"PGA Champion" Gene Littler Hand Signed 3X5 Card Todd Mueller COA

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Up for auction
"PGA Champion" Gene Littler Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
This item is authenticated by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-2016
Gene Alec Littler
(July 21, 1930 – February 15, 2019) was an American
professional golfer
and a member of the
World Golf Hall of Fame
Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth rhythmical swing, he once said that, "Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the best misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes." Littler was born in
San Diego
,
California
. He played on the 1953 United States
Walker Cup
team, and won the
U.S. Amateur
and the
California State Amateur
that same year.
In 1954, he won a
PGA Tour
event as an amateur, a rare achievement which was not to be repeated until
Doug Sanders
won the
Canadian Open
in 1956. Littler graduated from
San Diego State University
, and after that served in the
United States Navy
from 1951 to 1954. An early highlight of Littler's professional playing career was a second-place finish at the
1954 U.S. Open
. He finished one shot behind
Ed Furgol
. In 1955, he won four times on the tour, but fell into a slump in the late 1950s after tinkering with his swing. In 1959 after taking advice he received from
Paul Runyan
and adjusting his grip,
he recovered to have his best year with five PGA Tour victories. He finished second on the money list that year, which was to remain his career best. Only once from 1954 to 1979 did Littler finish out of the top 60 on the final money list. He was stricken with melanoma
cancer
found in a lymph node under his left arm in 1972,
but came back to win five more times on the PGA Tour. He ended his career with 29 PGA Tour wins, and also won two tournaments in
Japan
and one in
Australia
. One of Littler's 29 PGA Tour wins was unique. When he won the 1975
Bing Crosby National Pro-Am
, it marked the first and (so far) only time that a player won that event as a professional after having previously won the pro-amateur portion, which Littler did as a 23-year-old amateur in 1954.
Littler won one
major championship
– the
1961 U.S. Open
. He shot a 68 in the final round to overtake
Doug Sanders
. He accumulated 17 top-10 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 finish 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 five wins and three ties in 10 singles matches. Littler received the Ben Hogan Award in 1973 for a courageous comeback from injury or illness, after returning to the tour following treatment for malignant melanoma. Also in 1973, he was given the
Bob Jones Award
, the highest honor given by the
United States Golf Association
in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. In the 1980s and 1990s Littler played on the
Senior PGA Tour
, winning eight times. He was inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame
in 1990.