Bobby Nichols

Robert Herman "Bobby" Nichols (born April 14, 1936) is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1964 PGA Championship.

Nichols was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended St. Xavier High School in Louisville and later Texas A&M University. While in high school, Nichols and several other youths were involved in an automobile accident resulting from a 100 mile-per-hour joy ride. He suffered serious injuries including a broken pelvis, concussion, back and internal injuries, and was hospitalized 96 days. His legs were also paralyzed for about two weeks, but he was able to regain full use of his legs after intensive physical therapy.

Nichols began playing on the PGA Tour in 1960 and has recorded 11 PGA Tour victories. He was a member of the 1967 Ryder Cup team. His best year on the Tour was 1974 when he won twice, earned $124,747 and finished 14th on the money list. Nichols, Jerry Heard and Lee Trevino were struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open; all 3 men fully recovered from this traumatic experience. Nichols has had 12 holes-in-one in his professional career. [ [http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/67/ Bio from pgatour.com] ]

The 1964 PGA Championship was played at the Columbus Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. Nichols defeated Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus by 3 shots for a four-day total of 271. This was a record low score for the PGA Championship which stood for 30 years until it was broken by Nick Price in 1994. Nichols was the first wire-to-wire winner since the PGA Championship switched format from match play to stroke play. [ [http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2004/history_1964.html Year by Year History of the PGA Championship] ] He came close to winning a second major in 1967 at The Masters finishing second to his life-long friend, Gay Brewer.

After turning 50, he began playing on the Senior PGA Tour (now known as the Champions Tour). He has enjoyed many top-10 finishes but only one victory – the 1989 Southwestern Bell Classic, when he defeated Orville Moody on the third hole of a playoff.

Bobby Nichols Golf Course is a 9-hole course that is part of Waverly Park in Louisville.

PGA Tour wins (11)

*1962 (2) St. Petersburg Open Invitational, Houston Classic
*1963 (1) Seattle Open Invitational
*1964 (2) PGA Championship, Carling World Open
*1965 (1) Houston Classic
*1966 (1) Minnesota Golf Classic
*1970 (1) Dow Jones Open Invitational
*1973 (1) Westchester Classic
*1974 (2) Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, Canadian Open

Major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins (1)

*1968 PGA National Team Championship (with George Archer)

enior PGA Tour wins (1)

*1989 Southwestern Bell Classic

Other senior wins (2)

*1986 Showdown Classic (with Curt Byrum)
*2007 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Butch Baird)

Major Championships

Wins (1)

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

ee also

*Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

References

External links

* [http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/67/ Results and stats on PGA Tour's official site]
* [http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroParks/golf/bobbynichols.htm Bobby Nichols Golf Course]