Archer was first to win Toshiba Classic

George Archer, the winner of the inaugural Toshiba Senior Classic at

Costa Mesa’s Mesa Verde Country Club in 1995, died Sunday at the age

of 65 after battling Burkitts Lymphoma -- a rare form of

non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma -- for 13 months.

Archer was hampered by wrist and back problems for much of his

golf career. He endured several surgeries but still won 12 PGA Tour

events, including the 1969 Masters, and 19 more on the Champions

Tour, for golfers 50 and older.

“Golf is a crazy game ... you do things you’re not supposed to

do,” Archer said after winning the 1995 Toshiba Senior Classic, the

first Senior Tour event staged in Orange County.

Archer considered retiring before getting a chance to win that

1995 tournament in Costa Mesa because of a degenerative hip that

would later require surgery. But he gritted it out and shot a 64 in

final round to capture first place.

Then the 6-foot-6 Archer won the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic before

undergoing hip replacement surgery at Eisenhower hospital in Palm

Springs.

Archer won more than $10 million over a 40-year career. He played

in a total of 999 events during his prestigious career, purposely

stopping there because he liked the sound of 999.

He once said his biggest thrill in golf wasn’t winning the Masters

but winning the Lucky International in 1965 at Harding Park because

it was his home course.

His daughter, Elizabeth, became the first female caddie in the

history of the Masters when she carried her father’s bag in 1983.

After several rounds of chemotherapy in the past year, he gave up

treatment five weeks ago. He died at his home in Incline Village,

Nev.

He is survived by Donna, his wife of 44 years; two daughters,

Elizabeth Klein of Tacoma, Wash., and Marilyn deChambrier of Gilroy;

two sisters, Ruth Callas of Healdsburg and Dorothy Scott of San

Francisco, and a brother, Tom of Guerneville.

A public memorial service is planned for 4 p.m., Oct. 25, at the

Gilroy Presbyterian Church in Gilroy.