George Knudson

George Knudson
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name George Alfred Christian Knudson
Born (1937-06-28)June 28, 1937
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Died January 24, 1989(1989-01-24) (aged 51)
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality  Canada
Career
Turned professional 1958
Retired 1980
Former tour(s) Canadian Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins 28
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 8
Other 20
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T2: 1969
U.S. Open T17: 1965
The Open Championship DNP
PGA Championship T20: 1965

George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM (June 28, 1937 – January 24, 1989) was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Knudson learned to play golf at the St. Charles Country Club. He won the 1954 and 1955 Manitoba Junior Championships,[1] and the 1955 Canadian Junior Championship.[2] He moved to Toronto in 1958, and worked at the Oakdale Golf Club, where he received instruction and encouragement from the Club, to improve his game. He was then able to secure some financial backing to try the PGA Tour. He won the Manitoba Open in 1958, 1959, and 1960, and the Ontario Open in 1960, 1961, 1971, 1976 and 1978.[3]

Between 1961 and 1972, he won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour. He won the Canadian PGA Championship five times, and won the World Cup with Al Balding in 1968. He wrote a book, The Natural Golf Swing (ISBN 0-7710-4534-4) with Lorne Rubenstein.

Knudson tied for second in the 1969 Masters Tournament, one shot behind champion George Archer. In seven Masters appearances, Knudson posted three top-10s, including 10th in his 1965 debut and sixth a year later.

He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1969, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.[4]

Knudson left tournament golf in the late 1970s, and started teaching golf, with success, at a facility in the Toronto area. His teaching methods have since been adopted by the Canadian PGA.

In 1988, he was inducted into both Royal Canadian Golf Association Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and was made a member of the Order of Canada.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1988. He recovered, and was about to make a comeback at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Senior tournament, but left because he felt weak. The cancer had spread to his brain, and he would die from it in 1989.

He was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.

Professional wins (28)

PGA Tour wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of victory Runner(s)-up
1 Dec 10, 1961 Coral Gables Open Invitational −11 (65-71-71-66=273) 1 stroke United States Gay Brewer
2 Sep 22, 1963 Portland Open Invitational −17 (69-67-68-67=271) Playoff United States Mason Rudolph
3 Oct 4, 1964 Fresno Open Invitational −8 (73-69-71-67=280) Playoff Canada Al Balding
4 May 14, 1967 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational −11 (71-66-70-70=277) 1 stroke United States Jack Nicklaus
5 Feb 18, 1968 Phoenix Open Invitational −12 (67-64-70-71=272) 3 strokes United States Julius Boros, United States Sam Carmichael, United States Jack Montgomery
6 Feb 25, 1968 Tucson Open Invitational −15 (70-67-71-65=273) 1 stroke United States Frank Beard, United States Frank Boynton
7 Sep 20, 1970 Robinson Open Golf Classic −16 (67-69-69-63=268) Playoff United States George Archer
8 Oct 22, 1972 Kaiser International Open Invitational −17 (66-69-66-70=271) 3 strokes United States Hale Irwin, United States Bobby Nichols

PGA Tour playoff record (3–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1963 Portland Open Invitational United States Mason Rudolph Won with eagle on first extra hole
2 1964 Fresno Open Invitational Canada Al Balding Won with birdie on second extra hole
3 1970 Robinson Open Golf Classic United States George Archer Won with par on fourth extra hole

Other wins (20)

This list is probably incomplete

Results in major championships

Tournament 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP 10 T6 T31 T28 T2 T45 DNP DNP CUT DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP T17 T44 DNP DNP T36 T61 DNP DNP DNP T51
PGA Championship T51 DNP T28 T20 T43 DNP DNP T25 T55 CUT CUT T56 DNP

Note: Knudson never played in The Open Championship.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 1 0 1 3 3 7 6
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 5
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 7
Totals 0 1 0 1 3 6 21 18

Team appearances

See also

References

  1. ↑ History of Golf in Canada, by Lawrence Vincent Kavanagh, Toronto, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1973, p. 185
  2. ↑ Barclay, James A. (1992). Golf in Canada: A History. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-1080-4.
  3. ↑ "Ontario Golf Hall of Fame – George Knudson". Golf Association of Ontario. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ "George Knudson". Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.