Goodbye to golf’s ‘nearly man’ the sharp dressed Doug Sanders

GOLF said goodbye to one if its most flamboyant characters with the death on Sunday last of Doug Sanders in his 87th year.

Known as the “Peacock of the Fairways” for his colourful dress, unfortunately Doug will always be remembered for what he didn’t achieve, rather than what he did achieve, on the golf course.

Long before the likes of Payne Stewart (RIP), Ian Poulter, John Daly and, more recently, Rickie Fowler, were dazzling us with their colourful on-course apparel, Doug could be seen traversing the fairways for almost three decades, resplendent in soft pinks, lilacs, yellows and oranges, always with shoes to match.

On the golfing side of things, it must be said that he was no mean golfer, winning some 20 events on the PGA Tour (including the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur), one on the PGA Seniors Tour, and playing on the 1967 US Ryder Cup team captained by Ben Hogan and regarded by many as the greatest US team in the history of the event as they trounced Great Britain & Ireland by 23 and a half points to eight and a half.

However, Sanders’ legacy will be always be the “nearly man” having finished second on four occasions in majors, including the famous 1970 Open Championship at St Andrews where he missed a two and a half foot putt for the title, before going on to lose the 18-hole play-off next day by one shot to Jack Nicklaus.

Sanders is always remembered for that particular miss and famously said: “I missed a 30-inch putt on the last green that would have won the 1970 British Open. It’s all anybody wants to talk about. I won 20 times on the PGA Tour, was runner-up in four majors and it’s that putt everybody remembers. It’s what I remember most, too, and some days I can go a whole five minutes without thinking about it.”

Apart from his ‘yip’ at St Andrews in 1970, Doug was also runner-up to Nicklaus at the 1966 Open at Muirfield, the first to be played over four days. Overnight leader Nicklaus held a one-shot lead which he maintained for the final 18 holes as both he and Sanders shot one under par 70s.

Sanders’ first runner-up spot in a major was in 1959, 11 years previous to his Open failure, at the PGA championship in Minneapolis, where a final round of 72 (level par) saw him finish a shot behind the winner Bob Rosburg, who, of course, went on to become one of golf’s most famous TV commentators, while Sanders also finished second in the 1961 US Open at Oakland Hills, losing out again by a single shot to Gene Littler after anopther final round of 72. The great Gene Sarazen will now have some competition up above for the title of best dressed golfer.

RIP Doug.