Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange was one of the top golfers of the mid- to late 1980s, but one whose wins stopped at an early age.

Date of birth: Jan. 30, 1955
Place of birth: Norfolk, Va.

• PGA Tour: 17

2
• U.S. Open: 1988, 1989

• Member, World Golf Hall of Fame
• PGA Player of the Year, 1988
• PGA Tour money leader, 1985, 1987, 1988
• 5-time member, U.S. Ryder Cup team
• Captain, U.S. Ryder Cup team, 2002
• Member, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame

• Curtis Strange: "Bad shots should cause you all sorts of pain."

• Jay Haas was a college teammate of Curtis Strange at Wake Forest University. Strange won the NCAA Championship in 1974 and Haas won it in 1975.

• At the 1987 Dunhill Cup, Curtis Strange set the course record at The Old Course at St. Andrews, shooting 62.

• Strange has an identical twin, Allen, who also played on the PGA Tour.

Curtis Strange's career bears a resemblance to that of Tony Jacklin's. Like Jacklin, Strange was briefly one of the best players and biggest stars in the world of golf. And like Jacklin, Strange suddenly stopped winning. But during the period he was at his best, Strange was surely one of the greatest of the 1980s.

Strange's father owned White Sands Country Club in Virginia Beach, Va., and Strange began golfing at an early age. At age 15, Strange won the Virginia Junior Championship, and later earned the Arnold Palmer Scholarship to play golf at Wake Forest University.

At Wake Forest, Strange was part of what some consider the best U.S. collegiate golf team ever. With teammate Jay Haas, among others, Strange led Wake Forest to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1974 and 1975. Strange won the individual collegiate crown in 1974, when he also won the World Amateur Cup.

Strange turned pro in 1976 and won his first Tour event at the 1979 Pensacola Open. He won three times and his first PGA Tour money title in 1985; he repeated in both areas in 1987.

In 1988, Strange won four tournaments, including the U.S. Open, and became the first golfer to crack the $1 million mark for single-season earnings. In 1989, at age 34, he won his second U.S. Open. Strange's first U.S. Open win came via an 18-hole playoff defeat of Nick Faldo.

He never won again on the PGA Tour. By the mid-1990s, Strange was playing less and less on Tour. He eventually left the Tour to become lead analyst on ABC's golf broadcast team. Strange held that position for several years before departing ABC in 2004. In 2005, he began his first season on the Champions Tour.

Strange was known as an intense competitor, someone who could be brusque to fans and media. Several times early in his career, he skipped the British Open, a decision he has called his biggest regret in golf.

Strange was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.