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Bobby Nichols

American professional golfer (born 1936)

Summary

American professional golfer (born 1936)

Field	Value
name	Bobby Nichols
imagesize
fullname	Robert Herman Nichols
birth_date
birth_place	Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
death_date
height
weight
nationality
college	Texas A&M University
yearpro	1960
retired
extour	PGA Tour
Champions Tour
prowins	15
pgawins	12
champwins	1
otherwins	2
majorwins	1
masters	2nd: 1967
usopen	T3: 1962
open	DNP
pga	Won: 1964
wghofid
wghofyear
award1
year1
awardssection
module	{{Infobox person	embed=yes
signature	Bobby_Niochols_signature.jpg

Champions Tour Robert Herman Nichols (born April 14, 1936) is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the PGA Championship in 1964.

Early life

In 1936, Nichols was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended St. Xavier High School. While in high school, Nichols and several other youths were involved in an automobile accident resulting from a 100 mph joy ride. He suffered serious injuries including a broken pelvis, concussion, back and internal injuries, and was hospitalized 96 days. His legs were also paralyzed for about two weeks, but he was able to regain full use of his legs after intensive physical therapy.

Nichols later played on the Aggies golf team at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (later renamed Texas A&M University) in the Southwest Conference.

Professional career

In 1960, Nichols began playing on the PGA Tour and recorded 12 victories, one of which, the PGA National Team Championship, was not fully recognized until 2012. He was a member of the Ryder Cup team in 1967, and his best year on tour was 1974 when he won twice, earned $124,747 and finished 14th on the money list. Nichols, Jerry Heard, and Lee Trevino were struck by lightning at the Western Open on Friday, June 27, 1975. All three men came back to play professional golf. Unfortunately Nichols – who was 39 at the time and still playing consistently well – as the PGA Tour's Media Guide noted several years later "has not played with the same effectiveness since" [meaning after the strike]. His results on tour after mid-1975 until he joined what was then called the Senior Tour in 1986 bear that out. While Trevino won many more times on the PGA Tour after being hit by lightning (including a major championship) and Heard also won again on tour in 1978, Nichols never did. The closest he came to another PGA Tour win was a team event played in 1976 with Gay Brewer, the 1976 Walt Disney World National Team Championship. The team of Nichols and Brewer lost in a playoff to the team of Woody Blackburn and Billy Kratzert.

He has had 12 holes-in-one in his professional career.

The 1964 PGA Championship was played at the Columbus Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. Nichols won with a 271 total, three shots ahead of runners-up Arnold Palmer and defending champion Jack Nicklaus, playing in his hometown. This was a record low score for the PGA Championship and it stood for 30 years, until broken by Nick Price's 269 in 1994. Nichols was the first wire-to-wire winner since the PGA Championship switched format from match play to stroke play in 1958. He came close to winning a second major at the Masters in 1967, finishing second to his lifelong friend, Gay Brewer.

After turning 50 in 1986, Nichols played on the Senior PGA Tour, now the Champions Tour. He had numerous top-10 finishes but only one victory – the Southwestern Bell Classic in 1989, when he defeated Orville Moody on the third hole of a playoff.

Bobby Nichols Golf Course is a 9-hole municipal course that is part of Waverly Park in Louisville, southwest of downtown. () The back tees are set at 6970 yd with a rating of 72.0 and a slope of 130.

Professional wins (15)

PGA Tour wins (12)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Mar 19, 1962	St. Petersburg Open Invitational	−16 (71-67-70-64=272)	2 strokes	USA Frank Boynton
2	Apr 23, 1962	Houston Classic	−2 (68-69-71-70=278)	Playoff	USA Jack Nicklaus, USA Dan Sikes
3	Sep 15, 1963	Seattle Open Invitational	−16 (66-68-68-70=272)	2 strokes	USA Raymond Floyd, CAN Stan Leonard
4	Jul 19, 1964	PGA Championship	−9 (64-71-69-67=271)	3 strokes	USA Jack Nicklaus, USA Arnold Palmer
5	Aug 30, 1964	Carling World Open	−2 (72-68-66-72=278)	1 stroke	USA Arnold Palmer
6	Apr 18, 1965	Houston Classic (2)	−11 (67-69-67-70=273)	1 stroke	AUS Bruce Devlin, USA Chi-Chi Rodríguez
7	Jul 17, 1966	Minnesota Golf Classic	−14 (67-67-66-70=270)	1 stroke	USA John Schlee
8	Sep 22, 1968	PGA National Team Championship
(with USA George Archer)	−22 (65-66-69-65=265)	2 strokes	USA Monty Kaser and USA Rives McBee
9	Aug 30, 1970	Dow Jones Open Invitational	−12 (68-70-69-69=276)	1 stroke	USA Labron Harris Jr.
10	Aug 5, 1973	Westchester Classic	−16 (70-67-70-65=272)	Playoff	USA Bob Murphy
11	Jan 27, 1974	Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational	−13 (69-69-68-69=275)	1 stroke	USA Rod Curl, USA Gene Littler
12	Jul 28, 1974	Canadian Open	−10 (67-67-68-68=270)	4 strokes	USA John Schlee, USA Larry Ziegler

PGA Tour playoff record (2–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1961	Ontario Open	USA George Bayer, USA Eric Monti	Monti won with birdie on second extra hole
2	1962	Houston Classic	USA Jack Nicklaus, USA Dan Sikes	Won with eagle on first extra hole after 18 hole playoff;
Nichols: +1 (71),
Sikes: +1 (71),
Nicklaus: +6 (76)
3	1973	Westchester Classic	USA Bob Murphy	Won with birdie on second extra hole
4	1975	Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational	USA Raymond Floyd, USA J. C. Snead	Snead won with birdie on fourth extra hole
Nichols eliminated by par on first hole
5	1976	Walt Disney World National Team Championship
(with USA Gay Brewer)	USA Woody Blackburn and USA Billy Kratzert	Lost to birdie on third extra hole

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner-up
1	May 28, 1989	Southwestern Bell Classic	−7 (69-69-71=209)	Playoff	USA Orville Moody

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1988	Senior Players Reunion Pro-Am	NZL Bob Charles, USA Don Massengale,
USA Orville Moody	Moody won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1989	Southwestern Bell Classic	USA Orville Moody	Won with birdie on third extra hole

Source:

Other senior wins (2)

1986 Showdown Classic (with Curt Byrum)
2007 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Butch Baird)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
1964	PGA Championship	1 shot lead	−9 (64-71-69-67=271)	3 strokes	USA Jack Nicklaus, USA Arnold Palmer

Results timeline

Tournament	1958	1959
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open	T52
PGA Championship

Tournament	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament		T24	T25	T35	T22	2	T30	T29
U.S. Open	T3	T14	T14	CUT	7	T23	4	T31
PGA Championship	6	T23	1	T54	CUT	T14	T57	T44

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament			T31	T24	T7	T4	CUT
U.S. Open	T46	T9	T11	T20	T49	CUT	CUT		52	T25
PGA Championship	T26	T46	T62	T51	T39	T33	CUT	T51	T19	CUT

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open	CUT	T53	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	T34	T36	CUT	T40

Note: Nichols never played in The Open Championship.

CUT = missed the halfway cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	1	0	2	3	7	12	11
U.S. Open	0	0	1	2	4	10	22	16
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
PGA Championship	1	0	0	1	2	5	24	18

Most consecutive cuts made – 23 (1967 Masters – 1975 Masters)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1962 U.S. Open – 1962 PGA)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

Ryder Cup: 1967 (winners)

References

(September 17, 2012). "Just in ...".
(June 28, 1975). "Trevino survives lightning". Milwaukee Sentinel.
[http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/67/ Bio from pgatour.com] {{webarchive. link. (February 12, 2007)
Wright, Alfred. (July 27, 1964). "'You aren't going to believe this, but...'".
Gundelfinger, Phil. (July 20, 1964). "Nichols PGA Champ with record 271". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
(July 20, 1964). "Nichols holds off Nicklaus in PGA". Eugene Register-Guard.
Parascenzo, Marino. (August 15, 1994). "Price is a major force". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
[http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2004/history_1964.html Year by Year History of the PGA Championship]
"Course Rating and Slope Database: Bobby Nichols Golf Course". USGA.
"Bobby Nichols Golf Course Scorecard". Louisville - Jefferson County Metro Parks.
"Bobby Nichols". PGA Tour.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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