Gene Littler
US Open golf champion who was renowned for his fluid swing
GENE LITTLER, the American golfer, who has died aged 88, won the US Open in 1961 and was a runner-up in two other majors, the 1970 Masters and the
1977 USPGA, winning 29 tournaments on the US tour across a 25-year career. But he will probably be best remembered for the beautiful fluidity of his swing rather than his winning exploits.
The great Gene Sarazen once described Littler’s swing as “perfect”, and it is generally deemed to be one of the finest of all time. He was only 5ft 9in, but Sarazen noted that Littler also had “wrists like wagon tongues and hands like hams”, allowing his smooth, languid action to be converted into power and control.
With typical modesty Littler tried to argue that “I just put the ball down and hit it”. It was possibly this self-effacing air that prevented him from achieving more major wins during an era dominated by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. “I never gave myself enough credit,” he said in later life. “If I could change anything, I’d change my attitude. I’d come out again like Nicklaus or Palmer. I think I had a lot of ability, but I never had what those guys had – that confidence.”
He also acknowledged that he had put family before fortune and was perhaps not ruthless enough. “I probably would have performed better and won more tournaments had I not wanted to go home so often,” he said. “I guess I loved my family so much that it was the most important thing in my life.”
Gene Alec Littler was born on July 21 1930 in San Diego, California. He graduated from San Diego State University and then served in the US Navy from 1951 to 1954, playing in the navy golf team and winning the US Amateur Championship in 1953. Two years later, having left the forces, he turned professional.
He was runner-up in the US Open in 1954 at Baltusrol, losing to Ed Furgol by one stroke, and won four times on the US tour in 1955 before a dip in form during the late 1950s. Re-emerging with a new grip, he was at his peak when he won the 1961 US Open at Oakland Hills, coming out of the pack on the last day to defeat Doug Sanders and Bob Goalby by a single shot with a superb display of nerveless putting and a two-under-par final round of 68.
He almost claimed a second major, in the Masters at Augusta in 1970, but lost in an 18-hole play-off to Billy Casper, a boyhood friend. Between 1961 and 1975 Littler played seven times for the all-conquering US Ryder Cup team, winning 14 and losing only five of his 27 matches. Throughout his career he was a model of consistency, finishing outside the top 60 on the US money list only once between 1954 and 1979.
The one time he dropped out of that ranking was after being diagnosed with cancer in 1972. After surgery to remove a tumour from under his arm he lost much of the muscle structure on his left side, but thanks to a punishing rehabilitation regime rejoined the tour, winning five more times and coming close to another major, beaten by Lanny Wadkins in a play-off in the 1977 USPGA at Pebble Beach.
Littler retired from the main tour not long afterwards and joined the fledgling US seniors’ tour in 1981, winning eight tournaments before retiring in the early 2000s. His 29 wins on the main US circuit put him joint 19th on the all-time list, level with Lee Trevino.
He is survived by his wife, Shirley, whom he married in 1950, and by a daughter and son.