George Archer

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George Archer

Personal Information
Birth	October 1, 1939 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Death	September 25, 2005 (age 65) Incline Village, Nevada, U.S.
Nationality	United States
College	None
Career
Professional wins	42 (PGA Tour: 12, Other regular: 7, Senior Tour: 19, Other senior: 4)
Best Results in Major Championships
Masters	Won 1969
U.S. Open	T5: 1971
British Open	WD: 1969
PGA Championship	T4: 1968

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 born in San Francisco, California. He grew to 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.

Archer died in Incline Village, Nevada at the age of 65.

Contents 1 Illiteracy 2 Quotations 3 Amateur wins (1) 4 Professional wins (42) 4.1 PGA Tour wins (12) 4.2 Other wins (7) 4.3 Senior PGA Tour wins (19) 4.4 Other senior wins (4) 5 Major Championships 5.1 Wins (1) 5.2 Results timeline 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[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] Quotations

"One thing about golf is you don't know why you play bad and why you play good."

"When I joined the tour in 1964, I told my wife I wanted to play five years. Instead, I've played five careers."

"If it weren't for golf, I'd probably be a caddie today."^[1]

[edit] Amateur wins (1)

• 1963 Trans-Mississippi Amateur

[edit] Professional wins (42)

[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 wins (7)

• 1963 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] Senior PGA Tour wins (19)

• 1989 (1) Gatlin Brothers Southwest Senior Classic
• 1990 (4) MONY Senior Tournament of Champions, Northville Long Island Classic, GTE Northwest Classic, Rancho Murieta Senior Gold Rush
• 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 wins (4)

• 1990 Sports Shinko Cup, Princeville Classic
• 1991 Sports Shinko Cup
• 1994 Chrysler Cup (individual)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Winning Score	Margin	Runners Up
1969	The Masters	-7 (67-73-69-72=281)	1 stroke	Billy Casper, George Knudson, Tom Weiskopf

[edit] Results timeline

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] References

[edit] See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most Champions Tour wins

[edit] External links

• An interview from 2003
• The Secret They Shared Golf For Women, March/April, 2006
• Find-A-Grave profile for George William Archer

v • d • e The Masters champions 1934 Horton Smith • 1935 Gene Sarazen • 1936 Horton Smith • 1937 Byron Nelson • 1938 Henry Picard • 1939 Ralph Guldahl • 1940 Jimmy Demaret • 1941 Craig Wood • 1942 Byron Nelson • 1943-45 Cancelled due to World War II • 1946 Herman Keiser • 1947 Jimmy Demaret • 1948 Claude Harmon • 1949 Sam Snead • 1950 Jimmy Demaret • 1951 Ben Hogan • 1952 Sam Snead • 1953 Ben Hogan • 1954 Sam Snead • 1955 Cary Middlecoff • 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. • 1957 Doug Ford • 1958 Arnold Palmer • 1959 Art Wall, Jr. • 1960 Arnold Palmer • 1961 Gary Player • 1962 Arnold Palmer • 1963 Jack Nicklaus • 1964 Arnold Palmer • 1965 Jack Nicklaus • 1966 Jack Nicklaus • 1967 Gay Brewer • 1968 Bob Goalby • 1969 George Archer • 1970 Billy Casper • 1971 Charles Coody • 1972 Jack Nicklaus • 1973 Tommy Aaron • 1974 Gary Player • 1975 Jack Nicklaus • 1976 Raymond Floyd • 1977 Tom Watson • 1978 Gary Player • 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller • 1980 Severiano Ballesteros • 1981 Tom Watson • 1982 Craig Stadler • 1983 Severiano Ballesteros • 1984 Ben Crenshaw • 1985 Bernhard Langer • 1986 Jack Nicklaus • 1987 Larry Mize • 1988 Sandy Lyle • 1989 Nick Faldo • 1990 Nick Faldo • 1991 Ian Woosnam • 1992 Fred Couples • 1993 Bernhard Langer • 1994 José María Olazábal • 1995 Ben Crenshaw • 1996 Nick Faldo • 1997 Tiger Woods • 1998 Mark O'Meara • 1999 José María Olazábal • 2000 Vijay Singh • 2001 Tiger Woods • 2002 Tiger Woods • 2003 Mike Weir • 2004 Phil Mickelson • 2005 Tiger Woods • 2006 Phil Mickelson • 2007 Zach Johnson • 2008 Trevor Immelman