Dave Stockton

David Knapp "Dave" Stockton (born November 2, 1941 in San Bernardino , California ) is an American professional golfer. In addition to two majors, he won numerous tournaments on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour . After his career as a player, he worked as a golf trainer with stars like Phil Mickelson and Michelle Wie . Stockton, who was considered a brilliant putter during his playing days, mainly looks after his pros in the field of short games.

When looking back at the most successful golfers of the 1960s and 1970s, the name Dave Stockton is unlikely to come up. Not loved like Arnold Palmer , nor as appreciated as the most successful player of the time, Jack Nicklaus . When Dave Stockton is mentioned, then one speaks of a player in those moments when the chance arose, just was there and struck. Unlike the physically very strong Palmer and Nicklaus, Stockton was never one who could hit the balls with sheer power over enormous distances. His left leg was longer than his right, and when he was 15 he had a serious surfing accident. He broke three ribs on the beach at Trestles, the southern California surfer's paradise. The consequences of this accident would also cost him mobility and thus distance later.

After a successful period as an amateur and studying at the University of Southern California , he turned pro in 1964. His first tournament victory on the PGA Tour, the Colonial Invitation National, was preceded by a special feature of this event. Since he was not one of the top 80 professionals at the time, he was not automatically qualified. With their Champion's Choice , the former tournament winners have the opportunity to allow two more players to start and chose Stockton as one of them. He seized this opportunity and - as the only player since 1946 - won the tournament.

Stockton also seized the opportunity in his two major wins and withstood the pressure in difficult moments. In 1970 he played in the final round of the PGA Championship with Palmer for victory. Not only Arnie's Army, Palmer's noisy fan group, but also many others would have liked Palmer to win; after successes with the other three majors, many granted him this victory as the culmination of his career. But Stockton's strong nerves prevented this. In 1976 he defied the bad weather. Even the first postponement of the last lap on Monday did not upset the last hole. He punched a putt from just under five meters, preventing a sting between him and the runner-up Raymond Floyd and Don January .

The culmination of this second major victory is a fine example of Stockton's strength: putting. The American GOLF magazine named him in 2009 in the list of the 10 greatest putters in the history of golf. His determination and swift execution was particularly noticeable, even with particularly important putts. In an article for the American magazine Golfdigest, he wrote that preparation for the winning putt at the 1976 PGA was as swift as any other putts. Including reading the green, this was 15 seconds. A very short period of time given the importance of this blow. This fast game is also possible due to a peculiarity of Stockton: he rejects so-called trial swings.

After reaching the age of 50, Stockton switched to the Senior PGA Tour in 1991, today's Champions Tour . In 1993 and 1994 he won the money list for this tour. His 14 titles include three so-called senior majors.

Stockton played for the US team twice in the Ryder Cup , 1971 and 1977. In 1991 he was captain of the Ryder Cup on Kiawah Island.

In 2009, Stockton became the focus of interest as the coach who brought Phil Mickelson's success back. He had worked with top players for a long time. Long before he was in charge of Michelle Wie, he had already improved Annika Sörenstam's short game .

Results in the majors

Tournament	1968	1969
The Masters	DNP	18th
US Open	T9	T25
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T17	T35

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
The Masters	T5	T9	T10	T14	T2	T26	DNP	T39	CUT	CUT
US Open	DNP	CUT	CUT	T39	T40	T43	CUT	CUT	T2	T36
The Open Championship	DNP	T11	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	1	T40	T40	T12	T26	CUT	1	T31	T19	T35

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	T26	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
US Open	T51	CUT	T45	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	T43	CUT	CUT	T39	T59	T53	CUT	T48	T68

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
US Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = not participated
WD = withdrawn
CUT = failed at the cut
"T" = shared rank

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1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from December 26th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2008/10/stocktonrules