Larry Gene Nelson (born September 10, 1947) is an
American
professional golfer who
has won numerous tournaments at both the
PGA
Tour and
Champions Tour
level.
Larry
Nelson was born in Fort Payne, Alabama
and grew up in Acworth
, Georgia
, northwest of Atlanta
. He
didn't play the game as a child – atypical for a successful
professional golfer – in high school he focused on
basketball and
baseball.
Nelson
took up golf at the age of 21 after he returned
from serving in the infantry in Vietnam
.
(Nelson was a 20-year-old
newlywed when he
was drafted into the
U.S.
Army)
[147336] Nelson carefully studied
Ben Hogan's book
The Five Fundamentals of
Golf while learning how to play the game. He soon found that
he had a talent for the game, breaking 100 the first time he played
and 70 within nine months.
He went on to graduate from Kennesaw Junior
College
in 1970 and turned professional the following
year. He qualified for the PGA Tour at 27. His breakthrough
year came in 1979 when he won twice and finished second in the
money list to
Tom Watson.
Nelson won ten times on the
PGA Tour, of
which three, a high proportion, were
major championships. He
earned his first major title at the 1981
PGA Championship which he won by four
strokes. In 1983 he was victorious at the
U.S. Open at
Oakmont
, coming from seven behind at the half-way point to
defeat Tom Watson by a single
shot. Nelson scored a U.S. Open record 65-67 over the last
36 holes at the difficult Oakmont course, which broke a 51 year
Open record established by
Gene
Sarazen. Nelson's 10 under par 132 record score has yet to be
equaled. In 1987 he finished tied with
Lanny Wadkins after the regulation 72 holes of
PGA Championship, and won the title
with a par at the first playoff hole.
Nelson played on the U.S.
Ryder Cup team
in 1979, 1981, and 1987. He also won four tournaments on the
Japan Golf Tour.
Since turning fifty in 1997 Nelson has had a successful
Champions Tour career, although he has not
won a
senior major.
He is also active in golf course design. He was elected to the
World Golf Hall of Fame in
April 2006
[147337] and inducted in October 2006.
Professional wins (40)
PGA Tour wins (10)
| No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Winning Score |
Margin of Victory |
Runner(s)-up |
| 1 |
Mar 11, 1979 |
Jackie
Gleason-Inverrary Classic |
-14 (67-69-67-71=274) |3 strokes |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Grier
Jones]] |- |2 |Jul 8, [[1979 PGA Tour|1979]] |[[Western Open]] |-2
(71-69-70-76=286) |Playoff |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Ben Crenshaw]] |- |3
|Jun 8, [[1980 PGA Tour|1980]] |[[Atlanta Classic]] |-18
(66-69-68-67=270) |7 strokes |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Andy Bean]],
{{flagicon|USA}} [[Don Pooley]] |- |4 |Apr 5, [[1981 PGA
Tour|1981]] |[[Greater Greensboro Open]] |-7 (69-68-69-75=281)
|Playoff |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Mark Hayes (golfer)|Mark Hayes]] |--
bgcolor="#D8BFD8" |5 |Aug 9, [[1981 PGA Tour|1981]] |[[PGA
Championship]] |-7 (70-66-66-71=273) |4 strokes |{{flagicon|USA}}
[[Fuzzy Zoeller]] |-- bgcolor="#D8BFD8" |6 |Jun 19, [[1983 PGA
Tour|1983]] |[[U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open]] |-4 (75-73-65-67=280)
|1 stroke |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Tom Watson (golfer)|Tom Watson]] |-
|7 |Oct 21, [[1984 PGA Tour|1984]] |[[Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile
Classic]] |-22 (66-66-64-70=266) |1 stroke |{{flagicon|USA}}
[[Hubert Green]] |-- bgcolor="#D8BFD8" |8 |Aug 9, [[1987 PGA
Tour|1987]] |[[PGA Championship]] |-1 ( 70-72-73-72=287) |Playoff
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Lanny Wadkins]] |- |9 |Oct 18, [[1987 PGA
Tour|1987]] |[[Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic]] |-20
(68-69-68-63=268) |1 stroke |{{flagicon|USA}} [[Morris Hatalsky]],
{{flagicon|USA}} [[Mark O'Meara]] |- |10 |Jun 1, [[1988 PGA
Tour|1988]] |[[Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic]] |-20
(63-66-66-73=268) |
1 stroke |
Chip Beck |
Japan Golf Tour wins (4)
Other wins (2)
Champions Tour wins (19)
- 1998 (3) American Express Invitational,
Pittsburgh Senior Classic,
Boone Valley Classic
- 1999 (2) GTE Classic, Bruno's Memorial Classic
- 2000 (6) Las Vegas Senior Classic, Boone Valley Classic, FleetBoston Classic, Foremost Insurance
Championship, Bank One
Senior Championship, Vantage
Championship
- 2001 (5) MasterCard Championship, Royal Caribbean Classic, FleetBoston Classic, Farmers Charity Classic, SBC Championship
- 2003 (1) Constellation Energy
Classic
- 2004 (2) FedEx Kinko's Classic, Administaff Small Business
Classic
Other senior wins (5)
Major Championships
Wins (3)
1Defeated Lanny Wadkins with a par on the first extra
hole.
Results timeline
| Tournament |
1980 |
1981 |
1982 |
1983 |
1984 |
1985 |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
The Masters |
T6 |
CUT |
T7 |
CUT |
5 |
T36 |
T36 |
CUT |
T33 |
CUT |
| U.S. Open |
T60 |
T20 |
T19 |
1 |
CUT |
T39 |
T35 |
CUT |
T62 |
T13 |
| British Open |
T12 |
DNP |
T32 |
T53 |
CUT |
T55 |
CUT |
T48 |
T13 |
CUT |
| PGA Championship |
CUT |
1 |
CUT |
T36 |
CUT |
T23 |
CUT |
1 |
T38 |
T46 |
| Tournament |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
| The Masters |
48 |
55 |
DQ |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
| U.S. Open |
T14 |
T3 |
CUT |
T46 |
CUT |
DNP |
DNP |
CUT |
DNP |
DNP |
| British Open |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
DNP |
| PGA Championship |
CUT |
CUT |
T28 |
T56 |
CUT |
CUT |
WD |
T71 |
DNP |
CUT |
DNP = did not play
DQ = disqualified
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
See also
External links
Wikis
Quiz
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