Gene Sauers

Gene Craig Sauers (born August 22, 1962) is an American professional golfer, currently playing on the PGA Tour Champions. He had three wins on the PGA Tour and overcame a potentially fatal skin condition that kept him off the golf course for five years. He won the U.S. Senior Open in 2016, a senior major championship.

Gene Sauers
Personal information
Full name	Gene Craig Sauers
Born	(1962-08-22) August 22, 1962 (age 63) Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
College	Georgia Southern
Turned professional	1984
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Web.com Tour
Professional wins	9
Highest ranking	36 (October 4, 1992)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	3
Korn Ferry Tour	1
PGA Tour Champions	1
European Senior Tour	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T33: 1987
PGA Championship	T2: 1992
U.S. Open	T58: 1985, 1987
The Open Championship	T52: 1989
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year/ Courage Award 2002, 2016–17

Early life and amateur career

Sauers was born in Savannah, Georgia and started playing golf at the age of nine with his father. He attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.

Professional career

In 1984, Sauers turned pro. He joined the PGA Tour later in the year. He quickly had success winning the 1986 Bank of Boston Classic and the 1989 Hawaiian Open.^[2][3] He also won the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic in Mississippi in 1990, opposite the Masters in April, before it was an official money event.

In the early 1990s Sauers finished two tournaments in a tie for first place at the end of regulation: the 1992 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which he lost on the fourth extra hole of a playoff to John Cook, and the 1994 St. Jude Classic, which he and Hal Sutton lost to Tour rookie Dicky Pride. During this era, he also recorded his highest finish in a major championship: a tie for second at the 1992 PGA Championship, which he led for the first three rounds.^[4]

Sauers lost his tour card in 1995 and had to play primarily on the Nike Tour. He recorded one victory on the Nike Tour at the 1998 Nike South Carolina Classic, and about a dozen top-10 finishes.^[5] In late 2002, Sauers won the Air Canada Championship on the PGA Tour. It gave him a two-year exemption. Sauers also received the PGA Comeback Player of the Year award in 2002.

Sauers competed on the PGA Tour until 2005. From 2006 to 2010, he did not compete professionally after an initial misdiagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis turned out to be Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and he was given only a 25-percent chance of survival. Over several months, during which he received multiple skin grafts that left visible scarring, he gradually recovered.^[6][7]

Senior career

Sauers finally overcame the disease and played a limited Nationwide Tour schedule in 2011 and 2012 before making his Champions Tour debut at the Boeing Classic near Seattle in 2012. He earned two top-10 finishes in 2012 and was also inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.^[8] Playing a full season in 2013, Sauers was twice a runner-up, including a playoff loss to Esteban Toledo at the Insperity Invitational. He finished nineteenth on the Champions Tour money list.^[6]

In the first six months of 2014, Sauers played in eleven events, with six top-25 finishes and a best of T-15 at the Allianz Championship in early February.^[9] At the U.S. Senior Open in Oklahoma in July, he was tied with Colin Montgomerie after 72 holes but lost in a three-hole playoff.^[10]

Two years later in 2016, Sauers earned his first win as a senior at the U.S. Senior Open in Ohio.

Awards and honors

• In 2002, Sauers also received the PGA Comeback Player of the Year award
• After the 2016-17 season, Sauers received the PGA Tour's Courage Award

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Sep 14, 1986	Bank of Boston Classic	70-71-64-69=274	−10	Playoff	Blaine McCallister
2	Feb 12, 1989	Hawaiian Open	65-67-65=197*	−19	1 stroke	David Ogrin
3	Sep 1, 2002	Air Canada Championship	69-65-66-69=269	−15	1 stroke	Steve Lowery

*Note: The 1989 Hawaiian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

PGA Tour playoff record (1–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1986	Bank of Boston Classic	Blaine McCallister	Won with birdie on third extra hole
2	1991	KMart Greater Greensboro Open	Mark Brooks	Lost to par on third extra hole
3	1992	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	John Cook, Rick Fehr, Tom Kite, Mark O'Meara	Cook won with eagle on fourth extra hole Fehr eliminated by birdie on second hole Kite and O'Meara eliminated by birdie on first hole
4	1994	Federal Express St. Jude Classic	Dicky Pride, Hal Sutton	Pride won with birdie on first extra hole

Nike Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	May 3, 1998	Nike South Carolina Classic	70-69-72-69=280	−8	1 stroke	Craig Kanada, Sean Murphy

Other wins (4)

• 1983 Georgia Open
• 1985 Georgia Open
• 1986 Georgia Open
• 1990 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic

PGA Tour Champions wins (1)

Legend
Senior major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Aug 15, 2016	U.S. Senior Open	68-69-71-69=277	−3	1 stroke	Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2013	Insperity Championship	Mike Goodes, Esteban Toledo	Toledo won with par on third extra hole Sauers eliminated by par on second hole
2	2014	U.S. Senior Open	Colin Montgomerie	Lost three-hole aggregate playoff; Montgomerie: E (5-3-4=12), Sauers: x (5-4-x=x)
3	2017	Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
4	2017	3M Championship	Paul Goydos	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
5	2022	ClubCorp Classic	Steven Alker, Scott Parel	Parel won with par on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament				T33		CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	T58		T58
The Open Championship						T52
PGA Championship			T30	T24	CUT	T58

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament				T34
U.S. Open
The Open Championship						T88
PGA Championship	CUT	T63	T2	T22		T44

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship				CUT

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open								CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Players Championship	CUT	CUT	T32	T16	T55

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Players Championship	T29	T9	CUT	CUT	T51	T3	T53

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
The Players Championship				CUT	CUT

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	2003
Match Play
Championship
Invitational	85

  Did not play

Senior major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
2016	U.S. Senior Open	1 shot deficit	−3 (68-69-71-69=277)	1 stroke	Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
The Tradition	T15	T25	T3	T12	T10	T2	52	NT	T42	T26
Senior PGA Championship	T25	T25	CUT	T14	CUT	T10		NT	T40	T20		T57	CUT
Senior Players Championship	T47	T39	T12		T9	T54	29	T16	T16	T25		T33	T52
U.S. Senior Open	T35	2	T47	1	CUT	T21	CUT	NT	T17	T4		CUT	CUT
Senior British Open Championship	10			T18	T23	T24		NT

  Win

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

See also

• 1983 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates