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New York Times
25-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Jay Sigel, Amateur Golfer Who Played Like a Pro, Dies at 81
Jay Sigel went to Wake Forest University in 1962 on a golf scholarship named for Arnold Palmer. He won an Atlantic Coast Conference individual title and became a second-team all-American. He would later tell friends and reporters that he went to college to play golf, not to study, and that he thought more about turning professional than about graduating. But his plans were deferred after a serious accident. Sigel — who died at 81 on April 19 in Boca Raton, Fla. — did not turn pro for nearly three decades, until he became eligible for the Senior PGA Tour at age 50. In the intervening years, he became widely viewed as perhaps the greatest amateur golfer of the post-World War II era in the United States. At Wake Forest, Sigel inadvertently put his left hand through a pane of glass in the summer of 1963 while trying to keep a door from closing. The accident severed a tendon, and the wound, near his wrist, required more than 70 stitches. He remained hospitalized for nine days. It took months to regain something resembling the completeness of his skills. His left little finger remained hooked, and he did not regain full feeling in the hand, which often grew cold, his wife, Betty Sigel, said. (She confirmed the death, in a hospital. She said the cause was complications of pancreatic cancer.) But the injury altered the arc of Sigel's career and his life in a way that he came to see as fortunate and providential. Sigel remained at Wake Forest, received a degree in sociology in 1967, married Betty Wingo in 1968, started a family, worked as an insurance agent and then opened his own insurance company in the Philadelphia area, where he grew up. And he recovered sufficiently from his injury to win United States Amateur titles in 1982 and 1983; the British Amateur title in 1979; and U.S. Mid-Amateur titles, for golfers 25 and older in 1983, 1985 and 1987. He participated in a record nine Walker Cup tournaments for amateurs from the United States, Britain and Ireland. And he shot the lowest score among amateurs at the Masters tournament in 1980, 1981 and 1988; the British Open in 1980; and the U.S. Open in 1984. 'I always thought things happen for a reason,' Sigel told the website of the United States Golf Association, in 2024. 'The hand injury was the best thing to happen to me.' Many considered Sigel to be the greatest American amateur since Bobby Jones, who won the U.S. Open four times, the British Open three times and the U.S. Amateur championship five times, all in a luminous period between 1923 and 1930. Steely composure during match play, in which golfers compete head-to-head against an opponent, became a hallmark of Sigel's game. And he was a superb ball striker, with power that emanated from his 6-foot-1½ frame down to his size 13 feet. 'He was a really tough match-play player; he didn't feel like he was going to lose,' Jeff Kiddie, the head professional at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., to which Sigel belonged for more than 50 years, said in an interview. 'And I'd say he could hit the ball as far as he wanted to hit it.' Had Sigel turned professional out of college, Lee Trevino told The New York Times in 1994, 'he might have been a great one' on the PGA Tour. But, his wife said in an interview, Sigel had some concern about whether his hand could withstand the weekly grind of the tour. He remained an amateur until he joined the somewhat more relaxed senior tour, now called the PGA Tour Champions, in 1993, when he turned 50. He won eight tournaments and more than $9 million in earnings. And he seemed to have no regrets. 'I wouldn't trade anything, particularly the amateur career,' Sigel told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2009. Betty Sigel said that he 'loved the fact that he was able to get married, have a job and have a family, and still be able to play golf.' Robert Jay Sigel was born on Nov. 13, 1943, in Bryn Mawr, Pa., on Philadelphia's Main Line, and grew up in the borough of Narberth. His father, Robert Jacob Sigel, started an engineering firm. His mother, Elizabeth (Kriebel) Sigel, ran the household. Both his parents played golf. Jay began caddying for his father when he was 10. By 11, he realized that he'd rather use the clubs than carry them. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Jennifer Sigel, Amy Sigel Melconian and Megan Sigel Yates; a sister, Carolyn Sigel Nusbickel; and six grandchildren. He and his wife lived in Berwyn, Pa., and also had a home in Boynton Beach, Fla. After being named the nation's top junior golfer while at Lower Merion High School in suburban Philadelphia, Sigel briefly attended the University of Houston before transferring to Wake Forest. When he awakened after the surgery on his hand, he told The Daily News of Philadelphia in 1983, doctors told him that he would never play golf again. At the height of Sigel's amateur career, another group of doctors told him that they could further repair his hand with the latest surgical techniques, Betty Sigel said. He declined. 'We're not messing with it,' he replied. 'It's working.'
USA Today
17-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Check out the RIA golf sunglasses that up and coming pro Nico Echavarria is wearing
Check out the RIA golf sunglasses that up and coming pro Nico Echavarria is wearing RIA Eyewear has become a stout go-to for golfers when it comes to peak sight on the golf course. Alongside RIA's golf collection, the company also specializes in tennis, pickleball, squash and Racquetball. In order to have pristine success with every pair of sunglasses, RIA collaborate's with its athletes to better understand what they need to achieve top performance in their sport. While watching the Masters last weekend, you probably saw one of RIA's athletes wearing their latest product. Nico Echavarria, who currently competes on the PGA Tour, is a two-time winner with his latest coming at the Zozo Championship in Japan last year. Also rocking the RIA Eyewear is Rocco Mediate. The six-time PGA Tour winner plays on the Senior PGA Tour. As worn by the pros, RIA Eyewear features six different Golf HD+ options, with every one of the featuring 100 percent UV400 protective lenses. If you weren't already sold on the precision of the sunglasses, here's some of RIA's bestsellers. Shop the full RIA Eyewear golf collection RIA Eyewear Forte (Golf HD+) Sunglasses The Forte (Golf HD+) sunglasses are great for golfers seeking a performance and classic aesthetic balance. All Golf HD+ sunglasses feature a lens tint that was developed to suppress the overabundance of green on the course while boosting reds and yellows. In turn, that helps enhance contrast on the course and allows for better green reading. RIA Eyewear Nova (Golf HD+) Sunglasses The Nova (Golf HD+) edition is the bestseller in women's sunglasses, and for good reason. Eye comfort is the name of the game for the HD+ sunglasses as it includes a Spectra Blue mirror within the lenses, which is designed to block out harsh light between 400-420nm. This keeps the eyes feeling relaxed during long rounds on the golf course. RIA Eyewear Vantage (Golf HD+) Sunglasses As the other top seller in men's eyewear, the Vantage (Golf HD+) has a sporty look to it for golfers seeking an edge in both a competitive and stylish way. Among the many unique features of every Golf HD+ lense, the sunglasses come with enhanced contrast against the sky to help track ball better from tee box to green. The lenses are also non-polarized in order to maintain proper depth perception. That becomes key in seeing slopes and breaks.
USA Today
17-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Check out the RIA golf sunglasses that up and coming pro Nico Echavarria is wearing
Check out the RIA golf sunglasses that up and coming pro Nico Echavarria is wearing RIA Eyewear has become a stout go-to for golfers when it comes to peak sight on the golf course. Alongside RIA's golf collection, the company also specializes in tennis, pickleball, squash and Racquetball. In order to have pristine success with every pair of sunglasses, RIA collaborate's with its athletes to better understand what they need to achieve top performance in their sport. While watching the Masters last weekend, you probably saw one of RIA's athletes wearing their latest product. Nico Echavarria, who currently competes on the PGA Tour, is a two-time winner with his latest coming at the Zozo Championship in Japan last year. Also rocking the RIA Eyewear is Rocco Mediate. The six-time PGA Tour winner plays on the Senior PGA Tour. As worn by the pros, RIA Eyewear features six different Golf HD+ options, with every one of the featuring 100 percent UV400 protective lenses. If you weren't already sold on the precision of the sunglasses, here's some of RIA's bestsellers. Shop the full RIA Eyewear golf collection RIA Eyewear Forte (Golf HD+) Sunglasses The Forte (Golf HD+) sunglasses are great for golfers seeking a performance and classic aesthetic balance. All Golf HD+ sunglasses feature a lens tint that was developed to suppress the overabundance of green on the course while boosting reds and yellows. In turn, that helps enhance contrast on the course and allows for better green reading. RIA Eyewear Nova (Golf HD+) Sunglasses The Nova (Golf HD+) edition is the bestseller in women's sunglasses, and for good reason. Eye comfort is the name of the game for the HD+ sunglasses as it includes a Spectra Blue mirror within the lenses, which is designed to block out harsh light between 400-420nm. This keeps the eyes feeling relaxed during long rounds on the golf course. RIA Eyewear Vantage (Golf HD+) Sunglasses As the other top seller in men's eyewear, the Vantage (Golf HD+) has a sporty look to it for golfers seeking an edge in both a competitive and stylish way. Among the many unique features of every Golf HD+ lense, the sunglasses come with enhanced contrast against the sky to help track ball better from tee box to green. The lenses are also non-polarized in order to maintain proper depth perception. That becomes key in seeing slopes and breaks.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jack Nicklaus Thinks Tiger Woods Is Teeing up His Next Chapter in Golf
Tiger Woods is skipping this year's Masters Tournament to nurse an injury, but legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus isn't worried. The 85-year-old athlete thinks that Woods is already planning the next stage of his golf career. At 49 years of age, Woods has had his share of injuries. This year, a torn Achilles has hampered his progress this season, but there is another chapter he could begin once he turns 50 in December. That's where Nicklaus entered the chat. Advertisement "I think Tiger will get well and Tiger will be back and play,' Nicklaus said at the opening of the Masters, via the Independent. "I believe he'll probably play the senior tour, and I believe he'll probably dominate the senior tour. Tiger is too much of a competitor to not play. I don't believe he will not play. I believe he will play." Jack Nicklaus of the United States takes part in the first tee ceremony prior to the first round of the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 11, 2024 in Augusta, minimum age to participate in the PGA Tour Champions, formerly known as the Senior PGA Tour, is 50. There are five major championships in the tour: The Tradition, Senior PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, Senior Players Championship, and The Senior Open Championship. In 2025, there are 28 official events, and they are quite lucrative. Woods is fine financially and that's why Nicklaus thinks he will "play for competition" because he's got that drive in him. Still, he may not be ready to jump from the PGA Tour to the PGA Tour Champions just yet. Advertisement In July 2024, Woods pushed back in any retirement talk after the former world's No. 2 golfer, Colin Montgomerie criticized his game ahead of The Open Championship in Troon, Scotland. "Well, as a past champion, I'm exempt until I'm 60," Woods said, referring to his privilege of competing at The Open until he's 60, per Newsweek. "Colin's not. He's not a past pioneer, so he's not exempt. So, he doesn't get the opportunity to make that decision. I do." Related: Paulina Gretzky & Dustin Johnson Prove They're Golf's Ultimate Power Couple
