PGA Tour Winner Dudley Wysong
Full name: Henry Dudley Wysong Jr.
Date of birth: May 15, 1939
Place of birth: McKinney, Texas
Date and place of death: March 29, 1998 in Plano, Texas
Wysong's Biggest Wins
Wysong won twice on the PGA Tour:- 1966 Phoenix Open Invitational
- 1967 Hawaiian Open
- 1964 Tri-State Open
- 1966 Atlanta Professional-Amateur
The Ones That Got Away
At the 1961 U.S. Amateur Championship, Wysong had a first-round bye, then beat Andrew Gard in Round 3, E. Harvie Ward in Round 3, British Walker Cup player Ronnie Shade in Round 4, R.H. Sikes in the Round of 16, and Richard Norville in the quarterfinals.In the semifinals, Wysong dispatched another Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cupper, future Hall of Famer Joe Carr, by a 2-up score. That moved Wysong into the championship match against a fellow named Jack Nicklaus.
In the final, Nicklaus held a 4-up lead after the morning 18. Then Nicklaus reeled off four consecutive wins to start the afternoon 18, going 8-up. The final margin of victory for Nicklaus was 8-and-6.
At the 1966 PGA Championship, Wysong shot 66 in the third round to move into solo second, four strokes behind leader Al Geiberger. In the final round, Wysong birdied the third hole, then Geiberger bogeyed the fourth, and Wysong was only two behind. But in the end, both wound up shooting 72, and Geiberger won by the same four strokes he led Wysong after the third round.
More About Dudley Wysong
Wysong was born in McKinney, Texas, north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and he lived there his entire life. As a child, he was influenced and encouraged by DFW-ite Byron Nelson.Wysong first played in PGA Tour events in 1958 at the Arlington Hotel Open and Dallas Open Invitational (Byron Nelson Classic), and made the cut in both as a 19-year-old amateur. He turned pro in 1963, got into 10 PGA Tour events, made the cut in all 10, and finished 33rd or higher in seven of them. The future appeared very bright.
His first career Top 10 happened in the 1964 Waco Turner Open Invitational, but Wysong followed it the next week with his first career missed cut. He added a fourth-place finish later in the year, and won the regional Tri-State Open tournament.
Wysong recorded an eighth-place finish in the 1965 U.S. Open, and nearly notched his first PGA Tour win at the Cajun Classic. But he lost in a playoff to Babe Hiskey.
The first PGA Tour win came the following year, however, at the 1966 Phoenix Open. Wysong bested runner-up Gardner Dickinson by one stroke. He also won the non-tour event called the Atlanta Profesional-Amateur in 1966, and finished a career-best 26th on the PGA Tour money list.
Wysong wrapped up the 1967 PGA Tour season with his second and, it turned out, final PGA Tour win at the Hawaiian Open, where he beat Billy Casper on the first hole of a playoff. He finished third in the 1968 Philadelphia Golf Classic, but missed cuts had begun happenening more often, too.
By 1970, Wysong was missing more cuts than he made. He lost his exempt status on tour and in 1971 got into only three tournaments, missing all three cuts. His career was pretty much over. He made only five more PGA Tour starts after that, the last being in the 1991 Phoenix Open.
For his PGA Tour career, Wysong made 180 starts. In addition to his two victories, he recorded two runner-up finishes, one third and 16 Top 10s.
After his PGA Tour career ended, Wysong became pro at McKinney Country Club in his hometown, and also served as vice president of the PGA of America. He played sporadically on the Champions Tour from 1989-94, making 49 starts without any Top 10s. He was 58 years old when he died in 1998, after suffering an aneurysm at his golf club.
