Eddie Pearce | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Born | Fort Myers, Florida | March 16, 1952
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
Weight | 175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st) |
Sporting nationality | United States |
Career | |
College | Wake Forest University |
Turned professional | 1972 |
Former tour(s) | PGA Tour Hooters Jordan Tour |
Professional wins | 1 |
Best results in major championships | |
Masters Tournament | T28: 1976 |
PGA Championship | T32: 1974 |
U.S. Open | T14: 1975 |
The Open Championship | 52nd: 1975 |
Eddie Pearce (born March 16, 1952) is an American professional golfer.
Pearce was born in Fort Myers, Florida and grew up in Temple Terrace, Florida, where, as an infant, his first golf club was placed in his hands by the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias. By the time he was 12, he was shooting in the 60s and was featured as a child prodigy in Professional Golfer Magazine. He attended C. Leon King High School in nearby Tampa, Florida and was on the same high school golf team as PGA Tour veteran Gary Koch.
As an amateur, Pearce won the Florida Boys Junior Championship for his age division in three straight years (1964–1966). He also won his age division at the "Future Masters" Tournament in seven straight years (1963–1969).
Pearce then went on to win the 1968 U.S. Junior Amateur, [1] the Florida Open in 1970 and was awarded a golf scholarship to Wake Forest University. In 1971, Pearce was one hole away from winning the U.S. Amateur when Gary Cowan holed a long iron shot from the rough for an eagle and the win. [2] Pearce won the 1971 North and South Amateur. He was a two-time All-American at Wake Forest (third team in 1971 and second team in 1972). [3] He left after his sophomore year and turned pro, with many experts calling him the "next Jack Nicklaus."
Pearce played on the PGA Tour from 1974 to 1981 and again in 1993. He also played on the Ben Hogan Tour (now Web.com Tour) in 1992.
In 1974, the inaugural year of The Players Championship, Pearce finished in 9th place. In the 1976 Masters Tournament, Pearce was two-under par after the first two rounds before ending up the tournament tied for 28th.
Although he never won on the PGA Tour, Pearce had four runner-up finishes. [4] In 1974, he finished second at the Hawaiian Open (behind Jack Nicklaus) and second at the Tallahassee Open (behind Allen Miller). The following year, he finished second at the Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic (behind Bob Murphy). Then in 1979, he finished second at the San Antonio Texas Open (behind Lou Graham).
In 2002, Pearce tried to qualify for the U.S. Senior Open but missed by one stroke and was named an alternate.
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Oct 2, 1994 | Naturally Fresh Cup | −12 (64-71-69=204)* | 1 stroke | Paul Claxton, Kelly Korleski, Hicks Malonson, Dave Miley, Mike Swartz, Dennis Zinkon |
Tournament | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | CUT | T28 | ||||||
U.S. Open | 59 | T14 | T47 | CUT | T53 | |||
The Open Championship | 52 | |||||||
PGA Championship | T32 | T54 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Jack William Nicklaus, nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won 117 professional tournaments in his career. Over a quarter-century, he won a record 18 major championships, three more than second-placed Tiger Woods. Nicklaus focused on the major championships—the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship—and played a selective schedule of regular PGA Tour events. He competed in 164 major tournaments, more than any other player, and finished with 73 PGA Tour victories, third behind Sam Snead (82) and Woods (82).
Thomas Sturges Watson is an American retired professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions, formerly on the PGA Tour.
John Laurence Miller is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ranked second in the world on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in both 1974 and 1975 behind Jack Nicklaus. Miller won 25 PGA Tour events, including two majors. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. He was the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, a position he held from January 1990 to February 2019. He is also an active golf course architect.
Anthony Jacklin CBE is an English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captain from 1983 to 1989; Europe winning two and tying another of these four events.
Ben Daniel Crenshaw is a retired American professional golfer who has won 19 events on the PGA Tour, including two major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1984 and 1995. He is nicknamed Gentle Ben.
Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins Jr. is an American professional golfer. He won 21 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1977 PGA Championship. He ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 86 weeks from the ranking's debut in 1986 to 1988.
The following is a partial timeline of the history of golf.
Gary D. Koch is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer, who formerly played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.
Leonard Earl Mattiace is an American professional golfer, formerly of the PGA Tour and now playing on the PGA Tour Champions.
Hubert Myatt Green was an American professional golfer. Green won 19 PGA Tour events including two major championships: the 1977 U.S. Open and the 1985 PGA Championship. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.
Thomas Andrew Bean was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour.
James Bradley Simons was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1970s and 1980s.
Robert Stanton Greenwood, Jr. is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from 1969 to 1975. He is a PGA of America Life Member.
Beau Hossler is an American professional golfer from Rancho Santa Margarita, California who has played on the PGA Tour and won the Haskins Award in college as the top collegiate golfer in the US. He qualified for the U.S. Open twice as a teen, finishing tied for 29th in the 2012 U.S. Open and had held the outright lead midway through the second round.
Matthew Thomas Fitzpatrick is an English professional golfer. After winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur, he later won his first professional tournament at the 2015 British Masters. In 2022 he won his first major championship at the U.S. Open. In 2023, he won the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, his second PGA Tour victory.
Gary Nicklaus is an American professional golfer. He spent three years as a member of the PGA Tour from 2000 to 2003, and has played on numerous tours, including most recently the PGA Tour Champions. He is best known as the son of golfer Jack Nicklaus.
William Patrick Zalatoris is an American professional golfer. He has competed primarily on the PGA Tour, where he has won once, at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. He also has three runner-up finishes in major championships.
Robert James Stanton is a retired professional golfer from Australia. He had considerable success in the late 1960s, winning a number of tournaments in Australia and playing on the PGA Tour. As a 20-year-old, he won the 1966 Dunlop International, beating Arnold Palmer in a sudden-death playoff. He never won on the PGA Tour but was runner-up twice, in the 1969 AVCO Golf Classic and the 1970 Florida Citrus Invitational. He had a brief return of form in 1974/1975 and again for a few years from 1982.