Marty Fleckman

Martin Alan Fleckman (born April 23, 1944) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s.

Marty Fleckman
Personal information
Full name	Martin Alan Fleckman[1]
Born	(1944-04-23) April 23, 1944 Port Arthur, Texas
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
College	University of Houston
Turned professional	1967
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	1
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	CUT: 1969
PGA Championship	T4: 1968
U.S. Open	T18: 1967
The Open Championship	DNP

Born in Port Arthur, Texas,[2] Fleckman credits Byron Nelson, Carl Lohren, and Jim Hardy with teaching him how to play golf.[3][4] At the age of 20 in 1964, Fleckman won the individual title at the Texas State Amateur. In 1965, he won the NCAA Championship while at the University of Houston,[2] where he was a three-time All-American member of the golf team: third-team in 1964, first-team in 1965 and 1966.[5] He was a member of the Walker Cup team in 1967.

While still an amateur, Fleckman played in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol in 1967. He led after the first and third rounds,[6][7] but shot 80 (+10) on Sunday amid a surge by eventual champion Jack Nicklaus.[3][8][9] The last amateur to lead the U.S. Open at 54 holes was Johnny Goodman, 34 years earlier in 1933.[2] (Seven years earlier in 1960, Nicklaus led as an amateur during the final round.) Fleckman finished in a tie for 18th place and was the low amateur, a stroke ahead of Bob Murphy, who shot 69 in the final round.[8]

In his first start on the PGA Tour in December 1967, Fleckman won the Cajun Classic Open Invitational in a playoff.[2] At Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, Louisiana, he sank a 30-foot (9 m) birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Jack Montgomery and take the winner's share of $5,000.[10][11] It was his third consecutive birdie, finishing regulation play with two.[10] Fleckman is only one of five other players to win his first tour event as a professional,[4] and has since been joined by Ben Crenshaw (1973), Robert Gamez (1990), Garrett Willis (2001), and Russell Henley (2013). This was to be his only Tour title. His best finish in a major was a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship in 1968.[12]

Fleckman was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 1986, and into the University of Houston Hall of Honor in 2006.[3][4] He also received the prestigious 2007 Teacher of the Year Award for the Southern Texas Section of the PGA.[4] He currently works as director of golf instruction at Blackhorse Teaching Center in Texas.[5]