| Raymond Floyd won his first
tournament in 1963, aged 20. In 1992, aged 50, he
became the first player to win on the regular and
senior US tours in the same season. He has been a
golfer for the ages; a golfer for all ages. When
he won his first major, the 1969 US PGA
Championship, Floyd was known as Ray in most of
the bars and nightclubs where the US tour called
a halt. Now he's Raymond, married with a family,
and possessor of four major championships - a
remarkable effort achieved with what must frankly
be described as an ungainly swing, a laboured
affair which has nevertheless made him a handsome
living. Floyd won his next two majors -
the 1976 Masters and the 1982 PGA - the way he
loves best: from the front. He opened with 65-66
at Augusta and eventually Squalled the lowest
72-hole score in the tournament's history. Six
years later he started with 63-69 at the PGA and
that was pretty well that. When he won the 1986
US Open, he was, at 43, the then oldest ever
winner of the championship. In addition to
everything else, Floyd was non-playing captain of
the US Ryder Cup team in 1989, but back in the
side as a player for the seventh time in 1991. In
between, he had the 1990 Masters for the taking
until he bogeyed the penultimate hole and then
lost the ensuing playoff to Nick Faldo at the
second hole of sudden-death. He was runner-up
again in 1992. A golfer for the ages indeed.
|
Floyd
at the 1982 British Open, the only major
championship to elude him.
The
steel-eyed stare of determination has been as
pivotal to Floyd's success as his shot-making.
|
