Nick Price
Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a Zimbabwean former professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice 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. As a teenager, he participated in the 1975 Rhodesian Dunlop Masters and Holiday Inns Invitational, official events on the Southern African Tour.After his schooling he served in the Rhodesian Air Force during that country's Bush War.
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. 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 graduates|1982 PGA Tour Qualifying School]. 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. 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.
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.", 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.
Personal life
Price is married to Sue and has three children. They live in Hobe Sound, Florida. His nephew Ray Price is a former national cricketer for the Zimbabwe national cricket team.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)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 28 Aug 1983 | World Series of Golf | −10 | 4 strokes |  European Tour wins (7)
|
|1977
|1982
