John Mahaffey

John Mahaffey
John Mahaffey
Personal information
Full name	John Drayton Mahaffey Jr.
Born	May 9, 1948 (age 76); Kerrville, Texas, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Residence	The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.
Career
College	University of Houston
Turned professional	1971
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour; Champions Tour
Professional wins	16
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	10
PGA Tour Champions	1
Other	5
Best results in major championships; (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T8: 1981
PGA Championship	Won: 1978
U.S. Open	2nd: 1975
The Open Championship	T10: 1975

John Drayton Mahaffey Jr. (born May 9, 1948) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including 10 PGA Tour events.

Early life

Mahaffey was born in Kerrville, Texas. He attended the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Mahaffey graduated in 1970 with a degree in psychology.

Professional career

He turned pro in 1971. Mahaffey came close to winning back to back U.S. Opens. In 1975, he lost in a playoff to Lou Graham at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois. The following year Mahaffey had a two-shot lead after 54 holes at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia before shooting a final round 73 and finishing T-4.

In 1978, he won the PGA Championship. It was held at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Mahaffey became the best comeback winner in PGA history after trailing Tom Watson by seven strokes with 14 holes to play. Ultimately, the tournament came down to a three-player playoff – Mahaffey, Watson and Jerry Pate. All three players made par on the first playoff hole. The drama ended on the second playoff hole when Pate missed the green, Watson missed a 30-foot birdie attempt and Mahaffey made his 12-foot birdie putt for the Championship.^[1] Later in the year he also won the World Cup individual and team event where he was paired with Andy North in 1978.

Mahaffey played on the 1979 Ryder Cup team the following year.

Later in his career, he began work as an announcer on Golf Channel telecasts of the PGA Tour Champions.

Personal life

Mahaffey lives near Houston at The Woodlands in his home state of Texas. His family includes wife Elizabeth, and two children.^{[citation needed]}

Amateur wins

1970 NCAA Championship

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour wins (10)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Players Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Oct 28, 1973	Sahara Invitational	−13 (68-66-69-68=271)	3 strokes	Dave Eichelberger
2	Aug 6, 1978	PGA Championship	−8 (75-67-68-66=276)	Playoff	Jerry Pate, Tom Watson
3	Aug 13, 1978	American Optical Classic	−14 (71-65-67-67=270)	2 strokes	Raymond Floyd, Gil Morgan
4	Jan 14, 1979	Bob Hope Desert Classic	−17 (66-66-71-71-69=343)	1 stroke	Lee Trevino
5	Jun 1, 1980	Kemper Open	−5 (68-72-67-68=275)	3 strokes	Craig Stadler
6	July 26, 1981	Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	−8 (72-67-70-67=276)	2 strokes	Andy North
7	Jan 15, 1984	Bob Hope Classic (2)	−20 (66-70-70-68-66=340)	Playoff	Jim Simons
8	Sep 29, 1985	Texas Open	−12 (68-68-65-67=268)	Playoff	Jodie Mudd
9	Mar 30, 1986	Tournament Players Championship	−13 (69-70-65-71=275)	1 stroke	Larry Mize
10	Aug 6, 1989	Federal Express St. Jude Classic	−12 (70-71-66-65=272)	3 strokes	Bob Gilder, Hubert Green, Bernhard Langer, Bob Tway

PGA Tour playoff record (3–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1975	U.S. Open	Lou Graham	Lost 18-hole playoff; Graham: E (71), Mahaffey: +2 (73)
2	1978	PGA Championship	Jerry Pate, Tom Watson	Won with birdie on second extra hole
3	1984	Bob Hope Desert Classic	Jim Simons	Won with par on second extra hole
4	1985	Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	Mark Wiebe	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
5	1985	Texas Open	Jodie Mudd	Won with par on second extra hole

Other wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Dec 3, 1978	World Cup (with Andy North)	−12 (141-144-138-141=564)	10 strokes	Australia − Wayne Grady and Greg Norman
2	Dec 3, 1978	World Cup Individual Trophy	−7 (69-72-69-71=281)	2 strokes	Andy North
3	Nov 11, 1979	World Cup (2) (with Hale Irwin)	−1 (141-141-152-141=575)	5 strokes	Scotland − Ken Brown and Sandy Lyle
4	Jan 4, 1981	Spalding Invitational	−9 (69-69-69-72=279)	1 stroke	Buddy Allin
5	Dec 12, 1982	JCPenney Mixed Team Classic (with JoAnne Carner)	−20 (68-67-63-70=268)	1 stroke	Jay Haas and Hollis Stacy

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Jun 20, 1999	Southwestern Bell Dominion	−12 (67-67-70=204)	Playoff	José María Cañizares, Bruce Fleisher

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1999	Southwestern Bell Dominion	José María Cañizares, Bruce Fleisher	Won with birdie on second extra hole Fleisher eliminated by birdie on first hole
2	2002	FleetBoston Classic	Bob Gilder	Lost to birdie on third extra hole

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
1978	PGA Championship	7 shot deficit	−8 (75-67-68-66=276)	Playoff¹	Jerry Pate, Tom Watson

¹Defeated Pate and Watson with a birdie on the second extra hole.

Results timeline

Tournament	1970	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1978	1979
Masters Tournament				CUT	CUT	T39
U.S. Open	T36 LA	CUT	T29	T12	2	T4		T36
The Open Championship				T44	T10
PGA Championship			T30	T9	T28	WD	1	T51

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	T44	T8	CUT	T40	CUT	T14	T42	T35
U.S. Open	T28	CUT	T22	T34	T30	T39	CUT	T24		T46
The Open Championship	T32						T30
PGA Championship	T15	CUT	T42	CUT	T20	T23	CUT	T65	T15	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1997
Masters Tournament	T42
U.S. Open	CUT			CUT	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship	T40	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD

Win

Top 10

Did not play

LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	1	2	12	8
U.S. Open	0	1	2	2	5	20	13
The Open Championship	0	0	0	1	1	4	4
PGA Championship	1	0	1	2	6	23	12
Totals	1	1	3	6	14	59	37

Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1978 PGA – 1981 Masters)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1975 U.S. Open – 1975 Open Championship)

The Players Championship

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1986	Tournament Players Championship	4 shot deficit	−13 (69-70-65-71=275)	1 stroke	Larry Mize

Results timeline

Tournament	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
The Players Championship	T19	T11	T34		T12		T5	T19	T35	T3	T10	CUT	1	T32	T27	T45	CUT	CUT	T9	CUT	T27	T55	CUT

Win

Top 10

Did not play

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

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

Ryder Cup: 1979 (winners)
World Cup: 1978 (winners, individual winner), 1979 (winners)
Nissan Cup: 1986

References

^ "PGA Championship History – 1978: Never count a golfer out". PGA of America. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.

External links

John Mahaffey at the PGA Tour official site
John Mahaffey at the Official World Golf Ranking official site

[1] "PGA Championship History – 1978: Never count a golfer out". PGA of America. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.

[1]

v t e PGA Championship champions
Match play era	1916 Jim Barnes 1919 Jim Barnes 1920 Jock Hutchison 1921 Walter Hagen 1922 Gene Sarazen 1923 Gene Sarazen 1924 Walter Hagen 1925 Walter Hagen 1926 Walter Hagen 1927 Walter Hagen 1928 Leo Diegel 1929 Leo Diegel 1930 Tommy Armour 1931 Tom Creavy 1932 Olin Dutra 1933 Gene Sarazen 1934 Paul Runyan 1935 Johnny Revolta 1936 Denny Shute 1937 Denny Shute 1938 Paul Runyan 1939 Henry Picard 1940 Byron Nelson 1941 Vic Ghezzi 1942 Sam Snead 1944 Bob Hamilton 1945 Byron Nelson 1946 Ben Hogan 1947 Jim Ferrier 1948 Ben Hogan 1949 Sam Snead 1950 Chandler Harper 1951 Sam Snead 1952 Jim Turnesa 1953 Walter Burkemo 1954 Chick Harbert 1955 Doug Ford 1956 Jack Burke Jr. 1957 Lionel Hebert
Stroke play era	1958 Dow Finsterwald 1959 Bob Rosburg 1960 Jay Hebert 1961 Jerry Barber† 1962 Gary Player 1963 Jack Nicklaus 1964‡ Bobby Nichols 1965 Dave Marr 1966 Al Geiberger 1967 Don January† 1968 Julius Boros 1969‡ Raymond Floyd 1970 Dave Stockton 1971 Jack Nicklaus 1972 Gary Player 1973 Jack Nicklaus 1974 Lee Trevino 1975 Jack Nicklaus 1976 Dave Stockton 1977 Lanny Wadkins† 1978 John Mahaffey† 1979 David Graham† 1980 Jack Nicklaus 1981 Larry Nelson 1982‡ Raymond Floyd 1983‡ Hal Sutton 1984 Lee Trevino 1985 Hubert Green 1986 Bob Tway 1987 Larry Nelson† 1988 Jeff Sluman 1989 Payne Stewart 1990 Wayne Grady 1991 John Daly 1992 Nick Price 1993 Paul Azinger† 1994 Nick Price 1995 Steve Elkington† 1996 Mark Brooks† 1997 Davis Love III 1998 Vijay Singh 1999 Tiger Woods 2000‡ Tiger Woods† 2001 David Toms 2002 Rich Beem 2003 Shaun Micheel 2004 Vijay Singh† 2005 Phil Mickelson 2006 Tiger Woods 2007 Tiger Woods 2008 Pádraig Harrington 2009 Y. E. Yang 2010 Martin Kaymer† 2011 Keegan Bradley† 2012 Rory McIlroy 2013 Jason Dufner 2014 Rory McIlroy 2015 Jason Day 2016 Jimmy Walker 2017 Justin Thomas 2018 Brooks Koepka 2019 Brooks Koepka 2020 Collin Morikawa 2021 Phil Mickelson 2022 Justin Thomas† 2023 Brooks Koepka 2024‡ Xander Schauffele
† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire; 1943 cancelled due to World War II

Authority control databases
International	VIAF WorldCat
National	United States

Early life

Professional career

Personal life

Amateur wins

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour wins (10)

Other wins (5)

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Summary

The Players Championship

Wins (1)

Results timeline

U.S. national team appearances

See also

References

External links