| About Dave Stockton |
| Amateur Career | Professional Career | Instructor and Ambassador | Photos | ||||
|
Born and raised in San Bernardino, California, Dave Stockton attended the University of Southern California, where he won the PAC-10 individual title and was named an All-American, following in the footsteps of his father Gail, who also earned those honors as a USC Trojan in the 1930s.
Dave graduated in 1964 with a degree in General Management and Finance and married California beauty queen Catherine Hales, and they began a nearly-50 year life on the PGA and Champions tours. In his 3rd year on the PGA Tour, Dave won his first professional Tour event, the Colonial National Invitation, in 1967.
He followed that victory with victories in Cleveland and Milwaukee in 1968, and won his first major championship in 1970, the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. Dave would go on to win 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including a second major at the 1976 PGA Championship at Congressional. After turning 50 in 1991, Dave built one of the most successful Champions Tour records in history, winning 14 times including three major championships, the 1992 and 1994 Senior Players Championships and the 1996 U.S. Senior Open. Dave was Player of the Year and leading money winner on the Champions Tour in 1993 and 1994. In 1996, the Stockton family made competitive history when Dave and sons Dave Jr. and Ron became the first to play in all three PGA Tours on the same weekend, Dave on the Champions Tour, Dave Jr. on the PGA Tour and Ron on the Nationwide Tour. Some of Dave's most outstanding achievements have come in team play: He was a member of four victorious U.S. Ryder Cup teams as a player in 1971 and 1977, as Captain at Kiawah Island in 1991 and as Assistant Captain to Paul Azinger at Valhalla in 2008. Dave has been a headliner at thousands of corporate outings, clinics and charity functions over the last 40 years, including the Medal of Honor Golf Classic, the Stater Brothers Charities Dave Stockton Heroes Challenge, the Dave Stockton Coyote Golf Classic and the Bighorn Institute Golf Classic among many others.
He was named to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005, and to the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2009, Dave changed his focus to teaching putting and short game, creating Stockton Golf with his sons. Together, they have worked with dozens of players on all the major world tours. Players the Stocktons have taught won 29 times around the world in 2010, and won three major championships in the span of a month in the summer of 2011, Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open and Yani Tseng at the U.S. Women's Open and Women's British Open. Notable clients past and present include: Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Nick Watney, J.B. Holmes, Massy Kuramoto, Matt Kuchar, Sean O'Hair, Martin Laird, Morgan Pressel, Yani Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie, and Brittany Lang among others. In a recent collaborative effort with his sons, Dave will release Unconscious Putting on September 15, 2011. Published by Gotham, the book is expected to be his most successful yet and is on sale wherever books are sold. |
|||||||
