Doug Sanders, the man that lost The Open to Jack Nicklaus dies on Sunday

20-time PGA TOUR winner, 13-time top ten in major tournaments and the first amateur to win on the PGA TOUR in 1956, Doug Sanders, 86 passed away in Houston on Sunday

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1970: American tour golfer Doug Sanders, famous for his putting ability, attempting a short putt across the 'Valley of Sin' at the 18th hole at St Andrews during the 1970 British Open Championship. He missed the shot and it cost him the championship. Doug Sanders is the only man to win the Canadian Open as an amateur. The Royal and Ancient golf club at St Andrews was founded in 1754 and recognised as the Governing Authority on the rules of the game in 1897. There are now more than 100 countries and associations affiliated to the famous club. (Photo by A. Jones/Express/Getty Images)

13 April 2020: In the 1970 Open Championship at the home of golf, Doug Sanders was three feet away from his first major championship victory. Somehow, he found a way to roll it past the cup, to fall into a playoff with Jack Nicklaus. Sanders would go on to lose the 18-hole playoff by a miserable stroke, shooting 73 while Nicklaus made 72. The 86-year-old passed away at his home on Sunday due to natural causes.

Sanders was known as much for his near misses in major championships as he was for his 20 victories on the PGA TOUR. He collected four runner-up finishes in the majors. He was T2 in the 1966 Open and T4 at the Masters the same year. He also had runner-up finishes in the PGA Championship (1959) and US Open (1961). In all, he had thirteen top-ten finishes in the majors.

The Sanders miss in 1970 came to be known as the most expensive missed putt in the history of the game, just 30 inches from the cup on the 72nd hole of an Open Championship at St Andrews. “I didn’t get the job done,” Sanders said, recalling the “most famous miss in golf.” “I knew the putt was going to miss straight away. I moved on it. The most expensive missed putt in the history of the game.”

The University of Florida student won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur, after which he turned professional. Sanders remained the only amateur to win on the PGA TOUR until Scott Verplank emulated him in 1985. They called Sanders the “Peacock of the Fairways” for his flamboyant dress style, considered by many to be way ahead of his time. He identified himself as the playboy character that Dan Jenkins portrayed in his best selling Dead Solid Perfect.

Sanders had an Indian connection too. He met Jeev as a 13-year-old when the legendary Indian golfer won the tournament, paving the path to his scholarship at the Abilene Christian University. Jeev is known to have carried the bible presented by Mrs. Sanders on his travels around the world, often reading passages from the book to relax his mind.

A heart-broken Jeev offered a touching tribute to Sanders off his twitter handle. “He was instrumental in getting me a scholarship in the USA, because I played his junior tournaments,” Jeev told the Golfing Indian. “Really sad and god bless his soul. Played a big role in my career.”

Daniel Chopra was also a junior champion on the Sanders circuit. “I felt very sad to hear about his death, he was quite old and had some health issues,” he told me. “I first met him in Taiwan at the Tamsui golf Club where I won the Asian Zone qualifying tournament for the Doug Sanders World Junior Championship in the late 80s.”

“We always stayed in touch and would continue to meet up at certain tournaments on the PGA Tour particularly in Houston where he lived and in Palm Springs,” Chopra added. “He invited both Jeev and myself to his house in Houston and then took us out to dinner.”

“Doug had amassed one of the most incredible set of golfing memorabilia that we had ever seen, he was a true lover of golf and had such a deep knowledge and respect for the history of the game. His colorful wardrobe was quite amazing he will always be remembered as the Peacock!”

The memories of the Peacock and the memorabilia he collected will live on as a tribute to the great love that Sanders possessed for everything life and golf.