Gene Sauers

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Gene Sauers
Personal information
Full nameGene Craig Sauers
Born (1962-08-22) August 22, 1962 (age 62)
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight150 lb (68 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationalityFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Career
College Georgia Southern
Turned professional1984
Current tour(s) PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Web.com Tour
Professional wins9
Highest ranking 36 (October 4, 1992) [1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour3
Korn Ferry Tour1
PGA Tour Champions1
European Senior Tour1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T33: 1987
PGA Championship T2: 1992
U.S. Open T58: 1985, 1987
The Open Championship T52: 1989
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour
Comeback Player of the Year/
Courage Award 		2002, 2016–17

Gene Craig Sauers (born August 22, 1962) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the PGA Tour Champions. He had three wins on the PGA Tour and overcame a deadly skin condition that kept him off the golf course for five years. He won the U.S. Senior Open in 2016, a senior major championship.

Contents

Early life and amateur career

Sauers was born in Savannah, Georgia and started playing golf at the age of nine with his father. He attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.

Professional career

Sauers turned pro in 1984 and joined the PGA Tour later in the year. He quickly had success winning the 1986 Bank of Boston Classic and the 1989 Hawaiian Open. [2] [3] He also won the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic in Mississippi in 1990, opposite the Masters in April, before it was an official money event.

In the early 1990s Sauers finished two tournaments in a tie for first place at the end of regulation: the 1992 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which he lost on the fourth extra hole of a playoff to John Cook, and the 1994 St. Jude Classic, which he and Hal Sutton lost to Tour rookie Dicky Pride. During this era, he also recorded his highest finish in a major championship: a tie for second at the 1992 PGA Championship, which he led for the first three rounds. [4]

Sauers lost his tour card in 1995 and had to play primarily on the Nike Tour. He recorded one victory on the Nike Tour at the 1998 Nike South Carolina Classic, and about a dozen top-10 finishes. [5] In late 2002, Sauers won the Air Canada Championship on the PGA Tour. It gave him a two-year exemption. Sauers also received the PGA Comeback Player of the Year award in 2002.

Sauers competed on the PGA Tour until 2005. From 2006 to 2010, he did not compete professionally after an initial misdiagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis turned out to be Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and he was given only a 25-percent chance of survival. Over several months, during which he received multiple skin grafts that left visible scarring, he gradually recovered. [6] [7]

Sauers finally overcame the disease and played a limited Nationwide Tour schedule in 2011 and 2012 before making his Champions Tour debut at the Boeing Classic near Seattle in 2012. He earned two top-10 finishes in 2012 and was also inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. [8] Playing a full season in 2013, Sauers was twice a runner-up, including a playoff loss to Esteban Toledo at the Insperity Invitational. He finished nineteenth on the Champions Tour money list. [6]

In the first six months of 2014, Sauers played in eleven events, with six top-25 finishes and a best of T-15 at the Allianz Championship in early February. [9] At the U.S. Senior Open in Oklahoma in July, he was tied with Colin Montgomerie after 72 holes but lost in a three-hole playoff. [10]

Two years later in 2016, Sauers earned his first win as a senior at the U.S. Senior Open in Ohio.

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Sep 14, 1986 Bank of Boston Classic 70-71-64-69=274−10Playoff Flag of the United States.svg Blaine McCallister
2Feb 12, 1989 Hawaiian Open 65-67-65=197*−191 stroke Flag of the United States.svg David Ogrin
3Sep 1, 2002 Air Canada Championship 69-65-66-69=269−151 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Steve Lowery

*Note: The 1989 Hawaiian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

PGA Tour playoff record (1–3)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1986 Bank of Boston Classic Flag of the United States.svg Blaine McCallister Won with birdie on third extra hole
2 1991 KMart Greater Greensboro Open Flag of the United States.svg Mark Brooks Lost to par on third extra hole
3 1992 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Flag of the United States.svg John Cook, Flag of the United States.svg Rick Fehr,
Flag of the United States.svg Tom Kite, Flag of the United States.svg Mark O'Meara 		Cook won with eagle on fourth extra hole
Fehr eliminated by birdie on second hole
Kite and O'Meara eliminated by birdie on first hole
4 1994 Federal Express St. Jude Classic Flag of the United States.svg Dicky Pride, Flag of the United States.svg Hal Sutton Pride won with birdie on first extra hole

Nike Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1May 3, 1998 Nike South Carolina Classic 70-69-72-69=280−81 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Craig Kanada, Flag of the United States.svg Sean Murphy

Other wins (4)

PGA Tour Champions wins (1)

Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (0)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1Aug 15, 2016 U.S. Senior Open 68-69-71-69=277−31 stroke Flag of Spain.svg Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Flag of the United States.svg Billy Mayfair

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–5)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2013 Insperity Championship Flag of the United States.svg Mike Goodes, Flag of Mexico.svg Esteban Toledo Toledo won with par on third extra hole
Sauers eliminated by par on second hole
2 2014 U.S. Senior Open Flag of Scotland.svg Colin Montgomerie Lost three-hole aggregate playoff;
Montgomerie: E (5-3-4=12),
Sauers: x (5-4-x=x)
3 2017 Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic Flag of Spain.svg Miguel Ángel Jiménez Lost to birdie on first extra hole
42017 3M Championship Flag of the United States.svg Paul Goydos Lost to birdie on first extra hole
5 2022 ClubCorp Classic Flag of New Zealand.svg Steven Alker, Flag of the United States.svg Scott Parel Parel won with par on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament198419851986198719881989
Masters Tournament T33CUT
U.S. Open CUTT58T58
The Open Championship T52
PGA Championship T30T24CUTT58
Tournament1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
Masters Tournament T34
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T88
PGA Championship CUTT63T2T22T44
Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT
Tournament20102011201220132014201520162017
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament19851986198719881989
The Players Championship CUTCUTT32T16T55
Tournament1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
The Players Championship T29T9CUTCUTT51T3T53
Tournament20002001200220032004
The Players Championship CUTCUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament2003
Match Play
Championship
Invitational 85
  Did not play

Senior major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunners-up
2016 U.S. Senior Open 1 shot deficit−3 (68-69-71-69=277)1 stroke Flag of Spain.svg Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Flag of the United States.svg Billy Mayfair

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2022.

Tournament201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
The Tradition T15T25T3T12T10T252NTT42T26
Senior PGA Championship T25T25CUTT14CUTT10NTT40T20T57
U.S. Senior Open T352T471CUTT21CUTNTT17T4CUT
Senior Players Championship T47T39T12T9T5429T16T16T25T33
Senior British Open Championship 10T18T23T24NT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Week 40 1992 Ending 4 Oct 1992" (pdf). OWGR . Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ Sauers' Sweet Putt
  3. ↑ "Golf: PGA Tour at Surrey, British Columbia". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 2, 2002. p. 6E.
  4. ↑ "Gene Sauers". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Gene Sauers – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Fields, Bill (July 12, 2014). "U.S. Senior Open leader Gene Sauers and the disease that threatened his career and his life". Golf Digest.
  7. ↑ Graff, Chad (July 31, 2013). "3M golf: Gene Sauers thriving after torturous battle with skin disease". TwinCities.com.
  8. ↑ Georgia Golf Hall of Fame profile of Sauers
  9. ↑ "Gene Sauers – Season". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Colin Montgomerie wins in playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. July 13, 2014.
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