Nick Price: Player Profile
Nicholas Raymond Leige Price was born on January 28th 1957 and is a professional golfer from Zimbabwe. Also part of the World Golf Hall of fame, he turned professional in 1977 and has 48 professional wins so far. Currently, Price is playing on
the Champions Tour and resides in Florida, United States.
A citizen of Zimbabwe, Price was born in Durban, South Africa. His parents were originally English but he spent his early life in Zimbabwe. Price attended the Prince Edward School in Salisbury where he was the captain of the golf team. Passionate about the
sport since childhood, he made sure he harboured his interests from a young age.
After his schooling, Nick joined the army for some time during the country’s civil war. He started golfing professionally on the sunshine Tour and then finally moved to the European Tour and PGA Tour in 1983.
Price has won ten tournaments on the Sunshine Tour. The first time he won outside South Africa was on the 1980 Swiss Open. He was not very famous when he tied for second place with Peter Oosterhuis one shot behind Tom Watson at the 1982 Open Championship.
This was remarkable play by Price since Watson had a two shot lead with six holes to go.
The following year, Price won his first PGA Tour Event. This was an edge of the seat tournament, in which Nick defeated Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf. After winning that, it took him eight years to win another PGA Tour event. In 1986, Price won
the 1988 Open Championship to Seve Ballesteros.
In 1991, he won the GTE Byron Nelson Classic by one stroke against Craig Stadler. That year, he was triumphant at the Canadian Open where he defeated Greg Norman by two strokes. A year later, Price won his first Major Championship. He beat John Cook, Nick
Faldo, Gene Sauers, and Jim Gallagher Jr., by three strokes. In 1992, he also won the H.E.B Texas Open by beating Steve Elkington in a playoff.
1993 was yet another special year for Nick Price since he attained four PGA titles. He started the year by beating Bernhard Langer by five strokes to win the Players Championship. He won the Canon Greater Hartford Open by one stroke against the American
Roger Maltbie and Dan Forsman. In July of 1993, he won the Sprint Western Open and then the Federal Express St. Jude Classic a month later. In 1994, Price took six titles including two major championships. He won the Open Championship by one stroke against
Jesper Parnevik and the PGA Championship by 6 strokes against Corey Pavin.
Topping the money list in 1993 an 1994, setting a new earning record every time, Price was definitely one of the best golfers of the nineties. Nick also spent 43 week at number one in the Official World Rankings. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall
of Fame in 2003.
Nick was honoured with many awards during his career. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 1982 and 1983. Also, he was given the Varon Trophy in 1997 and 1993. This honour is given to the player who has the lowest adjusted scoring average. The Bob
Jones Award is the most precious award given by the USGA in recognition of exquisite sportsmanship in golf. This honour was bestowed upon Price in 2005 and really showed the world what an accomplished gentleman he is.
Ironically, this amazing player didn’t quite have a thing for Ryder Cups and did not participate in any. Even though his time on the PGA is over, he is still playing golf on the Champions Tour. He won his first Champions Tour event in 2009 by defeating Larry
Nelson in the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.
It was announced that he will be given the 2011 Old Tom Morris Award as well. This Award is given by the GCSAA to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mould the welfare of the game in a manner and
style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.”
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