The Slowest PGA Tour Player Ever?
Who was the slowest PGA Tour player ever? One candidate for that title is that it was Cary Middlecoff (called "Doc" Middlecoff by his peers because he was a dentist). The "My Shot" interview in the May issue of Golf Digest is with Doug Ford, a two-time major champion. Ford tells this story about Middlecoff:
"To win the 1955 PGA Championship, I had to beat Doc Middlecoff in the 36-hole final, and the secret to my winning was a chair. Doc was as slow a player as ever walked this Earth, and I had my son carry a chair for me to sit in when it was Doc's turn to play. That chair saved my legs. Playing the 14th hole, I was 2-up with five to play and was closer in two than Doc was in three. When we got to the green Doc lit a cigarette, and he didn't putt until the whole cigarette was gone. The gallery really got on him, but you couldn't rush Doc. I didn't care. I just sat in that chair. I won the hole and eventually closed him out, 4 and 3."
It's your turn to play, you light a cigarette and don't play until the cigarette is gone. Yep, that's pretty slow, all right. (And this wasn't the first time a golfer matched with Middlecoff brought along a chair.)
Middlecoff was a great golfer, however, one of only nine in history with 40 or more wins on the PGA Tour.