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Gene Craig Sauers (born August 22, 1962) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the PGA Tour Champions. He had three wins on the PGA Tour and overcame a deadly skin condition that kept him off the golf course for five years. He won the U.S. Senior Open in 2016, a senior major championship.
| Gene Sauers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Gene Craig Sauers | ||
| Born | August 22, 1962 Savannah, Georgia, U.S. | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
| Weight | 150 lb (68 kg; 11 st) | ||
| Sporting nationality |  United States | ||
| Career | |||
| College | Georgia Southern | ||
| Turned professional | 1984 | ||
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour Champions | ||
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour Web.com Tour | ||
| Professional wins | 9 | ||
| Highest ranking | 36 (October 4, 1992)[1] | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| PGA Tour | 3 | ||
| Korn Ferry Tour | 1 | ||
| PGA Tour Champions | 1 | ||
| European Senior Tour | 1 | ||
| Best results in major championships | |||
| Masters Tournament | T33: 1987 | ||
| PGA Championship | T2: 1992 | ||
| U.S. Open | T58: 1985, 1987 | ||
| The Open Championship | T52: 1989 | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
Sauers was born in Savannah, Georgia and started playing golf at the age of nine with his father. He attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.
Sauers turned pro in 1984 and joined the PGA Tour later in the year. He quickly had success winning the 1986 Bank of Boston Classic and the 1989 Hawaiian Open.[2][3] He also won the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic in Mississippi in 1990, opposite the Masters in April, before it was an official money event.
In the early 1990s Sauers finished two 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 St. Jude Classic, which he and Hal Sutton lost to Tour rookie Dicky Pride. During this era, he also recorded his highest finish in a major championship: a tie for second at the 1992 PGA Championship, which he led for the first three rounds.[4]
Sauers lost his tour card in 1995 and had to play primarily on the Nike Tour. He recorded one victory on the Nike Tour at the 1998 Nike South Carolina Classic, and about a dozen top-10 finishes.[5] In late 2002, Sauers won the Air Canada Championship on the PGA Tour. It gave him a two-year exemption. Sauers also received the PGA Comeback Player of the Year award in 2002.
Sauers competed on the PGA Tour until 2005. From 2006 to 2010, he did not compete professionally after an initial misdiagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis turned out to be Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and he was given only a 25-percent chance of survival. Over several months, during which he received multiple skin grafts that left visible scarring, he gradually recovered.[6][7]
Sauers finally overcame the disease and played a limited Nationwide Tour schedule in 2011 and 2012 before making his Champions Tour debut at the Boeing Classic near Seattle in 2012. He earned two top-10 finishes in 2012 and was also inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.[8] Playing a full season in 2013, Sauers was twice a runner-up, including a playoff loss to Esteban Toledo at the Insperity Invitational. He finished nineteenth on the Champions Tour money list.[6]
In the first six months of 2014, Sauers played in eleven events, with six top-25 finishes and a best of T-15 at the Allianz Championship in early February.[9] At the U.S. Senior Open in Oklahoma in July, he was tied with Colin Montgomerie after 72 holes but lost in a three-hole playoff.[10]
Two years later in 2016, Sauers earned his first win as a senior at the U.S. Senior Open in Ohio.
PGA Tour wins (3)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 14, 1986 | Bank of Boston Classic | 70-71-64-69=274 | −10 | Playoff |  Blaine McCallister |
| 2 | Feb 12, 1989 | Hawaiian Open | 65-67-65=197* | −19 | 1 stroke | David Ogrin |
| 3 | Sep 1, 2002 | Air Canada Championship | 69-65-66-69=269 | −15 | 1 stroke | Steve Lowery |
*Note: The 1989 Hawaiian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.
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 by birdie on second hole Kite and O'Meara eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| 4 | 1994 | Federal Express St. Jude Classic | Dicky Pride, Hal Sutton |
Pride won with birdie on first extra hole |
Nike Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 3, 1998 | Nike South Carolina Classic | 70-69-72-69=280 | −8 | 1 stroke | Craig Kanada, Sean Murphy |
Other wins (4)
- 1983 Georgia Open
- 1985 Georgia Open
- 1986 Georgia Open
- 1990 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic
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 |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 15, 2016 | U.S. Senior Open | 68-69-71-69=277 | −3 | 1 stroke |  Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair |
PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–5)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2013 | Insperity Championship | Mike Goodes,  Esteban Toledo |
Toledo won with par on third extra hole Sauers eliminated by par on second hole |
| 2 | 2014 | U.S. Senior Open |  Colin Montgomerie |
Lost three-hole aggregate playoff; Montgomerie: E (5-3-4=12), Sauers: x (5-4-x=x) |
| 3 | 2017 | Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic | Miguel Ángel Jiménez |
Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
| 4 | 2017 | 3M Championship | Paul Goydos |
Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
| 5 | 2022 | ClubCorp Classic |  Steven Alker, Scott Parel |
Parel won with par on first extra hole |
| Tournament | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T33 | CUT | ||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | T58 | T58 | |||
| The Open Championship | T52 | |||||
| PGA Championship | T30 | T24 | CUT | T58 |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T34 | |||||||||
| U.S. Open | ||||||||||
| The Open Championship | T88 | |||||||||
| PGA Championship | CUT | T63 | T2 | T22 | T44 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||||||||
| U.S. Open | ||||||||||
| The Open Championship | ||||||||||
| PGA Championship | CUT |
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | |||||||
| The Open Championship | ||||||||
| PGA Championship |
Top 10
Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
| Tournament | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | CUT | T32 | T16 | T55 |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | T29 | T9 | CUT | CUT | T51 | T3 | T53 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | CUT |
Top 10
Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
| Tournament | 2003 |
|---|---|
| Match Play | |
| Championship | |
| Invitational | 85 |
Did not play
Wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | U.S. Senior Open | 1 shot deficit | −3 (68-69-71-69=277) | 1 stroke | Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair |
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order before 2022.
| Tournament | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Tradition | T15 | T25 | T3 | T12 | T10 | T2 | 52 | NT | T42 | T26 | ||
| Senior PGA Championship | T25 | T25 | CUT | T14 | CUT | T10 | NT | T40 | T20 | T57 | ||
| U.S. Senior Open | T35 | 2 | T47 | 1 | CUT | T21 | CUT | NT | T17 | T4 | CUT | |
| Senior Players Championship | T47 | T39 | T12 | T9 | T54 | 29 | T16 | T16 | T25 | T33 | ||
| Senior British Open Championship | 10 | T18 | T23 | T24 | NT |
Win
Top 10
Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
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