Incline Village, Nev. – George Archer, whose smooth putting stroke helped him win the 1969 Masters and 11 other titles on the PGA Tour, died Sunday at his home after a yearlong battle with Burkitt’s lymphoma. He was 65.
“I was holding him and it was a beautiful experience,” his wife Donna said Monday. “He was quite expressive about what a wonderful life he’d had, to be able to have that kind of career. He was on the tour for 40 years.”
The 6-foot-5 1/2 Archer cut a memorable figure among professional golfers and stood almost doubled over when he used his trademark putting stroke.
He won the Masters in 1969 by making key putts to close with an even-par 72 and hold off Billy Casper, Tom Weiskopf and George Knudson. Despite a lifetime exemption, Archer stopped playing the Masters in 1992 at age 52 because of numerous injuries that limited his career.
Archer still showed up at the Champions dinner every April until this year.
Archer had seven surgeries but managed to carve out a solid career. He notched 12 PGA Tour victories and 19 on the Champions Tour, the last one coming in 2000 at the MasterCard Championship. He earned more than $10 million in his 40 years of professional golf, playing in 999 tournaments on the regular and senior tours.
Archer set the PGA Tour record for fewest putts in a four-round tournament with 95 in the 1980 Sea Pines Heritage Classic. The mark was broken by Bob Tway in 1986.
His daughter, Elizabeth, became the first female caddie in the history of the Masters when she carried her father’s bag during the 1983 tournament, the first year players could bring their own caddies.
After several rounds of chemotherapy in the past year, he gave up treatment five weeks ago. He left his house for a final round of golf Aug. 25.
“I’m not sure if he kept a scorecard, but he played gloriously,” Donna said.
