Gene Sauers

Gene Sauers
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name	Gene Craig Sauers
Born	(1962-08-22) August 22, 1962 Savannah, Georgia
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg; 11 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
College	Georgia Southern University
Turned professional	1984
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	9
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	3
Web.com Tour	1
PGA Tour Champions	1
European Senior Tour	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T33: 1987
U.S. Open	T58: 1987
The Open Championship	T52: 1989
PGA Championship	T2: 1992
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year	2002

Gene Craig Sauers (born August 22, 1962) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He overcame a deadly skin condition that kept him off the golf course for five years.

Sauers was born in Savannah, Georgia. His father started him playing golf at the age of 9. He attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. He turned pro and joined the PGA Tour in 1984.

Sauers has four dozen top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events including three official wins. His first win was at the 1986 Bank of Boston Classic; his second came at the 1989 Hawaiian Open; his third, which came after a 13-year hiatus, was at the 2002 Air Canada Championship. He also won the 1990 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic before that became an official money event. Sauers also finished two other tournaments in a tie for first place at the end of regulation: the 1992 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which he lost on the fourth extra hole of a playoff to John Cook, and the 1994 Federal Express St. Jude Classic, which he and Hal Sutton lost to Tour rookie Dicky Pride. He received the 2002 PGA Comeback Player of the Year award. His best finish in a major was T-2 at the 1992 PGA Championship.^[1]

Sauers lost his Tour card in 1995 and had to play primarily on the Nationwide Tour before gaining a two-year exemption as a result of his victory in the Air Canada Championship. He recorded one victory on the Nationwide Tour at the 1998 Nike South Carolina Classic, and about a dozen top-10 finishes.^[2]

Sauers competed on the PGA Tour until 2005. From 2006 to 2010, he did not compete professionally after he was diagnosed with a rare, painful skin condition Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and he was given only a 25-percent chance of survival.^[3] His condition had worsened when blood vessels in his arms and legs clogged, causing his skin to burn from the inside out. Although he eventually recovered after many debilitating months, his forearms show the scars of numerous skin grafts.^[4]

He finally overcame the disease and played a limited Nationwide Tour schedule in 2011 and 2012 before making his Champions Tour debut at the 2012 Boeing Classic. He earned two top-10 finishes in 2012. In that same year, he was also inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.^[5] Playing a full season in 2013, he was twice a runner-up, including a playoff loss to Esteban Toledo at the Insperity Invitational. He finished 19th on the Champions Tour money list.^[3]

In the first six months of 2014, he played in 11 Champions Tour events, with six top-25 finishes and a best of T-15 at the Allianz Championship in early February.^[6] On July 13 in the U.S. Senior Open, he finished tied for first with Colin Montgomerie and lost in a three-hole playoff.^[7]

Sauers earned his first PGA Tour Champions win at the 2016 U.S. Senior Open.

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Sep 14, 1986	Bank of Boston Classic	−10 (70-71-64-69=274)	Playoff	Blaine McCallister
2	Feb 12, 1989	Hawaiian Open	−19 (65-67-65=197)	1 stroke	David Ogrin
3	Sep 1, 2002	Air Canada Championship	−15 (69-65-66-69=269)	1 stroke	Steve Lowery

PGA Tour playoff record (1–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1986	Bank of Boston Classic	Blaine McCallister	Won with birdie on third extra hole
2	1991	KMart Greater Greensboro Open	Mark Brooks	Lost to par on third extra hole
3	1992	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	John Cook, Rick Fehr, Tom Kite, Mark O'Meara	Cook won with eagle on fourth extra hole Fehr eliminated with birdie on second hole Kite and O'Meara eliminated with birdie on first hole
4	1994	Federal Express St. Jude Classic	Dicky Pride, Hal Sutton	Pride won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour Champions wins (1)

Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
4	Aug 15, 2016	U.S. Senior Open¹	68-69-71-69=277	−3	1 stroke	Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair

¹Co-sanctioned with the European Seniors Tour

Nike Tour wins (1)

1998 Nike South Carolina Classic

Other wins (4)

Results in major championships

Tournament	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	T33	DNP	CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	T58	DNP	T58	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T52
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T30	T24	CUT	T58

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	T34	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T88	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	T63	T2	T22	DNP	T44	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Senior major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2016	U.S. Senior Open	1 shot deficit	−3 (68-69-71-69=277)	1 stroke	Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair

References

↑ "Gene Sauers". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
↑ "Gene Sauers – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
1 2 Fields, Bill (July 12, 2014). "U.S. Senior Open leader Gene Sauers and the disease that threatened his career and his life". Golf Digest.
↑ Graff, Chad (July 31, 2013). "3M golf: Gene Sauers thriving after torturous battle with skin disease". TwinCities.com.
↑ Georgia Golf Hall of Fame profile of Sauers
↑ "Gene Sauers – Season". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
↑ "Colin Montgomerie wins in playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. July 13, 2014.

External links

Gene Sauers at the PGA Tour official site

U.S. Senior Open champions

1980 Roberto De Vicenzo 1981 Arnold Palmer† 1982 Miller Barber 1983 Billy Casper† 1984 Miller Barber 1985 Miller Barber 1986 Dale Douglass 1987 Gary Player 1988 Gary Player† 1989 Orville Moody 1990 Lee Trevino 1991 Jack Nicklaus† 1992 Larry Laoretti 1993 Jack Nicklaus 1994 Simon Hobday 1995 Tom Weiskopf 1996 Dave Stockton 1997 Graham Marsh 1998 Hale Irwin 1999 Dave Eichelberger 2000 Hale Irwin 2001 Bruce Fleisher 2002 Don Pooley† 2003 Bruce Lietzke 2004 Peter Jacobsen 2005 Allen Doyle 2006 Allen Doyle 2007 Brad Bryant 2008 Eduardo Romero 2009 Fred Funk 2010 Bernhard Langer 2011 Olin Browne 2012 Roger Chapman 2013 Kenny Perry 2014 Colin Montgomerie† 2015 Jeff Maggert 2016 Gene Sauers

† indicates the event was won in a playoff

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