Miller Westford Barber Jr. (March 31, 1931 – June 11, 2013) was an American professional golfer. He enjoyed significant success 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 ...

in the 1960s and 1970s, and a greater degree of success on the Senior PGA Tour in the 1980s.

Early life

Barber was born in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. He spent much of his life in Texarkana, Texas. Barber graduated from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

in 1954.

Professional career

In 1958, he turned professional. He won his first PGA Tour event in 1964. He earned 11 career tour wins, but did not win a major championship. The closest he came was in 1969 at the U.S. Open at Houston, where he held a three-shot lead over the field after three rounds, but shot 78 in the last round to finish three shots behind winner Orville Moody. Earlier in April 1969, Barber entered the final round of 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 ...

two shots out of the lead and was paired in Sunday's final group with Billy Casper but shot a final round 74 (which included a birdie from under a tree on the 72nd hole) and finished in 7th place. He played on the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

team in 1969 and 1971, and in the latter year was ranked sixth on the McCormack rankings. In 1973, Barber won the longest regulation tournament in PGA Tour history. The World Open Golf Championship played at Pinehurst Country Club was a 144-hole affair. Barber won by three strokes over Ben Crenshaw. Barber became eligible to play on the Senior PGA Tour around a year after it was founded. He was one of the dominant players on the tour throughout the 1980s, competing on even terms with players who had had much more distinguished earlier careers, such as

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

and

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 ...

. His 24 wins on the tour included five senior majors, three of them U.S. Senior Opens. Barber holds the record for combined PGA Tour and Champions Tour starts at 1,297. Barber played with an unusual looped backswing/downswing, but squared up very consistently through impact. Several other PGA Tour players, including Jim Furyk, have had success with similar methods.

Death

Barber died June 11, 2013, at the age of 82 of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

. Barber was survived by his wife of 43 years, Karen, and sons Larry and Richard and stepsons Casey, Doug, Brad.

Professional wins (43)

PGA Tour wins (11)

''*Note: The 1969 Kaiser International Open Invitational was shortened to 36 holes due to weather.'' PGA Tour playoff record (3–4)

Other wins (1)

*1962 Metropolitan Open

Senior PGA Tour wins (24)

''*Note: The 1982 Hilton Head Seniors International was shortened to 36 holes due to inclement weather.'' Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

Japan Senior wins (2)

*1985 Coca-Cola Grandslam Championship *1991 Fuji Electric Grandslam Championship

Other senior wins (5)

*1982 Vintage Invitational *1985

Shootout at Jeremy Ranch The Uniting Fore Care Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from 1982 to 2002. It was played in Park City, Utah, at the Jeremy Ranch Golf Club (1982–1992) and the Park Meadows Golf Club (1993–2002). It was played at stroke play ea ...

(with Ben Crenshaw) *1987 Mazda Champions (with

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 LPGA Tour, 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three women's major golf championships, major championships. ...

) *2002

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf The Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. From 2014 to 2019, it was played at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri, on the par-3 Top of the Rock course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and the ...

- Demaret Division (with Jim Ferree) *2003

- Demaret Division (with Jim Ferree)

Results in major championships

DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1970 and 1974 Open Championships)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 12 (1966 U.S. Open – 1970 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 5 (1968 PGA – 1969 PGA)

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (5)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional *

: 1969 (tie, cup retained),

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

(winners)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Miller American male golfers Arkansas Razorbacks men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of senior major golf championships Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Shreveport, Louisiana Sportspeople from Texarkana, Texas Deaths from lymphoma in the United States Deaths from cancer in Arizona 1931 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen