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Gene Alec Littler (born July 21, 1930) is an American golfer. He was born in San Diego, California. A graduate of San Diego State University, he was one of the first of a new breed of college-educated golfers who turned professional after graduation. Littler had a solid temperament and was nicknamed "Gene the Machine" on account of his smooth rhythmical swing. He believed that, "Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the most misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes."

Contents 1 Career outline 2 PGA Tour wins (29) 3 Champions Tour wins (89) 4 Other senior wins 5 Results in major championships 6 See also 7 External link

Littler played in the 1953 United States Walker Cup team, and won the U.S. Amateur Championship in the same year. In 1954 he won a PGA Tour event as an amateur, an achievement which was not to be repeated until Scott Verplank won the Western Open in 1985. He also finished runner up at the 1954 U.S. Open. Littler turned professional later in 1954. In 1955 he won four times on the Tour, but by 1958 he was in a slump. After taking advice from Paul Runyon he recovered in 1959 to have his winningmost year with five PGA Tour victories. He finished second on the money list that year, which was to remain his best career placing. He was stricken with cancer of the lymph system in 1972, but came back to win five more times on the PGA Tour. He won 29 times on the PGA Tour in total and he also won two tournaments in Japan and one in Australia.

Littler's only major championship title was the 1961 U.S. Open. He shot a 68 in the final round to overtake Doug Sanders. He accumulated seventeen top ten finishes in the three U.S. based majors: seven at The Masters Tournament, five at the PGA Championship, and five at the U.S. Open. In addition to his U.S. Open victory he had one second place in each of the three U.S. majors, losing playoffs to Billy Casper at the 1970 Masters and to Lanny Wadkins at the 1977 PGA Championship. The latter was the first ever sudden death playoff in a major. He was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup teams of 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1975 and had a 14-5-8 win/loss/tie record including 5 wins and 3 ties in 10 singles matches.

In the 1980s and 1990s Littler played on the Senior PGA Tour, winning eight times. In 1973, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.

• 1954 (1) San Diego Open (as an amateur)
• 1955 (4) Los Angeles Open, Phoenix Open, Tournament of Champions, Labatt Open
• 1956 (3) Texas Open Invitational, Tournament of Champions, Palm Beach Round Robin
• 1957 (1) Tournament of Champions
• 1959 (5) Phoenix Open Invitational, Tucson Open Invitational, Arlington Hotel Open, Insurance City Open Invitational, Miller Open Invitational
• 1960 (2) Oklahoma City Open Invitational, Eastern Open Invitational
• 1961 (1) U.S. Open
• 1962 (2) Lucky International Open, Thunderbird Classic Invitational
• 1965 (1) Canadian Open
• 1969 (2) Phoenix Open Invitational, Greater Greensboro Open
• 1971 (2) Monsanto Open Invitational, Colonial National Invitation
• 1973 (1) St. Louis Children's Hospital
• 1975 (3) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, Westchester Classic
• 1977 (1) Houston Open

Major championship is shown in bold.

• 1983 Daytona Beach Seniors Golf Classic, Greater Syracuse Classic
• 1984 Senior Seiko/Tucson Match Play Championship
• 1986 Sunwest Bank Classic, Bank One Senior Golf Classic
• 1987 NYNEX/Golf Digest Commemorative, Gus Machado Classic
• 1989 Aetna Challenge

• 1981 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Bob Rosburg)
• 1985 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Don January)
• 1986 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Don January)

Tournament	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
The Masters	T22	T22	T12	CUT	42	T8
U.S. Open	2	15	T34	T32	4	T11
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T33	DNP	T10

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
The Masters	CUT	T15	4	T24	T13	T6	T44	T26	T43	T8
U.S. Open	CUT	1	T8	T21	T11	T8	T48	CUT	DNP	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T18	T5	T23	T34	T33	T28	T3	T7	T30	T48

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
The Masters	2	T4	DNP	T17	T39	T22	T12	T8	T24	T10
U.S. Open	T12	T37	DNP	T18	CUT	T49	T50	DNP	T35	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T18	CUT	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T4	T75	DNP	CUT	T28	T7	T22	2	CUT	T16

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983
The Masters	49	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T38	DNP	T22	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	T49	CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

• Profile on the PGA Tour's official site