Sammy Tindol Rachels III (born September 23, 1950) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional golfer

Professional golfer

In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...

 who has played on the PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

 and the Nationwide Tour

Nationwide Tour

The Nationwide Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either failed to score well enough at that level's Qualifying School to earn their PGA Tour card, or who have done so but then failed to win enough money to stay at that level...

, but found his greatest level of success on the Champions Tour

Champions Tour

The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...

.

Rachels was born, raised and lived his entire life in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. He attended Columbus College and won the 1971 NAIA Championship. He turned professional in 1972.

Rachels played on the PGA Tour from 1975–1985, and had 11 top-10 finishes in 123 career events. Although he never won, his career year was 1983 when he finished T-2 in the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic and the Bank of Boston Classic. He also had a runner-up finish in the unofficial Magnolia State Classic that year. His best finish in a major championship

Men's major golf championships

The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

 was T6 at the 1981 U.S. Open

U.S. Open (golf)

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...

. Four back operations forced him to leave the Tour and take a club pro job near his home in the Florida Panhandle

Florida Panhandle

The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...

.

Rachels joined the Nationwide Tour in his forties to prepare for the Champions Tour, which he joined after reaching the age of 50 in September 2000. He won three events in his first two years on the Champions Tour.

Champions Tour wins

• 2001
  2001 Senior PGA Tour
  The 2001 Senior PGA Tour was the 22nd season since the Senior PGA Tour officially began in 1980 . The season consisted of 37 official money events with purses totalling $58,150,000 , including four majors...
  
   BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland, The Transamerica
• 2002
  2002 Senior PGA Tour
  The 2002 Senior PGA Tour was the 23rd season since the Senior PGA Tour officially began in 1980 . The season consisted of 35 official money events with purses totalling $58,205,000, including four majors. Bob Gilder and Hale Irwin won the most tournaments, four...
  
   Bruno's Memorial Classic

Results in major championships

Tournament	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993
U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...	T6	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship PGA Championship The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T45	DNP	DNP	CUT

Note: Rachels never played in the Masters Tournament or The Open Championship

The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

.

DNP = Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Yellow background for top-10

External links