Lanny Wadkins

Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins Jr., born December 5, 1949, is an American professional golfer. Over his career, he claimed 21 PGA Tour victories, including the 1977 PGA Championship, his lone major title. From the Official World Golf Ranking’s launch in 1986 through 1988, he spent 86 weeks inside the top 10.

Wadkins grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and attended Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield County. His younger brother, Bobby, also became a professional golfer. After high school, he went to Wake Forest University on an Arnold Palmer golf scholarship and joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In 1970, he won the U.S. Amateur by one stroke over Tom Kite, when the event was still stroke play.

Turning professional in 1971, Wadkins notched his first pro win that summer at the Greater Bangor Open in Maine. His first PGA Tour victory came in October 1972 at the Sahara Invitational in Las Vegas, where he finished one stroke ahead of runner-up Palmer, his scholarship benefactor. That year, he was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He added two more wins in 1973, then saw his form dip for three years. He rebounded to capture his only major at the 1977 PGA Championship, prevailing on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff at Pebble Beach against Gene Littler—the first time sudden-death was used in a stroke-play major.

Wadkins finished runner-up in four more majors: the 1986 U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in 1982, 1984, and 1987. He placed third at the Masters three times (1990, 1991, 1993), and his best Open Championship result was fourth at St. Andrews in 1984. On the PGA Tour, he won the 1979 Tournament Players Championship and was named PGA Player of the Year in 1985. He won at least one tour event in most seasons until 1992, when he secured his 21st and final PGA Tour victory at the Canon Greater Hartford Open.

Invited to play internationally, Wadkins won the 1978 Victorian PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australia and the 1979 Bridgestone Open on the Japan Golf Tour. He was runner-up at the 1979 German Open, the 1980 Air New Zealand Shell Open, and the 1990 Austrian Open, and also won significant events in South America and Canada.

Wadkins played for the United States in the Ryder Cup eight times between 1977 and 1993, collecting 21½ points—one of the best records in the competition’s history. He captained the team in 1995 at Oak Hill Country Club.

On the Champions Tour, which he joined in 2000, he won his first event, the ACE Group Classic, in a four-way playoff. He split his time between competition and broadcasting, and did not become a regular winner at the senior level. After Ken Venturi retired in June 2002, Wadkins served as CBS Sports’ lead golf analyst for over four years, until Nick Faldo replaced him after the 2006 season. He then worked as the lead analyst for the Champions Tour on Golf Channel for 13 years, retiring in January 2025 and succeeded by Paul Azinger.

Wadkins was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009. He is married to Penelope, and they have three children: Jessica, Travis, and Tucker. Travis played on the Wake Forest golf team from 2006 to 2010, and Tucker played for the University of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. In 2011, Travis competed on the eGolf Tour and reached the final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School but did not earn a card. A nephew, Ron Whittaker, is a professional golfer on the Web.com Tour with 77 PGA Tour starts.

Amateur wins include the 1968 Southern Amateur, 1969 Eastern Amateur, and in 1970 the U.S. Amateur, Southern Amateur, and Western Amateur. His professional wins total 33, with 21 on the PGA Tour, one on the European Tour, one on the PGA of Japan Tour, one on the PGA Tour of Australasia, and nine other wins. His PGA Tour playoff record is 3–3.