The University of Mississippi Athletics
Former Rebel Golf Great Dr. Cary Middlecoff Passes Away Tuesday
6/21/1999 | Men's Golf
September 2, 1998
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Cary Middlecoff, a two-time U.S. Open champion and winner of the 1955 Masters, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 77.
A former dentist, Middlecoff won 40 professional golf tournaments and is tied for seventh on the PGA's career victory list.
When back surgery forced Middlecoff to retire from competitive golf in 1963, he had about $290,000 in career earnings and was among the sport's leading career money winners.
"Now they make that much in a week," Middlecoff once told reporters.
He won the U.S. Open in 1949 and 1956.
"He's the greatest player we've ever had and his record bears that out," Dick Horton, executive director of the Tennessee Golf Association, told The Commercial Appeal of Memphis. "In these modern times with so much parity, I don't think anybody could ever equal the record he had."
Middlecoff considered his 1956 U.S. Open title at Rochester, N.Y., as "probably my greatest accomplishment in golf." But he had no greater appreciation for a site than Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters, where he also was a two-time runner-up. "I still love the place," Middlecoff said in 1994. "I dearly loved playing there."
Middlecoff had been in poor health for several years. A fall at his home in 1993 resulted in a severe head injury. He had not played golf, even casually, since the early 1990s.
After more than 15 years as a touring pro and another 10 years as a television commentator, Middlecoff preferred privacy.
"Even if I could play real well now, I wouldn't play the Senior (PGA) Tour," he said in 1994. "I'm just traveled out."
"He was a long, straight driver and long-iron player and a great putter," recalled Tommy Bolt, 82, who played on the tour with Middlecoff.
Born in Halls, Middlecoff attended high school at Memphis Central and Christian Brothers and was an all-America golfer at the University of Mississippi.
Inducted in 1992, Middlecoff is a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame. He won the Tennessee Amateur four straight years, starting in 1940.
On the PGA Tour, he was the leading money winner for the decade of the 1950s. He won the Vardon Trophy in 1956 for the lowest average score on tour. In 1986 he was inducted into the PGA World Golf Hall of Fame.
Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in Crittenden Memorial Park in Marion, Ark.
Middlecoff, who died at Allen Morgan Health Center, leaves no immediate survivors.
