Stuart Appleby

For other people with the same name, see Stewart Appleby.

Stuart Appleby
Appleby at the 2005 PGA Championship
Personal information
Born (1971-05-01) 1 May 1971 (age 53)
Cohuna, Victoria, Australia
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight195 lb (88 kg; 13.9 st)
Sporting nationality Australia
ResidenceOrlando, Florida, U.S.
Spouse
  • Renay White
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1995; died 1998)​
    [1]
  • Ashley Saleet
    ​
    (m. 2002)​
Children4
Career
Turned professional1992
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Professional wins20
Highest ranking8 (21 March 2004)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour9
PGA Tour of Australasia3
Korn Ferry Tour2
Other6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT7: 2007
PGA ChampionshipT4: 2000
U.S. OpenT10: 1998
The Open ChampionshipT2: 2002
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour
Comeback Player of the Year		2010

Stuart Appleby (born 1 May 1971) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour.

Early life

Appleby was born in Cohuna, Victoria, and grew up on a nearby dairy farm. He began in golf by hitting balls from paddock to paddock after his farm chores were completed. As a youth, he played Australian rules football.[3]

Professional career

Early career

Appleby turned professional in 1992 and began his career on the PGA Tour of Australasia. In 1995 he won twice on the Nike Tour (now known as the Web.com Tour), the second tier men's tour in the U.S. He was the eighth player to win his first Web.com Tour start. He qualified to compete on the PGA Tour the following year by finishing the season fifth on the money list.[3]

PGA Tour

Appleby at the 2010 PGA Championship

Appleby has won nine times on the PGA Tour. He was a member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup five times, and featured in the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2004.[4] His best performance in a major championship came in 2002, where he lost in a four-way playoff to Ernie Els at The Open Championship.[5]

In 2010, during the final round of the inaugural Greenbrier Classic, Appleby became the fifth player in history to shoot a 59 in an official PGA Tour event,[6] and won the PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year award.[7] Appleby was limited to seven starts before back surgery in March 2015. He made a start on the Web.com Tour for the first time in twenty years at the Nova Scotia Open, where he finished T36. Qualified for a medical extension, Appleby was allowed entry into the Web.com Tour Finals, but did not make a cut and played the 2016 season on a major medical extension. He burned through his medical extension and finished 143rd in the FedEx Cup. He tried to regain his Tour card through the Web.com Finals, but did not finish high enough when Hurricane Matthew threatened Florida and the final tournament was cancelled, leaving the top 25 players with their cards, and Appleby finished 31st, leaving him with limited status for the 2017 season. He finished 192nd in the FedEx Cup, limiting him to the Past Champions category for 2018.

Personal life

Appleby's first wife Renay was struck and killed by a taxicab outside London Waterloo station in 1998,[8][9][10] shortly after he had missed the cut at The Open Championship.

Appleby married his second wife, Ashley Saleet, in 2002, and they live with their four children in Orlando, Florida. After the 1999 plane crash that killed his friend and next-door neighbour Payne Stewart, he has been one of the key father figures for Stewart's children, Chelsea and Aaron.[11] In his spare time, Appleby enjoys motor racing.[3] He is the ambassador for Golf Australia's Crown Lager Social Golf Club[12] and patron for Stuart Appleby Junior Golf.

Professional wins (20)

PGA Tour wins (9)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 16 Mar 1997 Honda Classic 68-68-67-71=274 −14 1 stroke United States Michael Bradley, United States Payne Stewart
2 7 Jun 1998 Kemper Open 70-63-69-72=274 −10 1 stroke United States Scott Hoch
3 2 May 1999 Shell Houston Open 70-68-70-71=279 −9 1 stroke United States John Cook, United States Hal Sutton
4 12 Oct 2003 Las Vegas Invitational 62-68-63-66-69=328 −31 Playoff United States Scott McCarron
5 11 Jan 2004 Mercedes Championships 66-67-66-71=270 −22 1 stroke Fiji Vijay Singh
6 9 Jan 2005 Mercedes Championships (2) 74-64-66-67=271 −21 1 stroke United States Jonathan Kaye
7 8 Jan 2006 Mercedes Championships (3) 71-72-70-71=284 −8 Playoff Fiji Vijay Singh
8 23 Apr 2006 Shell Houston Open (2) 66-67-69-67=269 −19 6 strokes United States Bob Estes
9 1 Aug 2010 Greenbrier Classic 66-68-65-59=258 −22 1 stroke United States Jeff Overton

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2002 The Open Championship Australia Steve Elkington, South Africa Ernie Els,
France Thomas Levet 		Els won with par on first extra hole after four-hole aggregate playoff;
Els: E (4-3-5-4=16),
Levet: E (4-2-5-5=16),
Appleby: +1 (4-3-5-5=17),
Elkington: +1 (5-3-4-5=17)
2 2003 Las Vegas Invitational United States Scott McCarron Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2006 Mercedes Championships Fiji Vijay Singh Won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 20 Dec 1998 Schweppes Coolum Classic 68-67-67-69=271 −17 4 strokes Australia Craig Spence
2 25 Nov 2001
(2002 season) 		Holden Australian Open 69-70-67-65=271 −17 3 strokes Australia Scott Laycock
3 14 Nov 2010 JBWere Masters 71-69-69-65=274 −10 1 stroke Australia Adam Bland

Nike Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 19 Mar 1995 Nike Monterrey Open 68-70-67-68=273 −15 Playoff Mexico Rafael Alarcón
2 1 Oct 1995 Nike Sonoma County Open 69-69-65-66=269 −19 4 strokes United States Bobby Collins, United States Joe Durant,
United States Jerry Kelly

Nike Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1995 Nike Monterrey Open Mexico Rafael Alarcón Won with birdie on seventh extra hole
2 1995 Nike Ozarks Open United States P. H. Horgan III, United States Mike Schuchart Schuchart won with birdie on second extra hole

Australasian Foundation Tour wins (5)

Other wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 3 Aug 1999 CVS Charity Classic
(with United States Jeff Sluman) 		63-59=122 −20 2 strokes United States Brett Quigley and United States Dana Quigley

Results in major championships

! Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Masters Tournament T21 CUT CUT CUT T31 CUT CUT T22 T43 T19 T7 T14 T30 CUT
U.S. Open T36 T10 CUT CUT CUT T37 CUT CUT CUT CUT T26 T36 CUT T29
The Open Championship T20 CUT CUT T11 61 T2 T15 T36 T41 CUT CUT T51 T65
PGA Championship T61 CUT CUT T4 T16 T17 T23 T17 T15 T55 T12 T15 CUT T68
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 1 5 14 8
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 1 1 14 6
The Open Championship 0 1 0 1 1 4 13 9
PGA Championship 0 0 0 1 1 8 14 11
Totals 0 1 0 2 4 18 55 34
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2007 PGA – 2009 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The Players Championship T14 CUT CUT T22 T33 T28 T21 CUT CUT CUT T16 T15 CUT CUT T77
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Match Play R64 R64 R16 R64 R64 R32 R32 R64 R64 R16 R64
Championship T30 T25 NT1 T11 T2 T16 T11 T6 T35 T34 T61
Invitational T23 T20 T5 T42 T46 T9 T13 T71 T14 T2 T51 T63 76
Champions T69 T42

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Note: Appleby is the only golfer to compete in the first 32 WGC events.[13]

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ Hinds, Richard (17 July 2008). "Ten years after tragedy, renewed Appleby resurfaces at Royal Birkdale". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Week 12 2004 Ending 21 Mar 2004" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "About Stuart". Stuart Appleby's official site. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  4. ^ "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 in World Ranking" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Golf Major Championships". Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  6. ^ "Appleby ends 4-year drought with 59". ESPN. Associated Press. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  7. ^ "Appleby named 2010 Tour Comeback Player of the Year". PGA Tour. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  8. ^ Babineau, Jeff (24 July 1998). "Accident takes life of Appleby's wife". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  9. ^ Kelley, Steve (12 August 1998). "A matter of life and death -- Appleby returns to golf without his beloved Renay". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  10. ^ Van Sickle, Gary (10 May 1999). "Heaven sent". Sports Illustrated. p. G7.
  11. ^ Merrill, Elizabeth (16 June 2009). "In his father's footsteps". ESPN. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  12. ^ "Crown Lager and Golf Australia partner on new social golf program". Brews News. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Week 10 Approach Shots: CA Championship". PGA Tour. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2013.