Scott Simpson
Professional golfer

Scott Simpson

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Professional golfer
Gender:
Male
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Birth:
17 September 1955(San Diego, USA)
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Introduction Amateur wins Professional wins (16) Major championships Results in The Players Championship U.S. national team appearances
The details
Biography

Introduction

Scott William Simpson (born September 17, 1955) is an American professional golfer.

Simpson was born in San Diego, California, and played college golf at the University of Southern California, where he was two-time medalist at the NCAA Championshipin 1976 and 1977. He turned professional in 1977 and graduated in 1978. He played on the PGA Tour from 1979, and won seven PGA Tour events between 1980 and 1998.

The highlight of Simpson's career was the U.S. Open in 1987 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, his only major title. He birdied the 14th, 15th, and 16th holes of the final round to overtake Tom Watson by one stroke and finished with a three under par total of 277.

Simpson became eligible to play senior golf in 2005 and won his first and only Champions Tour title in 2006.

In team competition, Simpson played for the United States in the Walker Cup in 1977 and the Ryder Cup in 1987. He lists bible study among his interests and attributes his success to it.He and his wife Cheryl have two children: Brea Yoshiko and Sean.

Simpson was previously a Democrat (during Bill Clinton's presidency he was the only PGA Tour player vocally to support him), but became a Republican later on and supported George W. Bush.

Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

  • 1976 NCAA Division I Championship, Porter Cup
  • 1977 NCAA Division I Championship

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour wins (7)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Jul 6, 1980 Western Open 70-69-70-72=281 −7 5 strokes Andy Bean
2 Jun 10, 1984 Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic 66-68-70-65=269 −15 5 strokes David Graham, Jay Haas,
Mark O'Meara
3 Apr 5, 1987 Greater Greensboro Open 70-73-69-70=282 −6 2 strokes Clarence Rose
4 Jun 21, 1987 U.S. Open 71-68-70-68=277 −3 1 stroke Tom Watson
5 May 28, 1989 BellSouth Atlanta Golf Classic 72-68-71-67=278 −10 Playoff Bob Tway
6 May 16, 1993 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic 65-66-68-71=270 −10 1 stroke Billy Mayfair, Corey Pavin,
D. A. Weibring
7 Feb 8, 1998 Buick Invitational 69-71-64=204 −12 Playoff Skip Kendall

PGA Tour playoff record (2–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1983 Kemper Open Chen Tze-chung, Fred Couples
Barry Jaeckel, Gil Morgan
Couples won with birdie on second extra hole
Jaeckel eliminated with par on first hole
2 1989 BellSouth Atlanta Golf Classic Bob Tway Won with par on first extra hole
3 1991 U.S. Open Payne Stewart Lost 18-hole playoff;
Stewart: +3 (75),
Simpson: +5 (77)
4 1994 Southwestern Bell Colonial Nick Price Lost to birdie on first extra hole
5 1998 Buick Invitational Skip Kendall Won with birdie on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Apr 29, 1984 Chunichi Crowns 68-73-67-67=275 −5 Playoff Isao Aoki
2 Nov 18, 1984 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament 71-71-72-68=282 −6 Playoff Bernhard Langer
3 May 1, 1988 The Crowns 71-69-71-67=278 −2 3 strokes David Ishii, Masashi Ozaki

Other wins (5)

  • 1979 Hawaii State Open
  • 1981 Hawaii State Open
  • 1990 Perrier Invitational (Europe, not a European Tour event)
  • 1993 Hawaii State Open
  • 1994 Hawaii State Open

Champions Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 Sep 3, 2006 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach 67-69-68=204 −12 1 stroke David Edwards, Jay Haas

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
1987 U.S. Open 1 shot deficit −3 (71-68-70-68=277) 1 stroke Tom Watson

Results timeline

Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament CUT 11 40 T41 T25 T27 CUT T38
U.S. Open T45 T23 T15 T13 T25 T15 CUT 1 T6 T6
The Open Championship T65 T62 T26
PGA Championship T30 CUT T32 T9 T6 T12 T41 T47 CUT T53
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Masters Tournament T7 T22 T13 T11 T27 T29 CUT
U.S. Open T14 2 T64 T46 T55 T28 T40 CUT 58
The Open Championship T39 T57 T9 CUT CUT T33
PGA Championship T66 CUT T6 CUT T54 CUT CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 1 6 15 12
U.S. Open 1 1 0 2 4 10 19 17
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 9 7
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 3 4 17 11
Totals 1 1 0 2 9 21 60 47
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 12 (1982 U.S. Open – 1986 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1993 Open Championship – 1993 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
The Players Championship CUT T51 CUT T2 T61 T33 T33 CUT T4 CUT CUT CUT T17 CUT CUT T11 CUT CUT CUT CUT T63
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

  • Walker Cup: 1977 (winners)

Professional

  • Ryder Cup: 1987
  • Kirin Cup: 1987 (winners)