Jay Sigel went to Wake Forest College in 1962 on a golf scholarship named for Arnold Palmer. He received an Atlantic Coast Convention particular person title and have become a second-team all-American. He would later inform buddies and reporters that he went to varsity to play golf, to not examine, and that he thought extra about turning skilled than about graduating.
However his plans had been deferred after a severe accident. Sigel — who died at 81 on April 19 in Boca Raton, Fla. — didn’t flip professional for practically three many years, till he turned eligible for the Senior PGA Tour at age 50.
Within the intervening years, he turned broadly seen as maybe the best novice golfer of the post-World Warfare II period in america.
At Wake Forest, Sigel inadvertently put his left hand by a pane of glass in the summertime of 1963 whereas attempting to maintain a door from closing. The accident severed a tendon, and the wound, close to his wrist, required greater than 70 stitches. He remained hospitalized for 9 days.
It took months to regain one thing resembling the completeness of his abilities. His left little finger remained hooked, and he didn’t regain full feeling within the hand, which regularly grew chilly, his spouse, Betty Sigel, stated. (She confirmed the loss of life, in a hospital. She stated the trigger was issues of pancreatic most cancers.)
However the damage altered the arc of Sigel’s profession and his life in a method that he got here to see as lucky and providential.
Sigel remained at Wake Forest, obtained a level in sociology in 1967, married Betty Wingo in 1968, began a household, labored as an insurance coverage agent after which opened his personal insurance coverage firm within the Philadelphia space, the place he grew up. And he recovered sufficiently from his damage to win United States Novice titles in 1982 and 1983; the British Novice title in 1979; and U.S. Mid-Novice titles, for golfers 25 and older, in 1983, 1985 and 1987.
He participated in a report 9 Walker Cup tournaments for amateurs from america, Britain and Eire. And he shot the bottom rating amongst amateurs on the Masters match in 1980, 1981 and 1988; the British Open in 1980; and the U.S. Open in 1984.
“I at all times thought issues occur for a purpose,” Sigel advised USGA.com, the web site of america Golf Affiliation, in 2024. “The hand damage was the most effective factor to occur to me.”
Many thought-about Sigel to be the best American novice since Bobby Jones, who received the U.S. Open 4 occasions, the British Open thrice and the U.S. Novice championship 5 occasions, all in a luminous interval between 1923 and 1930.
Steely composure throughout match play, during which golfers compete head-to-head in opposition to an opponent, turned an indicator of Sigel’s sport. And he was an outstanding ball striker, with energy that emanated from his 6-foot-1½ body all the way down to his measurement 13 ft.
“He was a very powerful match-play participant; he didn’t really feel like he was going to lose,” Jeff Kiddie, the pinnacle skilled at Aronimink Golf Membership in Newtown Sq., Pa., to which Sigel belonged for greater than 50 years, stated in an interview. “And I’d say he may hit the ball so far as he wished to hit it.”
Had Sigel turned skilled out of faculty, Lee Trevino advised The New York Instances in 1994, “he may need been an important one” on the PGA Tour. However, his spouse stated in an interview, Sigel had some concern about whether or not his hand may stand up to the weekly grind of the tour.
He remained an novice till he joined the considerably extra relaxed senior tour, now known as the PGA Tour Champions, in 1993, when he turned 50. He received eight tournaments and greater than $9 million in earnings. And he appeared to don’t have any regrets.
“I wouldn’t commerce something, notably the novice profession,” Sigel advised The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2009. Betty Sigel stated that he “beloved the truth that he was in a position to get married, have a job and have a household, and nonetheless be capable to play golf.”
Robert Jay Sigel was born on Nov. 13, 1943, in Bryn Mawr, Pa., on Philadelphia’s Most important Line, and grew up within the borough of Narberth. His father, Robert Jacob Sigel, began an engineering agency. His mom, Elizabeth (Kriebel) Sigel, ran the family. Each his mother and father performed golf.
Jay started caddying for his father when he was 10. By 11, he realized that he’d slightly use the golf equipment than carry them.
Along with his spouse, he’s survived by three daughters, Jennifer Sigel, Amy Sigel Melconian and Megan Sigel Yates; a sister, Carolyn Sigel Nusbickel; and 6 grandchildren. He and his spouse lived in Berwyn, Pa., and likewise had a house in Boynton Seashore, Fla.
After being named the nation’s high junior golfer whereas at Decrease Merion Excessive Faculty in suburban Philadelphia, Sigel briefly attended the College of Houston earlier than transferring to Wake Forest. When he woke up after the surgical procedure on his hand, he advised The Each day Information of Philadelphia in 1983, docs advised him that he would by no means play golf once more.
On the peak of Sigel’s novice profession, one other group of docs advised him that they may additional restore his hand with the newest surgical methods, Betty Sigel stated. He declined.
“We’re not messing with it,” he replied. “It’s working.”