Calvin Peete | |
---|---|
— Golfer — | |
Personal information | |
Full name | Calvin Peete |
Born |
Detroit, Michigan |
July 18, 1943
Died | April 29, 2015 Atlanta, Georgia |
(aged 71)
Nationality | United States |
Career | |
Turned professional | 1975 |
Retired | 2001 |
Former tour(s) |
PGA Tour Champions Tour |
Professional wins | 14 |
Number of wins by tour | |
PGA Tour | 12 |
Japan Golf Tour | 2 |
Best results in major championships |
|
Masters Tournament | T11: 1986 |
U.S. Open | T4: 1983 |
The Open Championship | DNP |
PGA Championship | T3: 1982 |
Achievements and awards | |
Vardon Trophy | 1984 |
Byron Nelson Award | 1984 |
Calvin Peete (July 18, 1943 – April 29, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was the most successful African-American to have played on the PGA Tour, with 12 wins, prior to the emergence of Tiger Woods.
Peete was born in Detroit, Michigan. He played on the 1983 and 1985 U.S. Ryder Cup teams. He won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1984. He was in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for several weeks when they debuted in 1986.
Peete did not begin playing golf until he was in his 20s, but immediately excelled at a game most pros learn as young children. He learned the game while peddling goods to migrant workers in Rochester, New York, playing on the public course at Genesee Valley Park. Growing up poor, Peete suffered a badly broken arm that was never properly set. He was the leader in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour for 10 straight years, 1981–90. Peete was inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Peete died after a long battle with lung cancer, in Atlanta, Georgia on April 29, 2015. He was 71.
Peete and his first wife, Christine, who divorced in 1987, are the parents of Charlotte, Calvin, Rickie, Dennis and Nicole and Kalvanetta Peete. He was married to Pepper Peete and had two daughters, Aisha and Aleya. He was a cousin of former American football quarterback Rodney Peete.
PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)
Note: Peete never played in The Open Championship.
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10