Doug Sanders

Doug Sanders will forever be remembered for the putt that lost The Open, his miss from all of 30 inches on St Andrews’ 18th green costing him the Claret Jug in 1970.

His stabbed stroke drew gasps from the crowd and, though it meant the Championship's first 18-hole play-off, it seemed inevitable from that moment that he would lose to Jack Nicklaus and go down in golf folklore.

But there is so much more to this colourful player from America’s Deep South, who won 20 PGA Tour titles, finished runner-up in four majors and counted the Rat Pack and Evel Knievel among his friends.

Sanders was born in Great Depression-era Georgia and, unable to afford golf lessons, was first a caddie at a nine-hole course near where he grew up. He practised his swing when the players weren’t watching.

After a scholarship at the University of Florida, he became the first amateur to win the Canadian Open in 1956.

He turned professional shortly after and, in 1966, became one of the few players in history to finish in the top ten of all four major championships in a single season, despite winning none of them.

He played in 11 Opens and recorded four top 10s, with his best at the Old Course in 1970.

Rounds of 68-71-71 left him just two shots back ahead of the final day, where he constructed a near-perfect round before it went wrong on the 18th green.

He later said: “Winning The Open would have meant hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions. But, you know, I don’t measure life in dollars. I don’t think there’s anyone anywhere in the world who’s lived a better life than I’ve done.”