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Charles Coe

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For the English Unitarian minister and writer, see Charles Clement Coe.

Charles Coe
Personal information
Full nameCharles Robert Coe
NicknameBucket
Born(1923-10-26)October 26, 1923
Ardmore, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedMay 16, 2001(2001-05-16) (aged 77)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Weight135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)[1]
Sporting nationality United States
SpouseElizabeth Coe (m. 1948–2001)
ChildrenCharles, Jr., Ross, Ward
Career
CollegeUniversity of Oklahoma
StatusAmateur
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT2: 1961
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenT13: 1958
The Open ChampionshipDNP
Achievements and awards
Bob Jones Award1964

Charles Robert Coe (October 26, 1923 – May 16, 2001) was an American amateur golfer who is considered by many to be one of the greatest American amateurs in history.[2][3] A two-time U.S. Amateur winner, Coe never turned professional either because, as he stated in 1998, "When I was growing up, golf was a gentleman's game,"[4] or because his wife said, "if I thought I was going to raise three children out of a suitcase, I was crazy".[5] He had a successful career in the oil business.

Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma,[1] Coe served as a pilot during World War II,[6] and later attended the University of Oklahoma from 1946 to 1948. He won the Big Seven Conference championship all three years.[7] He was a member of the Gamma Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi.

Coe won the U.S. Amateur in 1949, beating Rufus King 11 & 10 in the finals, and won it again in 1958 with a 5 & 4 victory over Tommy Aaron. He finished runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1959 tournament. Coe won the Western Amateur in 1950, and made the finals of the British Amateur in 1951, losing to Dick Chapman. He won four Trans-Mississippi Amateurs, in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1956. He played on six Walker Cup teams from 1949 to 1963, including as playing captain on the 1959 team, and was non-playing captain on a seventh team in 1957.

Coe made 19 Masters Tournament appearances and owns almost every Masters amateur record, including most cuts made (15); top-25 finishes (9); top-10 finishes (3); eagles (6), rounds played (67) and most times low amateur (6).[4][8] Coe won low amateur honors at Augusta in four consecutive decades: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He also holds the amateur records for best finish (2nd in 1961), lowest third round score (67 in 1959), and lowest 72-hole score (281 in 1961).[9] In 1961, Coe rallied in the final round from six shots down to finish one stroke behind Gary Player.

In 1964, Coe received the Bob Jones Award, given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Coe was posthumously named an honoree at the 2006 Memorial Tournament. When he died, the Rocky Mountain News quoted a Castle Pines golf club member saying, "Charlie Coe was an amateur at everything except life."

The Charlie Coe Golf Center at the University of Oklahoma is named in his honor. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. Coe died in his sleep on May 16, 2001, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[10]

Amateur wins (7)

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this list is probably incomplete

Major championships

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Amateur wins (2)

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Year Championship Winning Score Runner-up
1949 U.S. Amateur 11 & 10 United States Rufus King
1958 U.S. Amateur 5 & 4 United States Tommy Aaron

Results timeline

[edit]
Tournament 1947 1948 1949
Masters Tournament T16 LA
U.S. Open
U.S. Amateur R128 SF 1
British Amateur
Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
Masters Tournament T32 T12 LA T46 T16 T20 T32 DQ T23 6 LA
U.S. Open T13 LA T38
U.S. Amateur R32 QF R16 R64 R256 R256 R16 R32 1 2
British Amateur 2 R64
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Masters Tournament T39 T2 LA T9 LA T37 CUT CUT T50
U.S. Open
U.S. Amateur R64 R64 R256 SF – – – – –
British Amateur
Tournament 1970 1971
Masters Tournament T23 LA CUT
U.S. Open

Note: Coe never played in The Open Championship nor the PGA Championship.

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = Low amateur
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Source for The Masters: www.masters.com

Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database

Source for 1959 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1959, pg. 9.

U.S. national team appearances

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Amateur

References

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  1. ^ a b c Elliott, Len; Kelly, Barbara (1976). Who's Who in Golf. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. p. 38. ISBN 0-87000-225-2.
  2. ^ King, Phillip (May 24, 2006). "Captains Club selects six honorees for '06 tournament". Suburban News Publications. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006.
  3. ^ "Amateur golfer Charlie Coe dies at 77". newsok.com. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Charlie Coe, 77, Amateur Golf Champion". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 19, 2001.
  5. ^ John O'Keefe (April 19, 1999). "Charlie Coe, Amateur Golfer Extraordinaire September 14 1959". Sports Illustrated.
  6. ^ Coe, Charles R. Obituary
  7. ^ "Former U.S. Amateur champ Coe dies at 77". CNN. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011.
  8. ^ SoonerSports.com. Coe Golf Center Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. University of Oklahoma. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  9. ^ "Masters Golf Tournament Records". Archived from the original on October 22, 2006.
  10. ^ Amateur golfer Charlie Coe dies at 77
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