Robert James Stanton (born 20 January 1946) is a retired

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

from Australia. He had considerable success in the late 1960s, winning a number of tournaments in Australia and playing on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. As a 20-year-old, he won the 1966

Dunlop International The Dunlop International was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1965 to 1972. Prize money in 1965 was A£4,000, A$8,000 in 1966 in 1967, A$15,000 in 1968 and A$25,000 from 1969 to 1972. A few weeks after the conclusion ...

, beating

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

in a sudden-death playoff. He never won on the PGA Tour but was runner-up twice, in the 1969 AVCO Golf Classic and the 1970

Florida Citrus Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florida ...

. He had a brief return of form in 1974/1975 and again for a few years from 1982.

Professional career

Stanton first came to prominence in 1965. In April, he was a runner-up in the New South Wales Open, a stroke behind Colin McGregor. He bogeyed the final hole, when a par would have put him level with McGregor. In late August, he won the

City of Sydney Open The City of Sydney Open was a golf tournament played at Moore Park Golf Course in Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east c ...

, a shot ahead of Frank Phillips. The following week, he had chances in the

New South Wales PGA Championship The New South Wales PGA Championship was a professional golf tournament played in New South Wales, Australia between 1923 and 2015. History The inaugural event was held in 1923 and was won by Fred Popplewell with a score of 311. Dan Soutar had ...

, before finishing 5th behind

Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Early life Nagle was ...

. In October, he travelled to South Australia and had more success, finishing runner-up in the West End Tournament and then winning the

Adelaide Advertiser Tournament The Adelaide Advertiser Tournament was a golf event played in Adelaide, Australia between 1948 and 1967. Up to 1960 the event was played in March or April but was later played in September or October. The venue generally alternated between Royal ...

the following week. In 1966, Stanton travelled to Europe. In July, he qualified for the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

and finished tied for 27th place despite a final round 79. Later in the month, he won the German Open by 5 strokes from Ross Newdick. In late October, Stanton travelled to Florida to play in the

PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. From 2013 to 2022, Q-School granted privil ...

. He finished second, with a score of 576 for the 144-hole event, 4 strokes behind Harry Toscano and was one of 32 players to qualify for the

1967 PGA Tour The 1967 PGA Tour was the 52nd season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. Schedule The following table lists official events during the 1967 season. Unofficial events The following events were sanctioned by ...

season. Returning to Australia, he won the

, beating

at the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. In January 1967 he won the

Tasmanian Open The Tasmanian Open is an annual golf tournament held in Tasmania, Australia. History The Tasmanian amateur championship was first played in 1902 as a 36 hole stroke-play event. From 1910 the stroke-play acted as qualifying for a match-play stage ...

. Following his win in the

, Stanton received an invitation to the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

. He scored 78 and 80 and missed the cut. He had modest success in his first season on the PGA Tour, winning US$11,112. He returned to Australia in September 1967 and immediately won the

. The following month he won the

, by 9 strokes, and was runner-up behind

in the West End Tournament, while in November he won the

for the second successive year, winning by a stroke from

Bruce Devlin Bruce William Devlin (born 10 October 1937) is an Australian professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer. Early life Devlin was born in 1937 in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. His parents, Jess and Artie, moved to Gou ...

. In early January 1968, he was runner-up in the New Zealand PGA Championship, before returning to the United States. His second season in America, 1968, was more successful than the first, with winnings of US$20,550. In August, he was third in the

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

and tied for fourth in the

American Golf Classic The American Golf Classic was a tournament on the PGA Tour from 1961 to 1976 at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. It was the third event at the storied South course, after the Rubber City Open Invitational (1954–1959) and the PGA Champio ...

the following week,

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

winning both events. 1969 showed further improvement with winnings of US$32,289, helped by a solo runner-up finish in the AVCO Golf Classic, earning US$17,100. Returning to Australia in late 1969, Stanton was runner-up to

George Knudson George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM (June 28, 1937 – January 24, 1989) was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories. Early life ...

in the

Wills Masters The Wills Masters was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1963 to 1975. The Wills Classic had been held in Australia from 1960 and 1962. Total prize money from 1963 to 1965 was A£4,000. In 1966 and 1967 it was A$8,000 ...

. 1970 was to be his most successful season in America with winnings of US$56,213. In March, he finished joint runner-up in the

, winning US$13,875 and then, three weeks later, solo third in the

National Airlines Open Invitational The National Airlines Open Invitational was a professional golf tournament in south Florida on the PGA Tour. It was held in late March in Hialeah at the West Course of the Country Club of Miami in 1969, 1970, and 1971 At the time, it was among t ...

, winning a further US$14,200. At the end of May, Stanton was runner-up in the 1970 Brazil Open. Stanton had little success in 1971, 1972 or 1973, winning less than US$5,000 on the

each season. At the end of 1973, he showed a return to form, losing in a playoff for the Confidence Open, a non-tour event, winning US$5,000. He had a much better year in 1974, winning US$45,215 on the PGA Tour. His best finish was 5th in the World Open Golf Championship winning US$12,300 and he had four other top-10 finishes. He played again on the tour in 1975, winning US$29,737. His best result was to be tied for 6th in the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coas ...

. He had little success in 1976 winning just US$1,675 on the PGA Tour. Stanton retired from tournament golf in 1976 and became the golf director at the Diamond Head Yacht and Country Club in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He returned to competitive golf for a few years from late 1982 and was runner-up, a stroke behind Tom Watson, in the 1984

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

Professional wins (8)

Australian circuit wins (7)

*1965

*1966

*1967

European circuit wins (1)

*1966 German Open

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = Withdrew
"T" = tied

References