Sikes, first Razorback national champion, dies at 83

Arkansas’ first individual national champion-R.H. Sikes-died at the age of 83 on Thursday.

Arkansas lost a legend on Thursday.

R.H. Sikes, who won the national NCAA individual golf championship in 1963, passed away at the age of 83.

Sikes won it at the Wichita Country Club in Kansas that year and turned professional a year later, ultimately winning twice on the PGA Tour.

He grew up in Springdale, learning to play at the Springdale Country Club with his brothers.

Sikes played in numerous major championships. He once won a tournament in 1964 in Las Vegas that Jack Nicklaus finished runner-up to him in.

At the end of his career, he ended up playing on the Senior Tour in the early 1990s, along with playing and touring in Japan as well as coaching the UCLA women’s golf program.