David Graham (golfer)

Anthony David Graham, AM[1] (born 23 May 1946) is a former professional golfer from Australia. He won eight times on the PGA Tour, including two major championships.

David Graham
Personal information
Full nameAnthony David Graham
Born (1946-05-23) 23 May 1946
Windsor, New South Wales, Australia
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight152 lb (69 kg; 10.9 st)
Nationality Australia
Career
Turned professional1962
Retired2004
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins37
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour8
European Tour3
Japan Golf Tour1
PGA Tour of Australasia9
PGA Tour Champions5
Other13
Best results in major championships
(wins: 2)
Masters Tournament5th: 1980
PGA ChampionshipWon: 1979
U.S. OpenWon: 1981
The Open ChampionshipT3: 1985
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame2015 (member page)

Professional career

Born in Windsor, New South Wales, Australia, Graham turned professional in 1962 at age 16 and spent much of his career in the United States, playing on the PGA Tour. Turning age 50 in 1996, he joined the Senior PGA Tour, later known as the Champions Tour. Although known for his success in the U.S., he won events on six continents in his career, an achievement he shares with only four other players Gary Player, Hale Irwin, Bernhard Langer and Justin Rose.

In 1976, won twice on the PGA Tour, and then came from behind to secure a victory over the reigning champion Hale Irwin in the Piccadilly World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, England.[2]

Graham won two major championships, the 1979 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills near Detroit, and the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion, just west of Philadelphia.[3][4] He also finished third at the 1985 Open Championship, after sharing the third-round lead. Both of his major victories came in remarkable fashion. In the 1979 PGA Championship, he stood on the last tee at 7 under par for his final round and leading by two, but double-bogeyed the last hole for a 65 to drop back into a playoff with Ben Crenshaw. At each of the first two sudden-death holes he holed long putts to keep the playoff alive and finally won at the third extra hole. At the 1981 U.S. Open, Graham shot a 67 in the final round to overturn a three-shot deficit to overnight leader George Burns to win by 3 strokes. He became the fourth Australian major champion (after Jim Ferrier, Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle) and the first to win a U.S. Open.

Graham participated on the Australian teams that won the World Cup (in 1970) and the Alfred Dunhill Cup (in 1985 and 1986).

Ahead of the 1970 World Cup, the organizing International Golf Association, preferred the more well-known Bruce Crampton to team for Australia with Bruce Devlin. The Australian PGA threatened not to send a team if Graham was not included and Devlin and Graham finally represented Australia and won the team competition by a record eight strokes after holding a record advantage of 19 strokes going into the final round. Graham finished second individually. Devlin and Graham again represented Australia in the 1971 World Cup, but when Devlin was not selected for the event the year after, Graham refused to play and never again participated in any World Cup events.[5]

Another controversy with Graham involved was reported during the inaugural 1985 Dunhill Cup at the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. Australia won the team event, with Graham, Greg Norman and Graham Marsh in the team. Prior to the tournament, Marsh had criticized Graham for accepting appearance money for playing in Australian golf tournaments. At the time, Marsh had recently been made an MBE for services to golf and was for six years chairman of the PGA Tour of Australasia. However, Norman took David Graham's side in the debate and Australia went on to win the tournament despite the conflict. In 1986, Australia successfully defended the title with Graham, Norman and Rodger Davis in their team.[6]

At the end of 1981, Graham was ranked 7th on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings.

On 27 June 2004, during the final round of the Bank of America Championship on the Champions Tour, Graham collapsed over a putt on the eighth green. He was later diagnosed with congestive heart failure, ending his competitive golf career at age 58.[7] He is now retired and resides at Iron Horse Golf Club in Whitefish, Montana.

Graham was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988 and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1990.[1][8][9]

It was announced on 16 October 2014 that Graham has been elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame.[8][10] His nomination was supported by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. He was inducted with other nominees Mark O'Meara, course architect A. W. Tillinghast and Laura Davies on 13 July 2015 at the University of St Andrews, during the 2015 Open Championship.[11]

Professional wins (38)

PGA Tour wins (8)
Legend
Major championships (2)
Other PGA Tour (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 3 Jul 1972 Cleveland Open 68-73-68-69=278 −6 Playoff Bruce Devlin
2 18 Jul 1976 American Express Westchester Classic 63-68-70-71=272 −12 3 strokes Ben Crenshaw, Tom Watson,
Fuzzy Zoeller
3 29 Aug 1976 American Golf Classic 69-67-69-69=274 −14 4 strokes Lou Graham
4 5 Aug 1979 PGA Championship 69-68-70-65=272 −8 Playoff Ben Crenshaw
5 25 May 1980 Memorial Tournament 73-67-70-70=280 −8 1 stroke Tom Watson
6 24 Jan 1981 Phoenix Open 65-68-69-66=268 −16 1 stroke Lon Hinkle
7 21 Jun 1981 U.S. Open 68-68-70-67=273 −7 3 strokes George Burns, Bill Rogers
8 8 May 1983 Houston Coca-Cola Open 66-72-73-64=275 −9 5 strokes Lee Elder, Jim Thorpe,
Lee Trevino

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1972 Cleveland Open Bruce Devlin Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 1972 Liggett & Myers Open Lou Graham, Hale Irwin,
Larry Ziegler		 L. Graham won with birdie on third extra hole
D. Graham and Ziegler eliminated with par on first hole
3 1979 PGA Championship Ben Crenshaw Won with birdie on third extra hole

European Tour wins (3)
Legend
Major championships (2)
Other European Tour (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 5 Aug 1979 PGA Championship 69-68-70-65=272 −8 Playoff Ben Crenshaw
2 21 Jun 1981 U.S. Open 68-68-70-67=273 −7 3 strokes George Burns, Bill Rogers
3 24 Oct 1982 Trophée Lancôme 66-70-70-70=276 −12 2 strokes Seve Ballesteros

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1979 PGA Championship Ben Crenshaw Won with birdie on third extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1 2 May 1976 Chunichi Crowns 72-68-69-67=276 −4 1 stroke Yasuhiro Miyamoto

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1985 Taiheiyo Club Masters Tommy Nakajima Lost to birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (6)
Legend
Australian Opens (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (5)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 26 Oct 1975 Wills Masters 71-70-69-72=282 −8 2 strokes Rob McNaughton
2 20 Nov 1977 Australian Open 74-71-68-71=284 −4 3 strokes Don January, Bruce Lietzke,
John Lister
3 28 Oct 1979 CBA West Lakes Classic 72-70-72-71=285 −3 2 strokes Bob Shearer, Gary Vanier
4 2 Dec 1979 Air New Zealand Shell Open 70-67-69-73=279 −5 8 strokes Rodger Davis
5 13 Oct 1985 Queensland Open 66-64-69-70=269 −19 5 strokes Paul Foley
6 11 Oct 1987 Queensland Open (2) 69-71-69-66=275 −13 7 strokes Vaughan Somers

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1983 National Panasonic New South Wales Open Greg Norman Lost to par on second extra hole

Other European wins (3)
  • 1970 French Open
  • 1976 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship
  • 1981 Trophée Lancôme

Other Japan wins (2)

Other Australasian wins (3)

Asia Golf Circuit wins (2)

Latin American wins (4)
  • 1971 Caracas Open
  • 1978 Mexico Cup
  • 1980 Mexican Open, Heublein Open (Brazil)

Other wins (2)

Senior PGA Tour wins (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 16 Feb 1997 GTE Classic −9 (71-68-65=204) 3 strokes Bob Dickson
2 30 Mar 1997 Southwestern Bell Dominion −10 (68-69-69=206) 1 stroke John Jacobs
3 21 Sep 1997 Comfort Classic −16 (67-68-65=200) 1 stroke Buddy Allin, Larry Nelson
4 1 Feb 1998 Royal Caribbean Classic −11 (67-68-67=202) Playoff Dave Stockton
5 17 Oct 1999 Raley's Gold Rush Classic −17 (63-71-65=199) 4 strokes Larry Mowry

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1996 Emerald Coast Classic Bob Eastwood, Mike Hill,
Dave Stockton, Lee Trevino		 Trevino won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1998 Royal Caribbean Classic Dave Stockton Won with birdie on tenth extra hole

Major championships

Wins (2)
YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner(s)-up
1979PGA Championship4 shot deficit−8 (69-68-70-65=272)Playoff1 Ben Crenshaw
1981U.S. Open3 shot deficit−7 (68-68-70-67=273)3 strokes George Burns, Bill Rogers

1Defeated Crenshaw with birdie on third extra hole.

Results timeline
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament T36 CUT T29 T6 T9 WD
U.S. Open CUT CUT T47 T58 T18 T29 CUT CUT CUT 7
The Open Championship T32 CUT T11 T28 T21 CUT T39
PGA Championship CUT CUT 10 T4 CUT CUT 1
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament 5 7 19 46 T6 T10 T28 T27
U.S. Open T47 1 T6 T8 T21 T23 T15 T51 T47 T61
The Open Championship T29 T14 T27 T14 CUT T3 T11 34 CUT T61
PGA Championship T26 T43 T49 T14 T48 T32 T7 CUT T17 CUT
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open 64 60
The Open Championship T8 CUT
PGA Championship T66 T52 CUT CUT CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut (3rd round cut in 1971, 1977 and 1984 Open Championships)
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament0001671412
U.S. Open1001482217
The Open Championship0011271914
PGA Championship1002462213
Totals201516287756
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 20 (1979 U.S. Open – 1984 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1979 U.S. Open – 1980 Masters)

Team appearances
  • World Cup (representing Australia): 1970, 1971
  • Dunhill Cup (representing Australia): 1985 (winners), 1986 (winners), 1988
  • Nissan Cup (representing Australasia): 1985, 1986

See also

References
  1. "Graham, Anthony David, AM". It's an Honour. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  2. "Graham wins Piccadilly golf title". Telegraph Herald. Dubuque, Iowa. UPI. 11 October 1976. p. 9. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. "Graham conquers Open crew". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. 22 June 1981. p. 17. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  4. Jenkins, Dan (29 June 1981). "Graham Didn't Crack". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. James, Russell (18 September 2012). "Chapter 4". David Graham: From Ridicule to Acclaim. Ryan Publishing.
  6. James, Chapter 5
  7. Yocum, Guy (June 2006). "My Shot: David Graham". Golf Digest. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  8. "World Golf Hall of Fame welcomes Davies, Graham, O'Meara and Tillinghast as the Class of 2015" (Press release). World Golf Hall of Fame. 15 October 2014.
  9. "Anthony 'David' Graham AM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  10. Blake, Martin (16 October 2014). "David Graham elected to World Golf Hall of Fame". Golf Australia.
  11. "World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum to bring 2015 Induction Ceremony to St Andrews, Scotland" (Press release). World Golf Hall of Fame. 22 September 2014.
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