Floyd graduated from Fayetteville High School (now named Terry Sanford High School) in 1960. Skilled in golf and baseball, he had an offer to pitch in the Cleveland Indians organization, but chose to attend the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, but only stayed for a semester.

After leaving college, Floyd turned professional in 1961, and quickly established himself on the PGA Tour. His first victory came two years later at age 20 in March 1963 in Florida, winning $3,500 at the St. Petersburg Open Invitational, the first of his 22 wins on the PGA Tour, including four major championships.

Floyd won his first major title six years later at the PGA Championship in 1969, and the second came in 1976 at The Masters, by an eight-stroke margin and was won wire-to-wire. He won his second PGA Championship in 1982, after shooting a brilliant opening round of 63 in sweltering hot conditions at Southern Hills Country Club. Floyd’s round of 63 was the lowest round in a major championship until 2017. Floyd finished 1982 ranked second in Mark McCormack’s world golf rankings, behind only Tom Watson who had won two majors that season; had those rankings been calculated over just two seasons, on a par with the system in place at the end of 2012, Floyd would have been ranked world number one in 1982, as he had earned more points from all events in total than Watson in both 1981 and 1982.

The one major title that eluded Floyd, which prevented him from completing the career grand slam, was The Open Championship. His best result was in 1978 at St Andrews; he tied for second place, behind three-time winner Jack Nicklaus.

In addition to Floyd’s victories on the PGA and Champions Tours, he won at least 24 additional tournaments around the world, taking his total victory tally to at least 60 events. While active, Floyd was considered by most golf experts to be the best at chipping the golf ball. He holed many shots from just off the green, the most famous may have been at the Doral-Eastern Open in 1980, where his successful birdie chip on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff defeated Jack Nicklaus.

Floyd won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour in 1983 and played for the U.S. on eight Ryder Cup teams (1969, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991, and 1993).

CUT = missed the halfway cut (3rd round cut in 1984 Open Championship) WD = withdrew “T” indicates a tie for a place.

Floyd’s fourth and final major title came at the U.S. Open in 1986 at Shinnecock Hills. After three rounds, he was tied for fifth place, three shots behind leader Greg Norman, who held the 54-hole lead at all four majors in 1986. Norman faltered on Sunday with a 75 (+5), but Floyd shot 66 to win by two strokes and became the then-oldest U.S. Open champion by a few months at 43 years and nine months. (The record was Ted Ray’s since 1920, and is now held by Hale Irwin, a champion at age 45 in 1990.)

Floyd was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. He captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team at The Belfry in England in 1989. At a gala dinner held before the start of the matches, Floyd famously introduced his American side as “The 12 greatest players in the world.” This irritated European player Nick Faldo of England, who later said that he felt Floyd’s comment was inappropriate.

In 1992, Floyd again finished runner-up at The Masters, two strokes behind the winner Fred Couples. Floyd’s final win on the PGA Tour came at the Doral-Ryder Open in 1992 at age 49, making him one of the oldest players to win a PGA Tour event. The Doral-Ryder Open victory also gave him the distinction of winning PGA Tour events in four decades, joining Sam Snead as the second player to achieve that feat. Floyd also won on the Senior PGA Tour (now PGA Tour Champions) later that season, making him the first player to win on both tours in the same year.

Floyd was an assistant Ryder Cup captain in 2008. On the eve of the Masters in 2010, Floyd announced his retirement from competitive golf. He was the honoree at Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in 2013.