Curtis Strange

Lore & Background

Strange and his identical twin brother, Allan, were born in Norfolk, Virginia. His father, a local country club owner, started him in golf at age 7. Strange was a natural left-hander but learned to play golf as a right-hander. He graduated from Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach in 1973. He enrolled at Wake Forest University, played for the Demon Deacons, and was part of the NCAA Championship team with Jay Haas and Bob Byman. In 1974 he won the Haskins Award. He turned professional in 1976 but initially failed to qualify for the PGA Tour, missing by a shot after bogeying the final three holes of qualifying school. He later became one of the leading players on the PGA Tour in the 1980s, topping the money list in 1985, 1987, and 1988, and becoming the first to win a million dollars in official money in a season. His two majors were consecutive U.S. Opens in 1988 and 1989. He played on five Ryder Cup teams and captained the team in 2002.

In Their Own Story

The August sun hung low over the 18th green at Augusta, the shadows of the pines stretching long across the putting surface. Curtis Strange stood over a twelve-foot putt, his flat, almost horizontal stroke already in motion before the ball even left the putter face. The ball rolled true, kissed the edge of the cup, and dropped. He did not celebrate. He simply nodded, looked at his caddie, and walked toward the clubhouse where the green jacket waited. Around him, the gallery exhaled in a single, collective breath. The Masters was his. And somewhere in the backstretch of memory, the sound of a chip landing softly on the Oakmont green in 1988 still echoed, a ghost of the man who had made the impossible look like a routine Tuesday.

Reader's Guide

Curtis Strange won 17 PGA Tour events, including two major championships (the 1988 and 1989 U.S. Opens). He also won one event on the Japan Golf Tour (the 1986 ABC Japan-U.S. Match) and three events on the PGA Tour of Australasia. His amateur wins include the 1974 Western Amateur, North and South Amateur, and NCAA Division I Championship, and the 1975 North and South Amateur and Eastern Amateur. He was elected to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

Did You Know?

• Strange was a natural left-hander but learned to play golf as a right-hander.
• He missed qualifying for the PGA Tour by one shot in 1976 after bogeying the final three holes.
• Since World War II, only three golfers have successfully defended their titles at the U.S. Open: Brooks Koepka in 2018, Strange in 1989, and Ben Hogan in 1951.
• Strange was the first golfer to win a million dollars in official money in a season (1988).