Stuart Appleby

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Stuart Appleby
Stuart Appleby.jpg
Appleby at the 2005 PGA Championship
Personal information
Born (1971-05-01) 1 May 1971 (age 54)
Cohuna, Victoria, Australia
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight195 lb (88 kg; 13.9 st)
Sporting nationalityFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Residence Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Spouse
  • Renay White
    (m. 1995;died 1998)
    [1]
  • Ashley Saleet
    (m. 2002)
Children4
Career
Turned professional1992
Current tour(s) PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Professional wins20
Highest ranking 8 (21 March 2004) [2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour9
PGA Tour of Australasia3
Korn Ferry Tour2
Other6
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T7: 2007
PGA Championship T4: 2000
U.S. Open T10: 1998
The Open Championship T2: 2002
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour
Comeback Player of the Year
2010

Stuart Appleby (born 1 May 1971) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour.

Contents

Early life

Appleby was born in Cohuna, Victoria, and grew up on a nearby dairy farm. He began in golf by hitting balls from paddock to paddock after his farm chores were completed. As a youth, he played Australian rules football. [3]

Professional career

Appleby at the 2010 PGA Championship Stuart Appleby at 2015 PGA Championship.jpg
Appleby at the 2010 PGA Championship

Appleby turned professional in 1992 and began his career on the PGA Tour of Australasia. In 1995 he won twice on the Nike Tour (now known as the Web.com Tour), the second tier men's tour in the U.S. He was the eighth player to win his first Web.com Tour start. He qualified to compete on the PGA Tour the following year by finishing the season fifth on the money list. [3]

Appleby has won nine times on the PGA Tour. He was a member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup five times, and featured in the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2004. [4] His best performance in a major championship came in 2002, where he lost in a four-way playoff to Ernie Els at The Open Championship. [5]

In 2010, during the final round of the inaugural Greenbrier Classic, Appleby became the fifth player in history to shoot a 59 in an official PGA Tour event, [6] and won the PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year award. [7] Appleby was limited to seven starts before back surgery in March 2015. He made a start on the Web.com Tour for the first time in twenty years at the Nova Scotia Open, where he finished T36. Qualified for a medical extension, Appleby was allowed entry into the Web.com Tour Finals, but did not make a cut and played the 2016 season on a major medical extension. He burned through his medical extension and finished 143rd in the FedEx Cup. He tried to regain his Tour card through the Web.com Finals, but did not finish high enough when Hurricane Matthew threatened Florida and the final tournament was cancelled, leaving the top 25 players with their cards, and Appleby finished 31st, leaving him with limited status for the 2017 season. He finished 192nd in the FedEx Cup, limiting him to the Past Champions category for 2018.

Personal life

Appleby's first wife Renay was struck and killed by a taxicab outside London Waterloo station in 1998, [8] [9] [10] shortly after he had missed the cut at The Open Championship.

Appleby married his second wife, Ashley Saleet, in 2002, and they live with their four children in Orlando, Florida. After the 1999 plane crash that killed his friend and next-door neighbour Payne Stewart, he has been one of the key father figures for Stewart's children, Chelsea and Aaron. [11] In his spare time, Appleby enjoys motor racing. [3] He is the ambassador for Golf Australia's Crown Lager Social Golf Club [12] and patron for Stuart Appleby Junior Golf.

Professional wins (20)

PGA Tour wins (9)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
116 Mar 1997 Honda Classic 68-68-67-71=274−141 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Michael Bradley, Flag of the United States.svg Payne Stewart
27 Jun 1998 Kemper Open 70-63-69-72=274−101 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Scott Hoch
32 May 1999 Shell Houston Open 70-68-70-71=279−91 stroke Flag of the United States.svg John Cook, Flag of the United States.svg Hal Sutton
412 Oct 2003 Las Vegas Invitational 62-68-63-66-69=328−31Playoff Flag of the United States.svg Scott McCarron
511 Jan 2004 Mercedes Championships 66-67-66-71=270−221 stroke Flag of Fiji.svg Vijay Singh
69 Jan 2005 Mercedes Championships (2)74-64-66-67=271−211 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Kaye
78 Jan 2006 Mercedes Championships (3)71-72-70-71=284−8Playoff Flag of Fiji.svg Vijay Singh
823 Apr 2006 Shell Houston Open (2)66-67-69-67=269−196 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Bob Estes
91 Aug 2010 Greenbrier Classic 66-68-65-59=258−221 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Overton

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2002 The Open Championship Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Elkington, Flag of South Africa.svg Ernie Els,
Flag of France.svg Thomas Levet
Els won with par on first extra hole after four-hole aggregate playoff;
Els: E (4-3-5-4=16),
Levet: E (4-2-5-5=16),
Appleby: +1 (4-3-5-5=17),
Elkington: +1 (5-3-4-5=17)
2 2003 Las Vegas Invitational Flag of the United States.svg Scott McCarron Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2006 Mercedes Championships Flag of Fiji.svg Vijay Singh Won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (2)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory
Runner-up
120 Dec 1998 Schweppes Coolum Classic 68-67-67-69=271−174 strokes Flag of Australia (converted).svg Craig Spence
225 Nov 2001
(2002 season)
Holden Australian Open 69-70-67-65=271−173 strokes Flag of Australia (converted).svg Scott Laycock
314 Nov 2010 JBWere Masters 71-69-69-65=274−101 stroke Flag of Australia (converted).svg Adam Bland

Nike Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
119 Mar 1995 Nike Monterrey Open 68-70-67-68=273−15Playoff Flag of Mexico.svg Rafael Alarcón
21 Oct 1995 Nike Sonoma County Open 69-69-65-66=269−194 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Collins, Flag of the United States.svg Joe Durant,
Flag of the United States.svg Jerry Kelly

Nike Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1995 Nike Monterrey Open Flag of Mexico.svg Rafael Alarcón Won with birdie on seventh extra hole
21995 Nike Ozarks Open Flag of the United States.svg P. H. Horgan III, Flag of the United States.svg Mike Schuchart Schuchart won with birdie on second extra hole

Australasian Foundation Tour wins (5)

Other wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory
Runners-up
13 Aug 1999 CVS Charity Classic
(with Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Sluman)
63-59=122−202 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Brett Quigley and Flag of the United States.svg Dana Quigley

Results in major championships

! Tournament199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011
Masters Tournament T21CUTCUTCUTT31CUTCUTT22T43T19T7T14T30CUT
U.S. Open T36T10CUTCUTCUTT37CUTCUTCUTCUTT26T36CUTT29
The Open Championship T20CUTCUTT1161T2T15T36T41CUTCUTT51T65
PGA Championship T61CUTCUTT4T16T17T23T17T15T55T12T15CUTT68
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament 000015148
U.S. Open 000011146
The Open Championship 010114139
PGA Championship 0001181411
Totals01024185534

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014
The Players Championship T14CUTCUTT22T33T28T21CUTCUTCUTT16T15CUTCUTT77
  Did not play

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

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament1999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011
Match Play R64R64R16R64R64R32R32R64R64R16R64
Championship T30T25NT1T11T2T16T11T6T35T34T61
Invitational T23T20T5T42T46T9T13T71T14T2T51T6376
Champions T69T42

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Note: Appleby is the only golfer to compete in the first 32 WGC events. [13]

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. Hinds, Richard (17 July 2008). "Ten years after tragedy, renewed Appleby resurfaces at Royal Birkdale". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. "Week 12 2004 Ending 21 Mar 2004" (pdf). OWGR . Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "About Stuart". Stuart Appleby's official site. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  4. "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 in World Ranking" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  5. "Golf Major Championships" . Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  6. "Appleby ends 4-year drought with 59". ESPN. Associated Press. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  7. "Appleby named 2010 Tour Comeback Player of the Year". PGA Tour. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  8. Babineau, Jeff (24 July 1998). "Accident takes life of Appleby's wife". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  9. Kelley, Steve (12 August 1998). "A matter of life and death -- Appleby returns to golf without his beloved Renay". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  10. Van Sickle, Gary (10 May 1999). "Heaven sent". Sports Illustrated. p. G7.
  11. Merrill, Elizabeth (16 June 2009). "In his father's footsteps". ESPN. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  12. "Crown Lager and Golf Australia partner on new social golf program". Brews News. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  13. "Week 10 Approach Shots: CA Championship". PGA Tour. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2013.