George Archer

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George Archer
Personal information
Full name George William Archer
Born October 1, 1939(1939-10-01)
San Francisco, California
Died September 25, 2005(2005-09-25) (aged 65)
Incline Village, Nevada
Height 6 ft 5.5 in (1.97 m)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Nationality  United States
Career
Turned professional 1964
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins 44
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 12
Champions Tour 19
Other 9 (regular)
4 (senior)
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 1)
Masters Tournament Won: 1969
U.S. Open T5: 1971
The Open Championship 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 and was raised just south in the city of San Mateo. He grew to 6 feet 5½ inches (1.97 m) tall, and as a boy he dreamed of a basketball career, but took up golf at San Mateo High School after working as a caddy at The Peninsula Golf and Country Club near his home. 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 1969 Masters Tournament. His other top-ten finishes in the majors came at the U.S. Open, where he finished 10th in 1969, 5th in 1971, and at the PGA Championship, where he took 4th place in 1968.[1]

Archer was hampered by injuries throughout his career and had surgery on his left wrist (1975), back (1979) and left shoulder (1987). In 1996, he had his right hip replaced and two years later became the first man to win on the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) after having a hip replacement. He won 19 times on the Senior Tour between 1989 and 2000, but he did not win a senior major. Archer is also the only player in Champions Tour history to win a tournament in each of the first three decades of its existence.

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 94 putts at the 1980 Sea Pines Heritage.[2]

Archer was known as the "Golfing Cowboy," due to a summer job in his youth at his friend and sponsor, Eugene Selvage's Lucky Hereford Ranch in Gilroy, California.[3][4]

Archer died of Burkitt's lymphoma — a lymphatic system malignancy — in Incline Village, Nevada in 2005.

Contents

[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.

In 2008, Donna created the George Archer Memorial Foundation for Literacy, a 501(c)(3) organization located in Incline Village, Nevada. The Foundation’s mission is to raise funds to identify reading deficiencies, diagnose causes and effective treatments for learning disabilities, improve systems for training teachers, tutors and other educators in literacy issues, provide grants, stipends and scholarships for deserving students, and assist in the development of tools and techniques for the effective teaching of reading and writing skills. The Foundation’s primary fundraiser is the George Archer Memorial Stroke of Genius Pro-Am golf tournament held every October since 2008 at the Peninsula Golf and Country Club, in San Mateo, California – the club at which Archer began his golf career.

[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."[5]

[edit] Amateur wins (1)

[edit] Professional wins (44)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (12)

No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of
Victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Jan 31, 1965 Lucky International Open -6(68-73=69-68=278) Playoff New Zealand Bob Charles
2 Apr 2, 1967 Greater Greensboro Open -17 (6-64-68-68=267) 2 strokes United States Doug Sanders
3 Mar 25, 1968 Pensacola Open Invitational -20 (66-68-69-65=268) 1 stroke England Tony Jacklin, United States Dave Marr
4 May 12, 1968 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational -17 (69-65-70-67=271) 2 strokes United States Bert Yancey
5 Jan 27, 1969 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am -5 (72-68-72-71=283) 1 strokes United States Bob Dickson, United States Dale Douglass, United States Howie Johnson
6 Apr 12, 1969 Masters Tournament -7 (67-73-69-72=281) 1 stroke United States Billy Casper, Canada George Knudson, United States Tom Weiskopf
7 Jan 31, 1971 Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational -16 (67-72-68-65=272) 3 strokes United States Dave Eichelberger
8 Sep 6, 1971 Greater Hartford Open Invitational -16 (68-66-68-66=268) Playoff United States Lou Graham, United States J. C. Snead,
9 Jan 9, 1972 Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open -14 (66-69-69-66=270) Playoff United States Tommy Aaron, United States Dave Hill
10 May 20, 1972 Greater Greensboro Open -12 (70-68-66-68=272) Playoff United States Tommy Aaron
11 Oct 3, 1976 Sahara Invitational -13 (67-66-69-69=271) 2 strokes United States Dave Hill, United States Don January
12 Sep 9, 1984 Bank of Boston Classic -14 (69-66-70-65=270) 6 strokes United States Frank Conner, United States Joey Sindelar

PGA Tour playoff record (4-3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1965 Lucky International Open New Zealand Bob Charles Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 1969 Kaiser International Open Invitational United States Billy Casper, United States Don January, United States Jack Nicklaus Nicklaus won with birdie on second extra hole
January eliminated with par on first hole
3 1970 Robinson Open Golf Classic Canada George Knudson Lost to par on fourth extra hole
4 1971 Greater Hartford Open Invitational United States Lou Graham, United States J. C. Snead Won with birdie on first extra hole
5 1972 Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open United States Tommy Aaron, United States Dave Hill Won 18-hole playoff (Archer:66, Aaron:68, Hill:68)
6 1972 Dean Martin Tucson Open United States Miller Barber Barber won with birdie on third extra hole after 18-hole playoff (Archer:72, Barber:72)
7 1972 Greater Greensboro Open United States Tommy Aaron Won with par on second extra hole

Major championship is shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (9)

[edit] Senior PGA Tour wins (19)

[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 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runners-up
1969 Masters Tournament 1 shot deficit -7 (67-73-69-72=281) 1 stroke United States Billy Casper, Canada George Knudson, United States 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] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Golf Major Championships". http://golfmajorchampionships.com/players?player=184. Retrieved June 1, 2011. 
  2. ^ "'I'm still in a state of shock,' Tewell says". Williamson Daily News (Williamson, West Virginia): p. 19. April 2, 1980. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W5pDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t64MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3009,5795564&dq=94+putts+george+archer&hl=en. Retrieved February 27, 2011. 
  3. ^ Herskowitz, Mickey. "Home On The Range Or The Greens: George Archer is a rookie golfer who - for press purposes - likes to be called the "Golfing Cowboy" Sports Illustrated April 13, 1964 or http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1075856/index.htm
  4. ^ "Acher Makes His Bow." Time Magazine April 25, 1969
  5. ^ The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, ed. Jim Apfelbaum. Published in 2007

[edit] External links

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