| Kel Nagle | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||
| Full name | Kelvin David George Nagle | ||||||
| Nickname | The Pymble Crusher | ||||||
| Born | (1920-12-21)21 December 1920 North Sydney, Australia | ||||||
| Died | 29 January 2015(2015-01-29) (aged 94) Sydney, Australia | ||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m) | ||||||
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st) | ||||||
| Sporting nationality |  Australia | ||||||
| Career | |||||||
| Turned professional | 1946 | ||||||
| Former tours | PGA Tour of Australasia European Tour Champions Tour | ||||||
| Professional wins | 95 | ||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||
| PGA Tour | 2 | ||||||
| PGA Tour of Australasia | 7 | ||||||
| Other | 86 | ||||||
| Best results in major championships (wins: 1) | |||||||
| Masters Tournament | T15: 1965 | ||||||
| PGA Championship | T20: 1965 | ||||||
| U.S. Open | 2nd:1965 | ||||||
| The Open Championship | Won:1960 | ||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
Kelvin David George NagleAM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australianprofessional golfer best known for winningThe Open Championship in 1960.[1] He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975.
Nagle was born inNorth Sydney. Because of five-and-a-half years ofWorld War II military service (1939–45), Nagle got a late start on pro golf, as he played no golf between ages 19 and 24, and turned pro at age 25 (1946). He made up for lost time by winning at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975.
During his early career, he had a long swing and was regarded as the longest hitter on the Australasia tour, as evidenced by the Australian press dubbing him as "the Pymble Crusher".[2] By age 39 (in 1960, when he won The Open Championship), Nagle had shortened his swing and become a straight hitter with whatGary Player described as "the best short game out here".[citation needed]
Although he had won over 30 tournaments in Australia, and had won theCanada Cup for Australia in partnership with five-timeOpen championPeter Thomson in 1954 and 1959, Nagle was a shock winner of The Open, as he was 39 years old but had never finished in the top-10 at amajor championship before. Thomson told Nagle a few weeks prior to the 1960 Open championship that he "had the game" to win and that "you can beat me". He beat the rising star of American golfArnold Palmer into second place, and it was Palmer who deprived him of his title in 1961.
Although he never regained The Open title, Kel Nagle had six top-five finishes at the Open between 1960 and 1966 (ages 39 to 45). His best result in a United States major was second in the1965 U.S. Open—the year after he won theCanadian Open—when he and Gary Player finished the 72-hole tournament in a tie. Nagle lost to Player the next day in an 18-hole playoff, during which Nagle hit a female spectator in the forehead on the fifth hole and was visibly affected to the point that he hit another spectator on the same hole. Player won the playoff by 3 strokes.
As late as 1970, the year he turned 50, Nagle was ranked among the top ten players in the world on theMcCormack's World Golf Rankings, the forerunner of the modern world ranking system. Nagle played on theSenior PGA Tour (now PGA Tour Champions) in the U.S. in the 1980s, when he was in his 60s and early 70s. His best finishes were a pair of T-3s: at the 1981Eureka Federal Savings Classic and the 1982Peter Jackson Champions. In July 2007, Nagle was elected to theWorld Golf Hall of Fame, and was inducted in November 2007.
Nagle died in Sydney on 29 January 2015 at the age of 94.[3]
| Legend |
|---|
| Major championships (1) |
| Other PGA Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 Jul1960 | The Open Championship | −10 (69-67-71-71=278) | 1 stroke |  Arnold Palmer |
| 2 | 2 Aug1964 | Canadian Open | −11 (73-71-66-67=277) | 2 strokes | Arnold Palmer |
PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1965 | U.S. Open |  Gary Player | Lost 18-hole playoff; Player: +1 (71), Nagle: +4 (74) |
Source:[5]
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 Sep 1974 | West End Tournament | −7 (70-70-68-73=281) | 1 stroke | Tom Linskey,Rob McNaughton |
| 2 | 16 Feb 1975 | South Coast Open | −8 (72-67-68-69=276) | 1 stroke | Bob Shearer |
| 3 | 10 Apr 1977 | Western Australia PGA Championship | −5 (73-71-69-70=283) | 1 stroke |  Barry Vivian |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 Aug1963 | Wiseman's Tournament | −7 (65-68-75-73=281) | 2 strokes | Ted Ball |
| 2 | 21 Nov1964 | New Zealand Open | −26 (67-69-66-64=266) | 12 strokes | Frank Phillips |
| 3 | 28 Nov 1964 | Caltex Tournament | −7 (69-72-70-74=285) | 1 stroke | John Sullivan |
| 4 | 4 Dec1965 | Forest Products Tournament | −19 (65-67-69-68=269) | 1 stroke | Cedric Amm |
| 5 | 11 Dec 1965 | BP Tournament | −10 (69-72-73-74=278) | Shared title withPeter Thomson | |
| 6 | 3 Dec1966 | BP Tournament (2) | −12 (68-70-69-69=276) | 3 strokes |  Clive Clark, Martin Roesink |
| 7 | 17 Dec 1966 | Caltex Tournament (2) | −4 (71-69-68-68=276) | Shared title withPeter Thomson | |
| 8 | 18 Nov1967 | New Zealand Open (2) | −9 (70-64-70-71=275) | 4 strokes | Ted Ball |
| 9 | 30 Nov1968 | New Zealand Open (3) | −8 (69-68-66-69=272) | 7 strokes | Frank Phillips |
| 10 | 15 Dec 1968 | BP Tournament (3) | −8 (64-69-69-70=272) | 1 stroke | Bob Charles,Guy Wolstenholme |
| 11 | 29 Nov1969 | New Zealand Open (4) | −7 (69-67-69-68=273) | 2 strokes | John Lister |
| 12 | 7 Dec 1969 | Garden City Classic | −20 (64-70-66-72=272) | 2 strokes | John Lister |
| 13 | 13 Dec 1969 | Caltex Tournament (3) | −9 (70-69-67-69=275) | 7 strokes | Bill Dunk,John Lister |
| 14 | 11 Jan1970 | Forest Products Stars Travel New Zealand PGA Championship | −24 (69-66-66-67=268) | 3 strokes | John Lister |
| 15 | 13 Dec1970 | Otago Charity Classic | −16 (69-68-72-63=272) | 2 strokes | Vic Bennetts |
| 16 | 7 Jan1973 | New Zealand PGA Championship (2) | −9 (66-73-70-66=275) | 4 strokes | John Carter |
| 17 | 6 Jan1974 | New Zealand PGA Championship (3) | −16 (67-64-64-69=264) | 2 strokes | Walter Godfrey |
| 18 | 5 Jan1975 | New Zealand PGA Championship (4) | −17 (65-67-65-70=267) | 5 strokes | Lindsay Sharp |
| 19 | 28 Nov1976 | Otago Charity Classic (2) | −14 (66-69-66-63=274) | 4 strokes | Bob Charles |
this list may be incomplete
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Open Championship | 2 shot lead | −10 (69-67-71-71=278) | 1 stroke | Arnold Palmer |
| Tournament | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | |||||||||
| U.S. Open | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | T19 | T19 | |||||||
| PGA Championship |
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | CUT | CUT | T35 | T21 | T15 | CUT | T31 | T30 | |
| U.S. Open | T17 | CUT | CUT | 2 | T34 | T9 | T52 | CUT | ||
| The Open Championship | 1 | T5 | 2 | 4 | 45 | T5 | T4 | T22 | T13 | 9 |
| PGA Championship | T20 | CUT |
| Tournament | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||||||||
| U.S. Open | T30 | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | T32 | T11 | T31 | T39 | CUT | T40 | CUT | CUT | ||
| PGA Championship |
| Tournament | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | |||||
| U.S. Open | |||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | ||||
| PGA Championship |
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1974 Open Championship)
"T" = tied
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| The Open Championship | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 21 | 17 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Totals | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 41 | 29 |
Authority control databases: People |
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