Gene Littler

Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth, rhythmical swing, he once said that, "Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the best misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes."

Gene Littler
Littler at the 1959 U.S. Open
Personal information
Full name	Gene Alec Littler
Born	(1930-07-21)July 21, 1930 San Diego, California
Died	February 15, 2019(2019-02-15) (aged 88) San Diego, California
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Spouse	Shirley Warren ​ (m. 1951)​
Children	2
Career
College	San Diego State University
Turned professional	1954
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	54
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	29
Japan Golf Tour	1
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
PGA Tour Champions	8
Other	15
Best results in major championships (wins: 2)
Masters Tournament	2nd: 1970
PGA Championship	2nd: 1977
U.S. Open	Won: 1961
The Open Championship	T18: 1974
U.S. Amateur	Won: 1953
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1990 (member page) Bob Jones Award 1973

Littler was born in San Diego, California. He played on the 1953 United States Walker Cup team, and won the U.S. Amateur and the California State Amateur that same year. In 1954, he won a PGA Tour event as an amateur, a rare achievement which was not to be repeated until Doug Sanders won the Canadian Open in 1956.

Littler graduated from San Diego State University, and after that served in the United States Navy from 1951 to 1954.

 

An early highlight of Littler's professional playing career was a second-place finish at the 1954 U.S. Open. He finished one shot behind Ed Furgol.

In 1955, he won four times on the tour, but fell into a slump in the late 1950s after tinkering with his swing. In 1959 after taking advice he received from Paul Runyan and adjusting his grip, he recovered to have his best year with five PGA Tour victories. He finished second on the money list that year, which was to remain his career best. Only once from 1954 to 1979 did Littler finish out of the top 60 on the final money list. He was stricken with melanoma cancer found in a lymph node under his left arm in 1972, but came back to win five more times on the PGA Tour. He ended his career with 29 PGA Tour wins, and also won two tournaments in Japan and one in Australia.

One of Littler's 29 PGA Tour wins was unique. When he won the 1975 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, it marked the first and (so far) only time that a player won that event as a professional after having previously won the pro-amateur portion, which Littler did as a 23-year-old amateur in 1954.

Littler won one major championship – the 1961 U.S. Open. He shot a 68 in the final round to overtake Doug Sanders. He accumulated 17 top-10 finishes in the three U.S.-based majors: seven at the Masters Tournament, five at the PGA Championship, and five at the U.S. Open. In addition to his U.S. Open victory, he had one second-place finish in each of the three U.S. majors, losing playoffs to Billy Casper at the 1970 Masters and to Lanny Wadkins at the 1977 PGA Championship. The latter was the first-ever sudden-death playoff in a major. He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup teams of 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1975, and had a 14-5-8 win/loss/tie record including five wins and three ties in 10 singles matches.

Littler received the Ben Hogan Award in 1973 for a courageous comeback from injury or illness, after returning to the tour following treatment for malignant melanoma. Also in 1973, he was given the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. In the 1980s and 1990s, Littler played on the Senior PGA Tour, winning eight times. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.

On January 5, 1951, ten days before joining the Navy, Littler married Shirley Warren, his university classmate. They had a son, Curt, born in March 1954 and a daughter, Suzanne, born in October 1957. Littler died at the age of 88 on February 15, 2019.

Littler inspired Sandy Mac Divot, the main character of the long running comic strip Mac Divot by Jordan Lanski (a former schoolmate of Littler) and Mel Keefer.

PGA Tour wins (29)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jan 21, 1954	San Diego Open (as an amateur)	−14 (67-66-69-72=274)	4 strokes	Dutch Harrison
2	Jan 9, 1955	Los Angeles Open	−8 (72-67-68-69=276)	2 strokes	Ted Kroll
3	Feb 6, 1955	Phoenix Open	−5 (66-70-68-71=275)	1 stroke	Billy Maxwell,   Arnold Palmer
4	May 1, 1955	Tournament of Champions	−8 (69-71-68-72=280)	13 strokes	Jerry Barber,   Pete Cooper,   Bob Toski
5	Aug 28, 1955	Labatt Open	−8 (67-69-68-68=272)	Playoff	Stan Leonard
6	Feb 19, 1956	Texas Open Invitational	−12 (68-73-70-65=276)	2 strokes	Mike Fetchick,   Frank Stranahan,   Ernie Vossler
7	Apr 29, 1956	Tournament of Champions (2)	−7 (70-71-69-71=281)	4 strokes	Cary Middlecoff
8	Jun 10, 1956	Palm Beach Round Robin	+55 pts (69-69-68-68-70=344)	24 points	Ted Kroll
9	Apr 21, 1957	Tournament of Champions (3)	−3 (73-73-69-70=285)	3 strokes	Billy Casper,   Jimmy Demaret,   Dow Finsterwald,   Billy Maxwell
10	Feb 8, 1959	Phoenix Open Invitational (2)	−12 (67-63-67-71=268)	1 stroke	Art Wall Jr.
11	Feb 15, 1959	Tucson Open Invitational	−14 (65-67-68-66=266)	1 stroke	Joe Campbell,   Art Wall Jr.
12	May 17, 1959	Arlington Hotel Open	−18 (67-69-64-70=270)	1 stroke	Jim Ferree
13	Jul 19, 1959	Insurance City Open Invitational	−12 (64-66-72-70=272)	1 stroke	Tom Nieporte
14	Aug 30, 1959	Miller Open Invitational	−15 (68-66-64-67=265)	1 stroke	Bob Rosburg,   Bo Wininger
15	Jun 12, 1960	Oklahoma City Open Invitational	−11 (71-64-70-68=273)	1 stroke	Art Wall Jr.
16	Jul 31, 1960	Eastern Open Invitational	−15 (65-68-73-67=273)	2 strokes	Gary Player
17	Jun 17, 1961	U.S. Open	+1 (73-68-72-68=281)	1 stroke	Bob Goalby,   Doug Sanders
18	Jan 28, 1962	Lucky International Open	−10 (65-68-68-73=274)	2 strokes	George Knudson
19	Jun 10, 1962	Thunderbird Classic Invitational	−13 (67-71-70-67=275)	2 strokes	Jack Nicklaus
20	Jul 17, 1965	Canadian Open	−7 (70-68-69-66=273)	1 stroke	Jack Nicklaus
21	Feb 16, 1969	Phoenix Open Invitational (3)	−21 (69-66-62-66=263)	2 strokes	Miller Barber,   Don January,   Billy Maxwell
22	Apr 6, 1969	Greater Greensboro Open	−10 (66-70-69-69=274)	Playoff	Julius Boros,   Orville Moody,   Tom Weiskopf
23	Apr 18, 1971	Monsanto Open	−8 (71-67-71-67=276)	3 strokes	George Archer,   Pete Brown
24	May 23, 1971	Colonial National Invitation	+3 (72-68-74-69=283)	1 stroke	Bert Yancey
25	Jul 22, 1973	St. Louis Children's Hospital Golf Classic	−12 (66-66-68-68=268)	1 stroke	Bruce Crampton
26	Jan 26, 1975	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	−8 (68-71-68-73=280)	4 strokes	Hubert Green
27	May 25, 1975	Danny Thomas Memphis Classic	−18 (67-68-69-66=270)	5 strokes	John Mahaffey
28	Aug 3, 1975	Westchester Classic	−17 (68-68-69-66=271)	Playoff	Julius Boros
29	May 1, 1977	Houston Open	−12 (70-65-67-74=276)	3 strokes	Lanny Wadkins

PGA Tour playoff record (3–8)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1955	Labatt Open	Stan Leonard	Won with par on first extra hole
2	1956	Texas International Open	Cary Middlecoff,   Peter Thomson	Thomson won with birdie on second extra hole
3	1957	Western Open	George Bayer,   Doug Ford,   Billy Maxwell	Ford won with par on third extra hole Littler and Maxwell eliminated by par on first hole
4	1960	Memphis Open Invitational	Tommy Bolt,   Ben Hogan	Bolt won 18-hole playoff; Bolt: −2 (68), Hogan: −1 (69), Littler: +1 (71)
5	1962	Memphis Open Invitational	Lionel Hebert,   Gary Player	Hebert won with birdie on first extra hole
6	1966	Tucson Open	Joe Campbell	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
7	1969	Greater Greensboro Open	Julius Boros,   Orville Moody,   Tom Weiskopf	Won with birdie on fifth extra hole Weiskopf eliminated by par on first hole
8	1970	Masters Tournament	Billy Casper	Lost 18-hole playoff; Casper: −3 (69), Littler: +2 (74)
9	1975	Westchester Classic	Julius Boros	Won with par on first extra hole
10	1977	Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open	Bruce Lietzke	Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
11	1977	PGA Championship	Lanny Wadkins	Lost to par on third extra hole

Source:

PGA of Japan Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Oct 12, 1975	Taiheiyo Club Masters (2)	−6 (69-66-73-70=278)	1 stroke	Lee Elder,   Hubert Green,   Allen Miller,   Masashi Ozaki

PGA Tour of Australia wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Mar 2, 1980	Australian Masters	−4 (70-74-67-77=288)	Playoff	Rodger Davis

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1980	Australian Masters	Rodger Davis	Won with bogey on first extra hole

Other wins (3)

• 1954 California State Open
• 1966 World Series of Golf
• 1974 Taiheiyo Club Masters

Senior PGA Tour wins (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Mar 20, 1983	Greater Daytona Senior Classic	−13 (65-70-68=203)	6 strokes	Guy Wolstenholme
2	Jul 10, 1983	Greater Syracuse Senior's Pro Classic	−9 (69-69-70-67=275)	2 strokes	Don January
3	Jan 4, 1984	Seiko-Tucson Senior Match Play Championship	1 up		Don January
4	May 4, 1986	Sunwest Bank Charley Pride Senior Golf Classic	−14 (65-66-71=202)	2 strokes	Don January
5	Aug 31, 1986	Bank One Senior Golf Classic	−12 (71-63-67=201)	Playoff	Miller Barber,   Bob Goalby
6	Aug 2, 1987	NYNEX/Golf Digest Commemorative	−10 (67-68-65=200)	1 stroke	Dale Douglass
7	Nov 22, 1987	Gus Machado Senior Classic	−6 (71-67-69=207)	3 strokes	Orville Moody
8	Feb 26, 1989	Aetna Challenge	−7 (70-70-69=209)	2 strokes	Harold Henning

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1981	Peter Jackson Champions	Miller Barber	Lost to par on first extra hole
2	1986	Greater Grand Rapids Open	Jim Ferree,   Chi-Chi Rodríguez	Ferree won with birdie on first extra hole
3	1986	Bank One Senior Golf Classic	Miller Barber,   Bob Goalby	Won with par on third extra hole Goalby eliminated by par on first hole

Japan Senior Tour wins (2)

• 1983 Coca-Cola Grandslam Championship
• 1987 Coca-Cola Grandslam Championship

Other senior wins (10)

• 1980 World Senior Invitational
• 1981 Vintage Invitational
• 1981 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Bob Rosburg)
• 1983 Vintage Invitational
• 1985 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Don January)
• 1986 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Don January)
• 1994 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Don January)
• 1997 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Don January)
• 2001 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Don January)
• 2004 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Don January)

 

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
1961	U.S. Open	3 shot deficit	+1 (73-68-72-68=281)	1 stroke	Bob Goalby,   Doug Sanders

Amateur wins (1)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Runner-up
1953	U.S. Amateur	1 up	Dale Morey

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut
DQ = disqualified
WD = withdrew
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 14 (1962 PGA – 1967 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1961 U.S. Open – 1962 U.S. Open)

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1953 (winners)

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1961 (winners), 1963 (winners), 1965 (winners), 1967 (winners), 1969 (tie), 1971 (winners), 1975 (winners)
• Hopkins Trophy: 1956 (winners)

• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins