Nick Price Explained

Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early life

Price was born in Durban, South Africa. His parents were originally British. His father was English and his mother Welsh. His early life was spent in Rhodesia. For secondary school, he attended Prince Edward School in Salisbury where he captained the golf team. After his schooling he served in the Rhodesian Air Force during that country's Bush War.^[1]

Professional career

He began his professional golf career in 1977 on the South African Tour, before moving to the European Tour and finally the PGA Tour in 1983. In 1984, Price renounced his Zimbabwean citizenship and thereafter played under his British passport. It was not until 1996 that Price regained his dual citizenship.

Price's first win was at the 1979 Asseng TV Challenge Series on the Southern African Tour. He won his first tournament outside of South Africa at the 1980 Swiss Open on the European Tour. He was still relatively unknown when he finished tied for second with Peter Oosterhuis one shot behind Tom Watson at the 1982 Open Championship after having a three-shot lead with six holes to go.^[2] Price also won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit for the 1982/83 season.

Price earned PGA Tour membership after finishing 3rd place at 1982 PGA Tour Qualifying School.^[3] In 1983, Price won his first PGA Tour event with a wire to wire four-shot triumph over Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf.^[4] After that win, it would be almost another eight years before Price won again on the PGA Tour. In the interim, Price shot an Augusta National Golf Club course record 63 at the 1986 Masters Tournament and finished second at the 1988 Open Championship to Seve Ballesteros.By the mid-1990s, Price was regarded as the best player in the world, and in 1994 he won two majors back-to-back, The Open and the PGA Championship, adding to his first major, the 1992 PGA Championship. He topped the PGA Tour money list in 1993 and 1994, setting a new earnings record each time, and spent 43 weeks at number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Price would have won the Southern African Tour's Order of Merit in 1996/97 if he had met the minimum number of tournaments. In 1993 and 1997, Price was awarded the Vardon Trophy; it is given annually by the PGA of America to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average with a minimum of 60 rounds.

During his early career and peak, Price was one of the best ball strikers in the game along with his good friend and contemporary Greg Norman (who in 1996 tied Price's Augusta National course record of 63).^[5]

Like fellow African Gary Player, Price has expressed his distaste for the Ryder Cup, saying of the event, "If you like root canals and hemorrhoids, you'd love it there.",^[6] but he has played five times as a member of the Presidents Cup.

Although Price continues to play professionally, he has expanded into golf design with his own company operating out of Florida, and he has his own line of signature golf apparel. He is widely regarded by fans, media and his fellow players as one of the most personable golfers on the PGA Tour. He won his first Champions Tour event at the 2009 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am where he had three double bogeys in his final round, but he hung on to win by two strokes over Larry Nelson.^[7]

Personal life

Price is married to Sue and has three children. They live in Hobe Sound, Florida.^[8] His nephew Ray Price is a former national cricketer for the Zimbabwe national cricket team.^[9]

He is presently a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.

Awards and honors

• In 2003, Price was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
• In 2005, he was voted to be given the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
• In 2011, he was bestowed with Old Tom Morris Award, the highest honour given by the GCSAA to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris."

Professional wins (48)

PGA Tour wins (18)

Legend
Major championships (3)
Players Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	28 Aug 1983	World Series of Golf	−10 (66-68-69-67=270)	4 strokes	Jack Nicklaus
2	5 May 1991	GTE Byron Nelson Classic	−10 (68-64-70-68=270)	1 stroke	Craig Stadler
3	8 Sep 1991	Canadian Open	−15 (71-69-67-66=273)	1 stroke	David Edwards
4	16 Aug 1992	PGA Championship	−6 (70-70-68-70=278)	3 strokes	John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr., Gene Sauers
5	25 Oct 1992	H.E.B. Texas Open	−21 (67-62-68-66=263)	Playoff	Steve Elkington
6	28 Mar 1993	The Players Championship	−18 (64-68-71-67=270)	5 strokes	Bernhard Langer
7	27 Jun 1993	Canon Greater Hartford Open	−9 (67-70-69-65=271)	1 stroke	Roger Maltbie, Dan Forsman
8	4 Jul 1993	Sprint Western Open	−19 (64-71-67-67=269)	5 strokes	Greg Norman
9	1 Aug 1993	Federal Express St. Jude Classic	−18 (69-65-66-66=266)	3 strokes	Jeff Maggert, Rick Fehr
10	13 Mar 1994	Honda Classic	−12 (70-67-73-66=276)	1 stroke	Craig Parry
11	30 May 1994	Southwestern Bell Colonial	−14 (65-70-67-64=266)	Playoff	Scott Simpson
12	3 Jul 1994	Motorola Western Open (2)	−11 (67-67-72-71=277)	1 stroke	Greg Kraft
13	17 Jul 1994	The Open Championship	−12 (69-66-67-66=268)	1 stroke	Jesper Parnevik
14	14 Aug 1994	PGA Championship (2)	−11 (67-65-70-67=269)	6 strokes	Corey Pavin
15	11 Sep 1994	Bell Canadian Open (2)	−13 (67-72-68-68=275)	1 stroke	Mark Calcavecchia
16	20 Apr 1997	MCI Classic	−15 (65-69-69-66=269)	6 strokes	Brad Faxon, Jesper Parnevik
17	2 Aug 1998	FedEx St. Jude Classic (2)	−16 (65-67-70-66=268)	Playoff	Jeff Sluman
18	19 May 2002	MasterCard Colonial (2)	−13 (69-65-66-67=267)	5 strokes	Kenny Perry, David Toms

PGA Tour playoff record (3–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1986	Western Open	Fred Couples, David Frost, Tom Kite	Kite won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1992	H.E.B. Texas Open	Steve Elkington	Won with par on second extra hole
3	1994	Southwestern Bell Colonial	Scott Simpson	Won with birdie on first extra hole
4	1995	NEC World Series of Golf	Billy Mayfair, Greg Norman	Norman won with birdie on first extra hole
5	1998	FedEx St. Jude Classic	Jeff Sluman	Won with birdie on second extra hole
6	2000	Advil Western Open	Robert Allenby	Lost to par on first extra hole

European Tour wins (7)

Legend
Major championships (3)
Other European Tour (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	31 Aug 1980	Swiss Open	−21 (65-69-67-66=267)	6 strokes	Manuel Calero
2	6 Oct 1985	Trophée Lancôme	−13 (66-71-67-71=275)	Playoff	Mark James
3	16 Aug 1992	PGA Championship	−6 (70-70-68-70=278)	3 strokes	John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr., Gene Sauers
4	17 Jul 1994	The Open Championship	−12 (69-66-67-66=268)	1 stroke	Jesper Parnevik
5	14 Aug 1994	PGA Championship (2)	−11 (67-65-70-67=269)	6 strokes	Corey Pavin
6	16 Feb 1997	Dimension Data Pro-Am1	−20 (67-66-66-69=268)	8 strokes	David Frost
7	23 Feb 1997	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship1	−19 (67-66-70-66=269)	Playoff	David Frost

¹Co-sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour

European Tour playoff record (2–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1985	Trophée Lancôme	Mark James	Won with par on third extra hole
2	1997	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship	David Frost	Won with par on first extra hole

Southern Africa Tour wins (12)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	25 Oct 1979	Asseng TV Challenge Series			John Bland, Allan Henning, Phil Simmons
2	14 Feb 1981	SAB South African Masters	−7 (69-75-67-70=281)	4 strokes	Mark McNulty
3	13 Feb 1982	Sigma Vaal Reefs Open	−13 (70-66-64-71=275)	5 strokes	John Bland, Denis Watson
4	12 Jan 1985	ICL International	−20 (67-66-69-66=268)	1 stroke	Gavan Levenson
5	31 Jan 1993	ICL International (2)	−15 (66-72-65-70=273)	2 strokes	Mark McNulty, Bruce Vaughan
6	23 Jan 1994	ICL International (3)	−21 (61-69-65-72=267)	9 strokes	David Frost, Bruce Vaughan
7	26 Nov 1995	Zimbabwe Open	−22 (70-65-66-65=266)	1 stroke	Brenden Pappas
8	16 Feb 1997	Dimension Data Pro-Am1	−20 (67-66-66-69=268)	8 strokes	David Frost
9	23 Feb 1997	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship1	−19 (67-66-70-66=269)	Playoff	David Frost
10	30 Nov 1997	Zimbabwe Open (2)	−19 (68-67-66-68=269)	2 strokes	Mark McNulty, Brenden Pappas
11	22 Feb 1998	Dimension Data Pro-Am (2)	−12 (69-67-68-72=276)	5 strokes	Mark McNulty
12	29 Nov 1998	Zimbabwe Open (3)	−17 (69-68-71-63=271)	5 strokes	Tjaart van der Walt

¹Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Southern Africa Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1984	Goodyear Classic	John Bland	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2	1997	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship	David Frost	Won with par on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	26 Nov 1989	West End South Australian Open	−15 (70-71-67-69=277)	5 strokes	Lucien Tinkler, Paul Foley
2	8 Nov 1992	Air New Zealand Shell Open	−9 (70-65-73-63=271)	Playoff	Lucas Parsons

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

Other European wins (1)

• 1981 San Remo Masters (Italy)

Other wins (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	11 Nov 1992	PGA Grand Slam of Golf	−7 (70-67=137)	Playoff	Tom Kite
2	5 Dec 1993	Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge	−24 (67-66-66-65=264)	12 strokes	Mark McNulty
3	12 Nov 1995	Hassan II Golf Trophy	−6 (69-71-74-72=286)	2 strokes	Roger Chapman
4	7 Dec 1997	Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (2)	−13 (71-68-68-68=275)	1 stroke	Ernie Els, Davis Love III
5	6 Dec 1998	Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (3)	−15 (67-68-72-66=273)	Playoff	Tiger Woods
6	10 Jul 2001	CVS Charity Classic (with Mark Calcavecchia)	−15 (60-59=119)	Playoff	Brad Faxon and Gary Player
7	20 Jun 2006	CVS/pharmacy Charity Classic (2) (with Tim Clark)	−19 (61-62=123)	Playoff	Brad Faxon and Mike Weir
8	23 Jun 2009	CVS Caremark Charity Classic (3) (with David Toms)	−16 (66-60=126)	3 strokes	Laura Diaz and Matt Kuchar

Other playoff record (4–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1992	PGA Grand Slam of Golf	Tom Kite	Won with par on first extra hole
2	1998	Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge	Tiger Woods	Won with birdie on fifth extra hole
3	2001	CVS Charity Classic (with Mark Calcavecchia)	Brad Faxon and Gary Player	Won with birdie on first extra hole
4	2006	CVS/pharmacy Charity Classic (with Tim Clark)	Brad Faxon and Mike Weir	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Champions Tour wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	19 Apr 2009	Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am	−9 (66-67-71=204)	2 strokes	Larry Nelson
2	25 Apr 2010	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mark O'Meara)	−28 (62-64-62=188)	Playoff	John Cook and Joey Sindelar
3	6 Jun 2010	Principal Charity Classic	−14 (67-65-67=199)	4 strokes	Tommy Armour III
4	13 Mar 2011	Toshiba Classic	−17 (60-68-68=196)	1 stroke	Mark Wiebe

Champions Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2009	Principal Charity Classic		McNulty won with birdie on fourth extra hole Price eliminated by birdie on second hole
2	2010	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mark O'Meara)	John Cook and Joey Sindelar	Won with par on second extra hole

Playoff record

Asian PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

Major championships

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
		2 shot deficit	−6 (70-70-68-70=278)	3 strokes	John Cook, Nick Faldo, Jim Gallagher Jr., Gene Sauers
		1 shot deficit	−12 (69-66-67-66=268)	1 stroke	Jesper Parnevik
	PGA Championship (2)	3 shot lead	−11 (67-65-70-67=269)	6 strokes	Corey Pavin

Results timeline

Tournament	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	CUT			T39
PGA Championship

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament					CUT		5	T22	T14	CUT
U.S. Open				T48		CUT		T17	T40	CUT
The Open Championship	T27	T23	T2	CUT	T44	CUT		T8	2	CUT
PGA Championship				T67	T54	5	CUT	T10	T17	T46

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament		T49	T6	CUT	T35	CUT	T18	T24	CUT	T6
U.S. Open		T19	T4	T11	CUT	T13		T19	4	T23
The Open Championship	T25	T44	T51	T6	1	T40	T45	CUT	T29	T37
PGA Championship	T63		1	T31	1	T39	T8	T13	T4	5

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Masters Tournament	T11	CUT	T20	T23	T6	CUT
U.S. Open	T27	CUT	T8	T5	T24	T9	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	T21	T14	T28	T30	CUT
PGA Championship	CUT	T29	CUT				CUT

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

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
	0	0	0	1	4	11	20	13
	0	0	0	3	5	12	20	15
	1	2	0	3	5	9	27	20
PGA Championship	2	0	0	5	7	9	20	16
Totals	3	2	0	12	21	41	87	64

• Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (1989 PGA – 1992 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (five times)

The Players Championship

Results timeline

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

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Match Play	T17	T33		R16	R16	R64	R64
Championship	T4	T5	NT1	T15	T48
Invitational	T3	T20	T29	T28	T42	T46

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Rhodesia): 1976

Professional

• World Cup

1978 (representing South Africa), 1993 (representing Zimbabwe)

• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Zimbabwe): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• Presidents Cup (International Team): 1994, 1996, 1998 (winners), 2000, 2003 (tie), 2013 (non-playing captain), 2015 (non-playing captain), 2017 (non-playing captain)
• Alfred Dunhill Challenge (representing Southern Africa): 1995 (winners)
• Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (representing Champions Tour): 2007, 2008 (winners), 2009, 2010

See also

• 1982 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• List of men's major championships winning golfers

Notes and References

1. Book: Wade, Don . Wanna Bet? The Greatest True Stories About Gambling on Golf, from Titanic Thompson to Tiger Woods . . New York . November 2005 . 978-1560258995 . 134 .
2. News: Watson Wins Open by One Shot . . . Associated Press . Geoffrey . Miller . 1C . 19 July 1982 .
3. Book: Gould, David. Q-School Confidential: Inside Golf's Cruelest Tournament. St. Martin's Press. 1999. New York. 271.
4. News: Price is right in golf World Series . . . 29 August 1983 . 6.
5. News: Norman Masters Augusta . . . 12 April 1996 . Michael . Mayo . 27 August 2012 . 26 May 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130526060450/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-04-12/sports/9604120069_1_norman-masters-augusta-bernhard-langer-final-round . dead .
6. Book: The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations. Jim. Apfelbaum. 2007. Skyhorse Publishing. New York. 978-1-60239-014-0.
7. News: Nick Price claims first Champions Tour win . 9 April 2009 . Golf Channel . Associated Press.
8. Web site: Nick Price: Bio . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130707151400/http://www.nickprice.com/index.html . 7 July 2013 . nickprice.com.
9. Williams . Jeff . June 2011 . Gentleman Nick . . 80–88.