfer, in the golf novel Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins.
Sanders' wrote a golf instruction book, "Compact Golf", published 1964. The titel linked to Sanders' short golf swing. His autobiography "Come swing with me" was published in 1974.
In his autobiography, Sanders, told about how he in 1966 was invited and intended to accompany fellow pro golfer and 1964 Open winner Tony Lema on the flight in a private plane that crashed with no survivors. Sanders changed his schedule in the last minute and did not follow Lema on the flight.
After retiring from competitive golf, Sanders was active in his own corporate golf entertainment company for nearly 20 years, sponsored the Doug Sanders International Junior Golf Championship in Houston, Texas. From 1988 to 1994, he also sponsored the Doug Sanders Celebrity Classic.
Sanders died in his adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, on April 12, 2020 from natural causes. He was 86.

Honors

Sanders was a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Amateur wins

PGA Tour wins (20)

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11956Canadian Open
 Dow FinsterwaldWon with par on first extra hole
21961Phoenix Open Invitational Arnold PalmerLost 18-hole playoff;
Palmer: −3,
Sanders: E
31962West Palm Beach Open Invitational Dave RaganLost to birdie on the second extra hole
41964Greater Greensboro Open Julius BorosLost to par on first extra hole
51965Pensacola Open Invitational Jack NicklausWon with birdie on third extra hole
61965Greater Seattle Open Invitational Gay BrewerLost to par on first extra hole
71966Bob Hope Desert Classic Arnold PalmerWon with birdie on first extra hole
81966Greater Greensboro Open Tom WeiskopfWon with par on second extra hole
91970Open Championship Jack NicklausLost 18-hole playoff;
Nicklaus: E,
Sanders: +1
101970Bahama Islands Open Chris BlockerWon with par on second extra hole

Far East Circuit wins (1)

Amateur
Professional
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R256, R128, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Sources: Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, Open Championship, PGA Championship, 1956 British Amateur

Summary