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Larry (Gene) Nelson (born September 10, 1947 in
Fort Payne, Alabama) is an United States|American
golfer.

==Career outline==
Unusually for a successful professional golfer
Nelson didn't play the game as a child, but only
began to do so at the age of 21 after he returned
from military service in Vietnam, taking his
instruction from Ben Hogan's book The Five
Fundamentals of Golf. He soon found he had a
talent for golf, breaking 100 the first time he
played and 70 within nine months. He went on to
graduate from Kennesaw Junior College in 1970 and
turned professional the following year. He
qualified for the PGA Tour at 27. His breakthrough
year came in 1979 when he won twice and finished
second in the money list to Tom Watson. 

Nelson was to win ten times on the PGA Tour, of
which three, a high proportion, were major
championships.  His major first was the 1981 PGA
Championship which he won by four strokes. In 1983
he was victorious at the U.S. Open (golf)|U.S.
Open coming from seven behind at the half-way
point, and scoring an outstanding 132 aggregate
for the last 36 holes to beat Tom Watson by one.
In 1987 he finished tied with Lanny Wadkins after
the regulation 72 holes of PGA Championship, and
won the title with a par at the first playoff
hole.

Nelson played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1979,
1981, 1987. He also won four tournaments in Japan.
Since turning fifty in 1997 Nelson has had a
successful Champions Tour career, although he has
not won a senior major. He is also active in golf
course design.

==PGA Tour wins== 
*1979 Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic,  Western
Open  
*1980 Atlanta Classic  
*1981 Greater Greensboro Open, PGA Championship  
*1983 U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
*1984 Walt Disney World Golf Classic  
*1987 PGA Championship,  Walt Disney
World/Oldsmobile Classic  
*1988 Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic

Nelson's major championship are shown in bold.

==Other regular career wins==
*1980 Tokai Classic (Japan Golf Tour)
*1983 Dunlop International Open (Japan)
*1988 PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States -
unofficial event)
*1989 Suntory Open (Japan)
*1991 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan)

==Champions Tour wins== 
*1998  American Express Invitational,  Pittsburgh
Senior Classic,  Boone Valley Classic  
*1999  GTE Classic,  Bruno's Memorial Classic  
*2000  Las Vegas Senior Classic,  Boone Valley
Classic,  FleetBoston Classic,  Foremost Insurance
Championship,  Bank One Senior Championship, 
Vantage Championship 
*2001  MasterCard Championship,  Royal Caribbean
Classic,  FleetBoston Classic,  Farmers Charity
Classic,  SBC Championship  
*2003  Constellation Energy Classic  
*2004  FedEx Kinko's Classic,  Administaff Small
Business Classic presented by KBR
  
==Other senior career wins== 
*1999 Chrysler Senior Match Play Challenge
 
==External links==
*http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132212 Profile
on the PGA Tour's official site
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/N/Larry_Nelson/
Golf Stars Online - links to features and profiles