Gay Brewer

Gay Brewer
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Gay Robert Brewer, Jr.
Born (1932-03-19)March 19, 1932
Middletown, Ohio
Died August 31, 2007(2007-08-31) (aged 75)
Lexington, Kentucky
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Nationality  United States
Children Erin, Kelly
Career
Turned professional 1956
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins 17
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 10
PGA Tour Champions 1
Other 5 (regular)
1 (senior)
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters Tournament Won: 1967
U.S. Open 5th/T5: 1962, 1964
The Open Championship T6: 1968
PGA Championship T7: 1972

Gay Robert Brewer, Jr. (March 19, 1932 – August 31, 2007) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament.

Life

Brewer was born in Middletown, Ohio, and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. As an amateur, Brewer won the Kentucky State Boys Golf Championship in three consecutive years from 1949 to 1951. In 1949, he also won the U.S. Junior Amateur, the most prestigious amateur event for golfers under the age of eighteen. In 1952, Brewer won the Southern Amateur.

Brewer attended the University of Kentucky on a football scholarship because the school did not have golf scholarships. Head coach Bear Bryant used him in practice as a holder for the kicker on field goals and extra points. Brewer stayed at the school for two years.

Brewer turned professional in 1956 and made his first cut, at the Agua Caliente Open, tying for 12th. His first top-10 as a pro came at the Philadelphia Daily News Open (tied for eighth), and his first top-five performance was at the Miller High Life Open in Milwaukee (tied for fifth). Playing on the PGA Tour in 1965, he won the Hawaiian Open. At the 1966 Masters Tournament, he bogeyed the final hole to finish in a three-way tie for the lead after regulation play but ended up finishing third to Jack Nicklaus following an 18-hole playoff. He came back to win the prestigious event the next year, scoring a one stroke victory over lifelong friend Bobby Nichols in the first live television broadcast of a golf tournament from the United States to Europe. Brewer called winning the 1967 Masters "the biggest thrill I've had in golf".[1] He went on to become a member of the 1967 Ryder Cup winning team, going 3-2 in his five matches, including a win (4 and 3 over Hugh Boyle) and a loss (2 and 1 to Peter Alliss) in singles play. That same year at the Pensacola Open, he set a PGA Tour record for the best 54-hole total on a par-72 course. His score of 25-under par 191 is a record that still stands over forty years later. Only Steve Stricker's 25-under on the par-71 TPC Deere Run at the 2010 John Deere Classic (25-under 188) has matched it. In the direct opposite vein, at the 1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic he tied the record at the time for a player having the largest lead (six strokes) with 18 holes to play and then losing. He finished inside the top 10 on the Tour's money list three times (1961, 1966 and 1967), with his best performance his fifth-place finish ($75,688) in 1966. His top earning year came in 1973, when he made $89,911 (21st place).

Brewer's 1966 performances earned him the Golf Digest's Most Improved Golfer award and his 1967 performances earned him the cover of the August 7th issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. He won the 1972 Canadian Open and was again part of the U.S. team that won the 1973 Ryder Cup.

Overall, Brewer was victorious in 10 tour events during his career. He was known for his jovial personality and his unusual golf swing.[1] Brewer joined the Senior PGA Tour and won the 1984 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament with Billy Casper and at age sixty-three he won the 1995 MasterCard Champions Championship. His final competitive round was at the 2001 Masters Tournament.[1]

In 2006, Brewer was voted to the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2007, the golf course in Lexington where he learned to play was renamed the "Gay Brewer Jr. Course at Picadome."

Brewer died at his home in Lexington, Kentucky from lung cancer.[2] At the time of his death, he was engaged to Alma Jo McGuire.[3] He is interred at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington.

Amateur wins

This list may be incomplete.

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (10)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of victory Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 20, 1961 Carling Open Invitational −3 (72-72-66-67=277) 1 stroke United States Billy Maxwell
2 Nov 26, 1961 Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational −13 (69-66-74-66=275) 1 stroke United States Johnny Pott
3 Dec 3, 1961 West Palm Beach Open Invitational −14 (69-64-70-71=274) 4 strokes United States Arnold Palmer
4 May 5, 1963 Waco Turner Open −12 (72-70-71-67=280) 1 stroke Australia Ted Ball
5 Sep 26, 1965 Greater Seattle Open Invitational −9 (69-72-66-72=279) Playoff United States Doug Sanders
6 Nov 7, 1965 Hawaiian Open −7 (74-72-67-68=281) Playoff United States Bob Goalby
7 Mar 7, 1966 Pensacola Open Invitational −16 (65-69-67-71=272) 3 strokes Australia Bruce Devlin
8 Mar 26, 1967 Pensacola Open Invitational −26 (66-64-61-71=262) 6 strokes United States Bob Keller
9 Apr 9, 1967 Masters Tournament −8 (73-68-72-67=280) 1 stroke United States Bobby Nichols
10 Jul 9, 1972 Canadian Open −9 (67-70-68-70=275) 1 stroke United States Sam Adams, United States Dave Hill
PGA Tour playoff record (2–5)
No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1959 West Palm Beach Open Invitational United States Pete Cooper, United States Arnold Palmer Palmer won with par on fourth extra hole
2 1965 Greater Seattle Open Invitational United States Doug Sanders Won with par on first extra hole
3 1965 Hawaiian Open United States Bob Goalby Won with birdie on first extra hole
4 1966 Masters Tournament United States Tommy Jacobs, United States Jack Nicklaus Lost 18-hole playoff (Nicklaus:70, Jacobs:72, Brewer:78)
5 1966 Tournament of Champions United States Arnold Palmer Lost 18-hole playoff (Palmer:69, Brewer:73)
6 1969 IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic United States Dave Hill, United States Tommy Jacobs, United States R. H. Sikes Hill won with birdie on first extra hole
7 1974 American Golf Classic United States Jim Colbert, United States Forrest Fezler, United States Raymond Floyd Colbert won with par on second extra hole
Brewer and Fezler eliminated with par on first hole

Other wins (5)

This list is probably incomplete.

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of victory Runners-up
1 Sep 3, 1984 Citizens Union Senior Golf Classic −9 (68-69-67=204) 2 strokes United States Billy Casper, United States Rod Funseth

Other senior wins (1)

This list is probably incomplete.

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
1967 Masters Tournament 2 shot deficit −8 (73-68-72-67=280) 1 stroke United States Bobby Nichols

Results timeline

Tournament 1956 1957 1958 1959
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Masters Tournament DNP DNP T11 CUT T25 CUT 3 1 T35 CUT
U.S. Open DNP CUT 5 CUT T5 16 T36 T38 T9 CUT
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T6 15
PGA Championship DNP DNP CUT T49 8 T28 27 T28 T20 T25
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament T31 CUT DNP T10 CUT CUT T23 CUT T29 CUT
U.S. Open 7 T9 T25 DNP DNP DNP DNP 26 DNP DNP
The Open Championship T32 DNP DNP T10 38 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship CUT DNP T7 T64 T17 T33 DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament CUT T15 45 47 CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT WD
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT WD
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 2000 2001
Masters Tournament CUT WD
U.S. Open DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 1 0 1 2 3 7 39 12
U.S. Open 0 0 0 2 5 7 17 10
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 2 3 6 5
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 2 5 13 11
Totals 1 0 1 4 12 22 75 38

See also

References

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