Early years

Sanders was born in Cedartown, Georgia, to a poor family and picked cotton as a teenager. He was a self-taught golfer.

College and amateur career

He accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for the Florida Gators men's golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition in 1955. In his single year as a Gator golfer, Sanders and the team won a Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship and earned a sixth-place finish at the NCAA championship tournament—the Gators' best national championship finish until that time. Sanders won the 1956 Canadian Open as an amateur—the only amateur ever to do so—and turned professional shortly thereafter.

Professional career

Sanders had 13 top-10 finishes in major championships, including four second-place finishes: 1959 PGA Championship, 1961 U.S. Open, 1966 and 1970 British Opens. In 1966, he became one of the few players in history to finish in the top ten of all four major championships in a single season, despite winning none of them. He earned unfortunate notoriety for taking four shots from just 74 yards as the leader playing the final hole of the 1970 British Open at St Andrews, missing a sidehill 3-foot putt to win, before losing the resulting 18-hole playoff by just a single shot the next day to Jack Nicklaus.

He is remembered for an exceptionally short, flat golf swing—a consequence, it appears, of a painful neck condition that radically restricted his movements.

Personal

Sanders has always been known as a stylish, flamboyant dresser on the golf course, which earned him the nickname "Peacock of the Fairways." Esquire magazine named Sanders one of America's Ten Best Dressed Jocks in 1973.

Sanders identified himself as the lead character, a playboy PGA Tour golfer, in the golf novel Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins.

Since retiring from competitive golf, Sanders has been active in his own corporate golf entertainment company and has for nearly 20 years, sponsored the Doug Sanders International Junior Golf Championship in Houston, Texas. From 1988 to 1994, he also sponsored the Doug Sanders Celebrity Classic.

He currently resides in Houston.

Honors

He is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (20)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jul 8, 1956	Canadian Open (as an amateur)	−15 (69-67-69-68=273)	Playoff	Dow Finsterwald
2	Jun 1, 1958	Western Open	−13 (69-68-70-68=275)	1 stroke	Dow Finsterwald
3	Dec 6, 1959	Coral Gables Open Invitational	−11 (68-71-69-65=273)	3 strokes	Dow Finsterwald
4	Mar 5, 1961	Greater New Orleans Open Invitational	−16 (68-65-69-70=272)	5 strokes	Gay Brewer, Mac Main
5	May 14, 1961	Colonial National Invitation	+1 (69-75-67-70=281)	1 stroke	Kel Nagle
6	May 21, 1961	Hot Springs Open Invitational	−15 (68-68-69-68=273)	1 stroke	Dave Ragan, Jerry Steelsmith
7	Aug 6, 1961	Eastern Open Invitational	−13 (72-66-68-69=275)	1 stroke	Ken Venturi
8	Nov 19, 1961	Cajun Classic Open Invitational	−14 (67-67-67-69=270)	6 strokes	Ken Still
9	Mar 11, 1962	Pensacola Open Invitational	−18 (67-67-67-69=270)	1 stroke	Don Fairfield
10	Aug 19, 1962	St. Paul Open Invitational	−19 (66-69-69-65=269)	3 strokes	Dave Hill
11	Aug 26, 1962	Oklahoma City Open Invitational	−8 (70-69-74-67=280)	2 strokes	Johnny Pott
12	Apr 14, 1963	Greater Greensboro Open	−14 (68-65-68-69=270)	4 strokes	Jimmy Clark
13	Mar 7, 1965	Pensacola Open Invitational	−11 (68-71-65-73=277)	Playoff	Jack Nicklaus
14	Mar 14, 1965	Doral Open Invitational	−14 (65-71-71-67=274)	1 stroke	Bruce Devlin
15	Feb 6, 1966	Bob Hope Desert Classic	−11 (70-72-68-73-66=349)	Playoff	Arnold Palmer
16	Mar 27, 1966	Jacksonville Open Invitational	−15 (71-65-66-71=273)	1 stroke	Gay Brewer
17	Apr 3, 1966	Greater Greensboro Open	−8 (65-70-71-70=276)	Playoff	Tom Weiskopf
18	Mar 5, 1967	Doral Open Invitational	−9 (68-71-66-70=275)	1 stroke	Harold Henning, Art Wall, Jr.
19	Dec 13, 1970	Bahama Islands Open	−16 (66-70-68-68=272)	Playoff	Chris Blocker
20	Jun 4, 1972	Kemper Open	−13 (71-68-68-68=275)	1 stroke	Lee Trevino

Major championships are in bold

PGA Tour playoff record (5-5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1956	Canadian Open (as an amateur)	Dow Finsterwald	Won with par on first extra hole
2	1961	Phoenix Open	Arnold Palmer	Lost 18-hole playoff (Palmer:67 Sanders:70)
3	1962	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	Dave Ragan	Lost to birdie on the second extra hole
4	1964	Greater Greensboro Open	Julius Boros	Lost to par on first extra hole
5	1965	Pensacola Open Invitational	Jack Nicklaus	Won with birdie on third extra hole
6	1965	Greater Seattle Open Invitational	Gay Brewer	Lost to par on first extra hole
7	1966	Bob Hope Desert Classic	Arnold Palmer	Won with birdie on first extra hole
8	1966	Greater Greensboro Open	Tom Weiskopf	Won with par on second extra hole
9	1970	British Open	Jack Nicklaus	Lost 18-hole playoff (Nicklaus:72 Sanders:73)
10	1970	Bahama Islands Open	Chris Blocker	Won with par on second extra hole

Other wins (2)

• 1957 Colombian Open
• 1959 Sahara Pro-Am

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

• 1983 World Seniors Invitational

Results in major championships

Amateur

Tournament	1955	1956
U.S. Amateur	R128	R64
The Amateur Championship	DNP	R256

Professional

Tournament	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament	T31	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	CUT	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T2

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	T29	T11	T33	T28	DNP	T11	T4	T16	T12	T36
U.S. Open	T46	T2	T11	T21	T32	T11	T8	T34	T37	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	11	CUT	T2	T18	34	DNP
PGA Championship	T3	3	T15	T17	T28	T20	T6	T28	T8	CUT

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	T37	CUT	DNP	DNP	T45	DNP
The Open Championship	2	T9	4	T28	DNP	DNP	T28
PGA Championship	T41	CUT	T7	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

LA = Low Amateur
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

Sources: Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, Open Championship, PGA Championship, 1956 British Amateur

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	1	1	5	11	10
U.S. Open	0	1	0	1	2	5	13	11
The Open Championship	0	2	0	3	4	6	11	9
PGA Championship	0	1	2	3	6	9	14	12
Totals	0	4	2	8	13	25	49	42

• Most consecutive cuts made - 14 (1965 PGA - 1969 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 4 (1966 Masters - 1966 PGA)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]