Sandy Lyle

Sandy Lyle
Personnel
Nation:	Scotland
Career data
Professional since:	1977
Current tour:	Champions Tour European Seniors Tour
Tournament wins:	28
Major wins :	2 (1985, 1988)
Awards:	World Golf Hall of Fame (2012), MBE (1987), Winner of the European Tour Order of Merit (1979/80, 1985), Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award (1978)

Alexander Walter Lyle (Sandy Lyle) , MBE (born February 9, 1958 in Shrewsbury, England ) is a professional golfer who - although born in England - plays for Scotland . He is one of the "Big Five", a group of world-class golfers who were all born within 12 months, won at least one major and made Europe competitive in the Ryder Cup . The others are Seve Ballesteros , Nick Faldo , Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam .

Career

At the age of three, Lyle was brought to play golf by his father. In his amateur career, he won the English Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 1975 and 1977 and was a member of the Walker Cup team (the " Ryder Cup " for amateurs). Sandy Lyle turned pro in the fall of 1977 and received the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award (best newcomer) in his first season .

He demonstrated his high quality with his win at the Open Championship in Sandwich (England) in 1985, as the first British winner since 1969 (then Tony Jacklin ). That same year Lyle was a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team.

The most famous moment in his career was the legendary fairway bunker shot just under the flag of the last hole in the final round of the Masters in Augusta in 1988. He won this most prestigious golf tournament with a birdie and was the first Briton to the Green Jacket in reception was allowed to take. In the same year Lyle also won the World Match Play Championship .

He won the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) three times (1979, 1980 and 1985) and was among the top 10 a total of nine times between 1979 and 1992. Lyle was also a member of the US PGA Tour for a number of years and came 7th there in 1988 Place in the money list.

In 1989 he lost his form and - apart from 1992 in Europe - has not been able to match his consistently good performance since then. Since 2008, when he reached the age limit of 50, Lyle has been playing on the Champions Tour and the European Seniors Tour . His best year so far on the Champions Tour was 2015 when he finished 47th in the money list.

In 2012, Sandy Lyle was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame .

Victories in the PGA European Tour

• 1979 BA / Avis Open , Scandinavian Enterprise Open , European Open Championship
• 1980 Coral Welsh Classic
• 1981 Paco Rabanne Open de France , Lawrence Batley International
• 1982 Lawrence Batley International
• 1983 Cespa Madrid Open
• 1984 Italian Open , Lancome Trophy
• 1985 The Open Championship , Benson & Hedges International Open
• 1987 German Masters
• 1988 Dunhill British Masters
• 1991 BMW International Open
• 1992 Lancia Martini Italian Open , Volvo Masters

PGA Tour wins (USA)

• 1986 Greater Greensboro Open
• 1987 The PLAYERS Championship
• 1988 Phoenix Open , Masters Tournament , Greater Greensboro Open

Major championships are in bold .

Victories in the European Seniors Tour

• 2011 ISPS Handa Senior World Championship

Wins in other professional tournaments

• 1978 Nigerian Open
• 1979 Scottish Professional Championship
• 1984 Kapalua International (Hawaii), Casio World Open (Japan)
• 1989 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England)

Results in major tournaments

competition	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	48	T28	DNP	CUT	DNP	T25	T11	T17	1	CUT
US Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T45	T36	T25	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT	T19	T12	T14	T8	CUT	T14	1	T30	T17	T7	T46
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

competition	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters	CUT	CUT	T37	T21	T38	CUT	CUT	T34	CUT	T48	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	T37	CUT	CUT	43	45	T20
US Open	CUT	T16	T51	T52	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T16	DQ	T12	CUT	74	T79	T55	CUT	T18	CUT	CUT	T69	T76	CUT	73	T32	CUT	T65	WD	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	T16	CUT	T56	T73	T39	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

competition	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
The Masters	CUT	CUT	CUT	T54	T44	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
US Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	CUT	CUT	CUT	84	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DQ = disqualified
WD = abandoned
DNP = not taken part
CUT = cut not made
"T" split placement
Green background for victories
Yellow background for top 10.

Victories as an amateur

• 1975 English Amateur Open Stroke-Play Championship (Brabazon Trophy), English Boys Amateur Stroke-Play Championship (Carris Trophy)
• 1977 English Amateur Open Stroke-Play Championship, British Youths Open Amateur Championship

Trivia

On the Schloss Wilkendorf golf course , an 18-hole course is named after Lyle, who was voted the 6th most beautiful golf course in Germany in 2010.

See also

• List of winners in major golf tournaments

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ http://www.golfclub-schloss-wilkendorf.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Player profile on the PGA European Tour
• Player profile at the PGA Tour (English)