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Steve Elkington

Australian professional golfer

Field	Value
name	Steve Elkington
image	Senior Open 2013 - Steve Elkington (9370956214) (cropped).jpg
caption	Elkington in 2023
fullname	Stephen John Elkington
birth_date
birth_place	Inverell, New South Wales, Australia
death_date
height
weight	190 lb
nationality
residence	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Houston, Texas, U.S.
spouse	Lisa Elkington
children	2
college	University of Houston
yearpro	1985
retired
extour	PGA Tour
PGA Tour Champions
prowins	17
pgawins	10
asiawins	1
auswins	1
champwins
seneurowins
otherwins	5
majorwins	1
masters	T3: 1993
usopen	T21: 1989, 1990
open	T2: 2002
pga	Won: 1995
wghofid
wghofyear
award1	Vardon Trophy
year1	1995
awardssection

Houston, Texas, U.S. PGA Tour Champions Stephen John Elkington (born 8 December 1962) is an Australian professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions. Formerly on the PGA Tour, he spent more than fifty weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 1995 to 1998. Elkington won a major title at the PGA Championship in 1995, and is a two-time winner of The Players Championship.

Early life and amateur career

In 1962, Elkington was born in Inverell, New South Wales. He grew up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

Elkington moved to the United States to attend college in Texas at the University of Houston, where he played on the Cougar golf team that won national titles in 1982, 1984, and 1985. Elkington was the first prominent Australian to play college golf in the U.S.

Professional career

In 1985, Elkington turned professional. Elkington was the runner-up at 1986 PGA Tour Qualifying School to earn his tour card. He had ten victories on the PGA Tour, all in the 1990s, and won four events twice. Elkington had ten top-10 finishes in major championships, with the best results at the PGA Championship; he won in 1995 at Riviera, which moved him back into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a two-time winner of The Players Championship, the PGA Tour's marquee event, with victories in 1991 and 1997. Of the five to win twice at TPC Sawgrass, his span of six years between wins is the shortest.

In addition to his PGA Tour success, Elkington won the 1992 Australian Open and 1996 Honda Invitational on the Asian Tour.

Elkington was a participant in the first four editions of the Presidents Cup, on the International Team in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. In 1995, he was awarded the Vardon Trophy; this award is given annually by the PGA of America to the tour player with the lowest scoring average.

In June 2006, playing in a sectional to qualify for the U.S. Open, Elkington tried to wear shoes with metal spikes. When his attempt was rebuffed, he left rather than change to soft-spiked shoes, and argued that since spiked shoes were allowed in the U.S. Open, the following week, that they should be allowed at sectional events.

Elkington's career has been hampered by constant battles with allergies, notably to grass, which caused several absences from tournament play. He has had sinus surgeries, constant infections, and bouts with viral meningitis, as well as searing headaches.

As of 2013, Elkington had sponsorship/endorsement deals with apparel brand Oxford Golf, Insperity, World Golf Tour, Grieve Family Winery, and Par West Custom Golf Shoes.

He turned fifty in late 2012 and made his debut on the Champions Tour in June 2013.

In 2014, RFD-TV began airing The Rural Golfer, starring Elkington. The production followed Elkington as he toured the United States, digging up golf stories. In 2015, CBS Sports Network began airing the second season of the show, retitled Secret Golf with Steve Elkington.

Personal life

Elkington met his wife, Lisa, while at the University of Houston, and they have two children. The family has residences in both Australia and the U.S., at Sydney and Houston. His son Sam played golf on his high school team in Houston, and played on the golf team at the University of Houston from 2015 to 2020. His daughter works as a ceramics teacher.

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (10)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Players Championships (2)
Other PGA Tour (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of
victory	Runner(s)-up
1	22 Apr 1990	KMart Greater Greensboro Open	74-71-71-66=282	−6	2 strokes	USA Mike Reid, USA Jeff Sluman
2	31 Mar 1991	The Players Championship	66-70-72-68=276	−12	1 stroke	USA Fuzzy Zoeller
3	12 Jan 1992	Infiniti Tournament of Champions	69-71-67-72=279	−9	Playoff	USA Brad Faxon
4	2 Oct 1994	Buick Southern Open	66-66-68=200	−16	5 strokes	AUS Steve Rintoul
5	8 Jan 1995	Mercedes Championships (2)	69-71-71-67=278	−10	Playoff	USA Bruce Lietzke
6	13 Aug 1995	PGA Championship	68-67-68-64=267	−17	Playoff	SCO Colin Montgomerie
7	9 Mar 1997	Doral-Ryder Open	70-66-70-69=275	−13	2 strokes	USA Larry Nelson, ZWE Nick Price
8	30 Mar 1997	The Players Championship (2)	66-69-68-69=272	−16	7 strokes	USA Scott Hoch
9	4 Oct 1998	Buick Challenge (2)	66-70-66-65=267	−21	Playoff	USA Fred Funk
10	7 Mar 1999	Doral-Ryder Open (2)	72-70-69-64=275	−13	1 stroke	USA Greg Kraft

PGA Tour playoff record (4–4)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1992	Infiniti Tournament of Champions	USA Brad Faxon	Won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1992	Buick Open	USA Brad Faxon, USA Dan Forsman	Forsman won with par on second extra hole
Faxon eliminated by par on first hole
3	1992	H.E.B. Texas Open	ZWE Nick Price	Lost to par on second extra hole
4	1993	KMart Greater Greensboro Open	USA Rocco Mediate	Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
5	1995	Mercedes Championships	USA Bruce Lietzke	Won with birdie on second extra hole
6	1995	PGA Championship	SCO Colin Montgomerie	Won with birdie on first extra hole
7	1998	Buick Challenge	USA Fred Funk	Won with par on first extra hole
8	2002	The Open Championship	AUS Stuart Appleby, ZAF Ernie Els,
FRA 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)

Asian PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of
victory	Runner-up
1	5 May 1996	Honda Invitational	71-73-68-69=281	−7	1 stroke	PHI Felix Casas

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of
victory	Runners-up
1	29 Nov 1992	Australian Open	69-68-69-74=280	−8	2 strokes	AUS Peter McWhinney, USA Duffy Waldorf

Other wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par
victory	Runners-up
1	24 Aug 1993	Fred Meyer Challenge
(with USA Tom Purtzer)	63-63=128	−16	1 stroke	USA Fred Couples and USA Davis Love III,
USA Brad Faxon and USA Rick Fehr,
USA Jim Gallagher Jr. and USA Bruce Lietzke
2	21 Nov 1993	Franklin Funds Shark Shootout
(with USA Raymond Floyd)	62-64-62=188	−28	1 stroke	USA Mark Calcavecchia and USA Brad Faxon,
USA Hale Irwin and USA Bruce Lietzke,
USA Tom Kite and USA Davis Love III,
USA Mark O'Meara and USA Curtis Strange
3	19 Nov 1995	Franklin Templeton Shootout (2)
(with USA Mark Calcavecchia)	64-61-59=184	−32	1 stroke	USA Chip Beck and USA Lee Janzen
4	14 Dec 1997	Diners Club Matches
(with USA Jeff Maggert)	2 and 1	USA Tom Lehman and USA Duffy Waldorf
5	15 Nov 1998	Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout (3)
(with AUS Greg Norman)	67-64-58=189	−27	Playoff	USA John Cook and USA Peter Jacobsen

Other playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1998	Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout
(with AUS Greg Norman)	USA John Cook and USA Peter Jacobsen	Won with birdie on third extra hole

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1995	PGA Championship	6 shot deficit	−17 (68-67-68-64=267)	Playoff1	SCO Colin Montgomerie

1Defeated Montgomerie with birdie on first extra hole.

Results timeline

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament				T22	T37	T3	CUT	T5	CUT	T12	30	T11
U.S. Open		T21	T21	T55	CUT	T33		T36	T40	T24	CUT	T51
The Open Championship			CUT	T44	T34	T48	T67	T6	CUT	CUT	WD	CUT
PGA Championship	T31	T41	CUT	T32	T18	T14	T7	1	T3	T45	3

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Masters Tournament	T52			CUT
U.S. Open					T33		CUT
The Open Championship	T60	CUT	T2	WD		CUT
PGA Championship		WD	T48		T2		CUT	T39	CUT	T5	CUT

CUT = missed the half way cut

WD = Withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	1	2	2	5	11	8
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	0	3	12	9
The Open Championship	0	1	0	1	2	2	15	7
PGA Championship	1	1	2	5	6	8	19	13

Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (twice)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

The Players Championship

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1991	The Players Championship	4 shot deficit	−12 (66-70-72-68=276)	1 stroke	USA Fuzzy Zoeller
1997	The Players Championship (2)	2 shot lead	−16 (66-69-68-69=272)	7 strokes	USA Scott Hoch

Results timeline

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Players Championship	CUT	T54	CUT	T16	1	CUT	T16	T51	WD	T19	1		T38

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
The Players Championship			T63	CUT	T26	T6		T12	T32	CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut

WD = withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2005	2006
Match Play	R64	R64			R64
Championship	T34		NT1	WD
Invitational	39		T23	T49

1Cancelled due to 9/11

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

"T" = Tied

WD = Withdrew

NT = No tournament

Results in senior major championships

Tournament	2013	2014
The Tradition	T19	T9
Senior PGA Championship		WD
Senior Players Championship	T24
U.S. Senior Open	T6	T49
Senior British Open Championship	T11

CUT = missed the halfway cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place

WD = withdrew

Team appearances

Presidents Cup (International team): 1994, 1996, 1998 (winners), 2000
World Cup (representing Australia): 1994
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Australia): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998

Notes

References

[http://dps.endavadigital.net/owgr/doc/content/2007%20Stats/86TO0810.pdf 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking]
Reilly, Rick. (21 August 1995). "Nothing to sneeze at".
Garrity, John. (8 April 1991). "From shadows to glory".
Reilly, Rick. (7 April 1997). "Show of shows".
"Profile on PGA Tour's official site".
"Steve Elkington profile". [[Museum of the Riverina]].
Duarte, Joseph. (25 May 2016). "University of Houston looks to return to golf glory". Houston Chronicle.
(9 December 1986). "PGA Qualifying". Spokesman-Review.
"Biographical information from PGA Tour's official site".
"Golf Major Championships".
(6 May 1996). "Sports Shorts". Associated Press News.
Campbell, Steve. (6 June 2006). "Elkington's metal spikes raise clatter". Houston Chronicle.
Emmett, James. (16 May 2013). "Golf veteran Elkington nails a new deal for a new era - Sports Personal Endorsement news -". SportsPro Media.
Crenshaw Jr., Solomon. (5 June 2013). "Rookie Steve Elkington says there's a lot of shot-making on the Champions Tour".
Sherman, Ed. (24 July 2014). "No handicaps for these players: Steve Elkington show finds true winners in golf".
Bastable, Alan. (23 July 2015). "Steve Elkington: The Golf Magazine Interview".
Verdi, Bob. (2004-05-17). "A Throwback from the Outback". ESPN.
Stone, Peter. (9 June 2012). "Son takes his turn with the master stroke". The Sydney Morning Herald.
"Sam Elkington Bio – Men's Golf".

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