R.H. Sikes: Golfer Won on PGA Tour in 1960s
Full name: Richard Horace Sikes
Date of birth: March 6, 1940
Place of birth: Paris, Arkansas
Date and place of death: November 2, 2023, in Springdale, Arkansas
Also known as: He went by "R.H." or "Dick Sikes" ("Dick" was commonly used as a nickname througout his career), and was sometimes referred to in print as Richard Sikes or Richard H. Sikes.
His Biggest Wins
R.H. Sikes won two official titles on the PGA Tour: His pro victories off the tour included the 1962 Arizona Open (playing as an amateur), and the 1981 Southern California PGA Championship.Before turning pro, his biggest victories as an amateur were these:
- 1961 U.S. Amateur Public Links
- 1062 U.S. Amateur Public Links
- 1963 NCAA men's individual championship
In the Majors
Sikes never won a major and had no Top 10 finishes in any of the four professional major championships. His best showings in majors were a 12th-place finish in the 1966 British Open, and a tie for 13th place in the 1965 PGA Championship. Sikes made 17 starts in majors, first (as an amateur) in the 1962 Masters, last in the 1971 PGA Championship.
More About R.H. Sikes
When R.H. "Dick" Sikes won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship — a USGA national championship — back-to-back in 1961 and 1962, he garnered a lot of publicity. Why? He carried his own golf bag, rather than using a caddie, both years.Those victories also made Sikes one of just four golfers to win the "Publinx" in consecutive years. He was the second golfer to accomplish that feat in the tournament, which is no longer played today. In the 1961 Publinx Sikes also earned medalist honors in the stroke-play qualifying.
Sikes reached the Round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur in both 1961 and 1962, won the Arizona Open in 1962, and played for the winning Team USA in the 1962 Eisenhower Trophy.
Playing for the University of Arkansas, Sikes got into the 1963 men's NCAA Championship Tournament as an individual. He started the week as medalist in the 36-hole stroke play qualifying, then ran through the match-play bracket to the victory — becoming Arkansas' first NCAA national champion in any sport. In the title match against John Lotz of San Jose State, Sikes went 3-up with a hole-in-one on the 29th hole of the match. But he gave that lead back and went 1-down before winning the 36th hole to square the match. Sikes won it 1-up on the 37th hole.
One could argue that 1963 turned out to be the best year of his career, as he then finished runner-up in the U.S. Amateur and played for Team USA in the Walker Cup.
In the 1963 U.S. Amateur, Sikes made it all the way to the championship match before falling to Deane Beman. Sikes beat another future PGA Tour winner, Dick Lotz, 1-up in third round, and bested 2-time U.S. Amateur winner Charlie Coe in the semifinals, 2 and 1. He lost to Beman, 2 and 1, in the final.
In its coverage of that U.S. Amateur, the Associated Press referred to Sikes as a "fantastic putting machine." He often saved himself with a great short game and great putting. While still an amateur he already had a national reputation as one of the game's best putters. Sikes' style of reading putts often drew comment. He sometimes got down on his hands and knees, one leg extended behind him to get closer to the ground, to read putts.
(Sikes was not a great tee-to-green player, though, so he needed that short game. In his later years Sikes liked telling a story about asking Ben Hogan for tips during a conversation at the 1966 Colonial Invitation. Sikes said he told Hogan, "I'm having trouble hitting my 6-iron," to which Hogan replied, "R.H., you can't hit any of your clubs.")
Sikes played the British Amateur in 1963 and made it to the quarterfinals. And he was on Team USA in the 1963 Walker Cup, going 1-2. The victory was in a foursomes matches. In his one singles match, Sikes lost to Joe Carr, 7 and 5.
Sikes turned pro in 1964, and his first PGA Tour event as a pro was the Cleveland Open. Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns football team, watched him, liked him, and became a sponsor.
Sikes' first PGA Tour win happened during that rookie season at the Sahara Invitational. He started with a first-round 62 and ended winning by two strokes over a trio of runners-up that included Jack Nicklaus. Sikes also finished second at the 1964 Mountain View Open, and 23rd on the season-ending money list. Golf Digest picked Sikes as rookie of they year and also named him golf's "Putter of the Year."
Sikes finished a career-best eighth on the PGA Tour money list for the 1966 season, which turned out to be the only time he finished higher than the 23rd of his rookie season. He earned his second victory that year, winning by three over runner-up Bob Goalby in the Cleveland Open. Sikes also had a pair of second-place finishes in 1966, to Billy Casper in the 500 Festival Open Invitation, and to Bruce Devlin in the Colonial.
Alas, Sikes never won again on the PGA Tour. He did have a couple more chances. He was second to Julius Boros in the 1967 Buick Open. And Sikes got into a 4-way playoff in the 1969 IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic that was won by Dave Hill.
He finished in the Top 60 of money winners (the cutoff at that time for avoiding Monday qualifying) each year from 1964-70. But Sikes quickly faded after that — surprisingly, initially because his putting touch temporarily left him. Then he started messing with his swing, which made things worse. By 1973, Sikes got into only seven PGA Tour tournaments. But he continued playing through much of the 1970s, got back into some tour events in the early and mid-80s, and made his last PGA Tour start in 1990.
According to PGA Tour statistics, R.H. Sikes made 281 career starts on the tour. In addition to his two wins, he was runner-up six times, third-place three times, had 17 total Top 5 finishes and 43 total Top 10 finishes.
Sikes never had membership on the Champions Tour, but did make 16 total starts in the first few years of the 1990s. He had no Top 10 finishes.
Late in his life (he died in 2023 at age 83), Sikes told a journalist that he hadn't hit a golf ball since 1993.
Sikes came from a large family and had three brothers who also became golf pros. He was not related, though, to Dan Sikes, another amateur star and PGA Tour winner whose career overlapped with R.H.'s.
R.H. Sikes today is a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame, Southwest Conference Hall of Fame, and the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor.
Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Alliss, Peter. The Who's Who of Golf, 1983, Orbis Publishing.
Alvarez, Al. "Sikes Wins NCAA Golf Crown 1-Up," Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, June 23, 1963.
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf, Volume 3, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Elliott, Len, and Kelly, Barbara. Who's Who in Golf, 1976, Arlington House Publishers.
Hall, Grant. "Sikes, national champ at UA, dies at 83," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 3, 2023, https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2023/nov/03/sikes-national-champ-at-ua-dies-at-83/?sports.
King, Harry. "NCAA golf champ Sikes credits brother," Fort Smith (Ark.) Times Record, August 25, 2016, https://www.swtimes.com/story/sports/columns/2016/08/25/ncaa-golf-champ-sikes-credits/25588997007/.
NCAA. Division I Men's Golf Championships Record Book (.pdf), http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/golf_champs_records/2019/D1Men.pdf.
New York Daily News. "Beman, Sikes Clout Way to Final in Amateur Golf," Associated Press, September 14, 1963.
PGATour.com. Players, R.H. Sikes, https://www.pgatour.com/player/02093/r.h-sikes/career.
PGA Tournament Players Division. The Tour Book 1971, Player Profiles, R.H. "Dick" Sikes.
Steel, Donald, and Ryde, Peter. The Encyclopedia of Golf, 1975, The Viking Press.
United States Golf Association. Official USGA Record Book, 1895-1990, Triumph Books, 1992.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Amateur Public Links Records, USGA.org, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/media/online-media-center/usga-records/u-s--amateur-public-links-records.html.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Amateur Public Links Results, USGA.org, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/media/online-media-center/usga-records/u-s--amateur-public-links-results--1922-to-2014.html.
University of Arkansas. "Razorbacks Mourn Loss of NCAA Golf Champion R.H. Sikes," November 3, 2023, https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/razorbacks-mourn-loss-of-ncaa-golf-champion-r-h-sikes/.
