"PGA Champion" Johnny Miller Hand Signed Napkin Todd MuellerCOA

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Up for auction
"PGA Champion" Johnny Miller Hand Signed Napkin.
This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-9616
John Laurence Miller
(born April 29, 1947) is an American former
professional golfer
. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a
major championship
to win the
1973 U.S. Open
, and he ranked second in the world on
Mark McCormack's world golf rankings
in both 1974 and 1975 behind
Jack Nicklaus
. Miller won 25
PGA Tour
events, including two
majors
. He was inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame
in 1998.
[1]
He was the lead golf analyst for
NBC Sports
, a position he held from January 1990 to February 2019. He is also an active
golf course architect
. Born and raised in
San Francisco, California
, Miller was invited to join the
Olympic Club
in 1963 as a Junior Golf Section member, and became the top player on its junior team. He won the San Francisco city junior title in 1963 at age 16, and the following year won the 1964
U.S. Junior Amateur
. After graduation from
Abraham Lincoln High School
in 1965, he enrolled at
Brigham Young University
in
Provo, Utah
. In the spring of his freshman year of college, Miller qualified for the
1966 U.S. Open
at the
Olympic Club
. His intimate knowledge of his home course helped him to finish in a tie for eighth place, the low
amateur
by three strokes, and earned him an invitation to the 1967
Masters
. He won the
California State Amateur Championship
in 1968. Miller was an
All-American
at BYU and graduated in 1969 with a
degree
in
physical education
. Miller joined the
PGA Tour
in 1969 at age 22, and won his first tour event in
1971
. He made a
double eagle
on the fifth hole at
Muirfield
during the second round of the
1972 Open Championship
. During his professional career, Miller won two major titles: the
1973 U.S. Open
and the
1976 Open Championship
. Coming into the U.S. Open at the challenging par-71
Oakmont
, Miller was a 26-year-old with just two tour victories in four years, but had done well in several majors. He tied for second at the 1971
Masters
, and had top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open in 1971 and 1972. Miller had yet to win in 1973, but by mid-June, he had recorded eight top-10 finishes, which included a tie for 6th at the Masters. Miller played the first two rounds at Oakmont (near
Pittsburgh
) with
Arnold Palmer
and his "Army" gallery, at its largest in Palmer's native western
Pennsylvania
. Miller was two under par (140) after the second round but shot a five-over 76 on Saturday to settle at three-over (216) for the championship. Miller played the front nine without his yardage book on Saturday until his wife Linda retrieved it.
Miller began the fourth and final round in 12th place, six shots behind the four co-leaders, including Palmer. Teeing off at 1:36 pm, about an hour ahead of the final group, Miller shot a scorching eight-under 63, considered one of the most remarkable rounds in major championship history. He passed the leading players of the day, including future
hall-of-famers
Jack Nicklaus
,
Gary Player
,
Lee Trevino
, and Palmer, who was in the final pairing with
John Schlee
. Miller's 63 was the lowest round to win a major championship until it was tied by
Henrik Stenson
at the Open Championship in 2016. Miller birdied the first four holes and hit all 18 greens in regulation. He got five more birdies with only one bogey (a 3-putt on the 244 yard par-3 #8), and needed only 29 putts during the round. Ten of his approach shots finished within 10 feet of the cup. In 2007, Miller said: "It was the greatest ball-striking round I've ever seen and I've been around a little bit." Miller wound up at 5-under (279) for the championship, beating the runner-up Schlee by a single stroke, who shot a 1-under 70. Only six players, Miller included, shot under par in the final round. Miller earned ,000 for the victory.
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