GENE ELLIOTT

West Des Moines | Inducted 2012 | Category: Amateur Golfer/ Volunteer

Career Highlights

Major Iowa Victories (29):
Iowa Amateur – 2000, 2011, 2013
IGA Match Play – 2015
Iowa Mid-Amateur – 1998, 2000, 2009, 2013, 2020, 2021
IGA Four-Ball (with Mike McCoy) – 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017
IGA Four-Ball (with Jon Brown) – 2021
IGA Four-Ball (with Sam Billmeyer) –  2005
Herman Sani – (Co-Champ with Sean McCarty) – 2009
Iowa Masters – 2009, 2015, 2017, 2018
Iowa Open – 1985 (Pro), 1996 (Amateur)
Carroll Amateur, 2008, 2009; Waterloo Open Amateur, 2011;
Lake Creek Amateur, 2012; Briarwood Amateur, 2011 & 2016

Major Iowa Senior Victories:
Iowa Senior Amateur – 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020
Iowa Senior Match Play – 2012. 2016, 2019

4-Time IGA Player of the Year – 2002, 2011, 2015, 2016
4-Time IGA Senior Player of the Year – 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019

Significant National & International Victories:
1998 Porter Cup
1998 Terra Cotta Invitational
2007 and 2009 Coleman Invitational
2012 Trans-Miss Four-Ball Champion (with Mike McCoy)
2013, 2018 and 2019 Crump Cup
2017 Trans-Miss Senior Champion
2017 Canadian Senior Amateur Champion
2017 Crane Cup Senior Champion
2017, 2018, 2020 Golfweek Senior TOC
2018 Jones Cup Senior
2018 George C. Thomas Invitational
2018 Golfweek Senior National Match Play Champion
2019 Canadian Senior Amateur Champion
2020 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup Champion
2021 Senior British Amateur Champion
2021 U.S. Senior Amateur Champion

USGA Record
Advanced 14 times through U.S. Open Local Qualifying
Has played in 39 USGA Championships:
Eight U.S. Amateurs, making Match Play in three
*1999 U.S. Amateur Stroke Play medalist (Pebble Beach)
15 U.S. Mid-Amateurs, making Match Play in 12 of them
U.S. Amateur Four-Ball (with partner Mike McCoy) – 2015, 2019
U.S. Senior Amateur – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 (Champion), 2022, 2023
U.S. Senior Open – 2016, 2022
One U.S. Junior Amateur, made Match Play
USGA Men’s State Team (Team Iowa) – 1995, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016
*2012 Team finished as Runner-Up (with Dennis Bull and Jon Olson)
*2014 Team finished Third (with J. D. Anderson and Mike McCoy)

Volunteer Service:
1999-2006 USGA Mid-Amateur Committee Member
2004-2019 IGA Board of Directors
* Served as Chair of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame Committee

Elliott has enjoyed an illustrious career as a player and as a volunteer USGA Committee member and Iowa Golf Association board member. A native of Bettendorf, Gene has competed on the national level his entire career.  In 1980 he was the individual medalist in the Iowa High School Championship and went on that summer to win the prestigious Western Junior playing against many who would go on to PGA Tour careers.  He was heavily recruited by major colleges but opted to stay in Iowa and play for his beloved Hawkeyes.

Elliott turned pro in 1985 and won the Iowa and Missouri Opens.  After narrowly failing to earn his PGA Tour card Gene went on to play on the Canadian Tour winning the Quebec Open and finishing 10th on the 1988 money list. In 1989 he earned his European Tour card and played in 10 events throughout Europe.

After returning to Iowa and the family business, he was reinstated as an amateur in 1995 and was back playing for the love of the game.  He quickly established himself as a world class amateur winning the Iowa Open and the Terra Cotta Invitational in Naples, Fla.  He had a major win at the Porter Cup in 1998 and was medalist at the U. S. Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1999.

He has played in 39 USGA Championships including eight U.S. Amateurs and 15 U.S. Mid-Amateurs. Elliott, who has been one of the most accomplished amateur golfers in the post-World War II era, rallied to earn that elusive USGA title by defeating Jerry Gunthorpe, 1 up, in the 18-hole final of the 66th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Detroit in 2021.

He was stroke play medalist at the 1999 U.S. Amateur held at Pebble Beach. He has advanced to Sectional Qualifying for the U. S. Open 14 times.  He has won the Iowa Open twice and the Iowa Mid-Amateur six times. He is one of only 12 men who have won the Iowa Amateur three times. He is a 4-time IGA Player of the Year: 2002, 2011, 2015 and 2016.

Since his induction at age 50 in 2012 his play has become, if anything, more remarkable.  He has twice captured the IGA Player of the Year (2015 & 16) and Senior Player of the Year awards four times (2012, 2016, 2017 & 2019). Twelve of his 27 Iowa Major victories have occurred since he turned 50, including his third Iowa Amateur win in 2013! He also won the 2013, 2018 and 2019 Crump Cup at the fabled Pine Valley Golf Club.

Internationally, Elliott won the 2017 and 2019 Canadian Senior Amateur title and finished in 3rd place in 2018. Elliott also finished T2nd in the 2017 British Senior Amateur, 3rd in the 2018 British Senior Amateur, runner-up at the 2019 British Senior Amateur. In 2018 (MC) and 2019 (T73rd) Elliott participated in the The Senior (British) Open. In 2021, Elliott won the British Senior Amateur and finished T70th in The Senior (British) Open.

In addition to his competitive record Gene has served as a volunteer to the game on the USGA Mid-Amateur Committee for seven years (1999-2006) and as an IGA board member since 2004.

In his letter nominating Elliott close friend and 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Mike McCoy said: “Gene has conducted himself as a true gentleman throughout his life both on and off the golf course.  He has developed friendships throughout the golf world and is universally respected and liked by all”.

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