R. H. Sikes (1940–2023)

R. H. Sikes was one of the greatest golfers in Arkansas history. The Arkansas native won the first NCAA championship ever garnered by a University of Arkansas (UA) athlete or team, and he used that title as a jumping-off point for a stellar professional career as both a player and a coach.

Richard Horace Sikes was born on March 6, 1940, in Paris (Logan County) to Horace Sikes, who was a coal mine employee, and Mae Wafer Sikes. He was one of nine children. Sikes grew up in Springdale (Washington and Benton counties) and first played golf when he was ten years old at the Springdale Country Club, where he would also work as a caddy.

Sikes graduated from Springdale High School in 1959 and headed to UA in Fayetteville (Washington County), where he began his impressive amateur career. Renowned for his putting, Sikes won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships in both 1961 and 1962, and in 1963, his senior year at UA, he was the NCAA Champion, winning the first NCAA title in Razorback history. During this same period, Sikes contributed to the winning American efforts in the 1962 Eisenhower Trophy and the 1963 Walker Cup, while also finishing as runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Gold Championship in 1963. Those efforts helped him reach number two in the United States amateur rankings. Sikes played in the Masters Tournament three times (1962, 1963, and 1964) as an amateur, and he reached the quarterfinals of the 1963 British Amateur. While still an amateur, he won the 1962 Arizona Open.

Sikes then turned professional. He earned his PGA Card for the 1964 season and immediately had success. He was named Golf Digest Rookie of the Year and Putter of the Year in 1964, kicking off a career that saw him win two PGA titles: the Sahara Invitational in his inaugural pro season and then the Cleveland Open Invitational in 1966. In just under 300 events, Sikes also notched six runner-up finishes, as well as finishing third three times and in the top five on seventeen occasions. Sikes notched a career-best eighth on the PGA Tour money list in 1966, the same year he had two runner-up finishes in addition to his win in Cleveland.

Following his PGA playing days, he played on the Japanese Tour while also helping promote the sport in Japan. He became proficient enough in Japanese that he was able to conduct tours for Japanese players in the United States, with stops that included his beloved Augusta National Golf Club, the home of the Masters. Sikes closed his competitive career by playing on the PGA Senior Tour from 1990 to 1992.

He then turned to coaching and teaching. He served for a time as a coach of the University of California at Los Angeles women’s golf team, and he was a golf instructor at numerous courses.

Sikes was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 1995, both the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2002, the Springdale Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Southwest Conference (SWC) Hall of Fame in 2016.

Sikes was an avid collector of golf clubs as well as classic cars. Sikes and his wife, Jolene, had a daughter, Angie; the couple later divorced. After his playing career was over, Sikes would frequently go on a father-daughter trip to the Masters Tournament.

Sikes died on November 2, 2023, in Springdale.

For additional information:
Hall, Grant. “Sikes, National Champ at UA, Dies at 83.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 3, 2023, p. 3C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/nov/03/sikes-national-champ-at-ua-dies-at-83/ (accessed August 21, 2025).

Obituaries of Richard Horace Sikes. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 4, 2024. https://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2024/feb/04/richard-sikes-2024-02-04-83705/ (accessed August 21, 2025).

“Razorbacks Mourn Loss of NCAA Golf Champion R. H. Sikes.” Arkansasrazorbacks.com, November 3, 2023. https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/razorbacks-mourn-loss-of-ncaa-golf-champion-r-h-sikes/ (accessed August 21, 2025).

William H. Pruden III
Raleigh, North Carolina