Bob Shearer was born in Melbourne, Victoria and won the 1969 Australian Amateur before turning pro in 1970.
Shearer won the PGA Tour of Australia Order of Merit four times: 1974, 1977, 1981, 1982. He spent five years on the European Tour and then nine on the PGA Tour. His career year was 1982 when he won the Australian Open and his sole PGA Tour event, the Tallahassee Open. He had 18 top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events. His best finish in a major championship was a T-7 at the 1978 Open Championship.
1978 New Zealand Open: Played at the Wanganui Golf Club’s Belmont course on December 7 to 10. The weather during the tournament slowly deteriorated from showers on the second day to heavy rain at the end of the final round.
Prominent early were the Americans Risch and Simpson along with Ball from Australia, the latter two at 134, one stroke in arrears. Ball scored a third-round 68 which gave him a six-stroke lead over Simpson and with Barnes and Shearer two further back.
Beginning the final round with a double bogey, Ball then completed the outward nine in 41 and it was left to Shearer and Barnes to battle for the win. Tied with a hole to play and with both drives missing the fairway in wet and windy conditions, Barnes found a greenside trap from which he failed to get up and down and Shearer, with a par, took the title.
1981 New Zealand Open: Wellington Golf Club hosted between 10 to 13 December provided a similar tough layout to that experienced at Heretaunga previously in 1976.
Wind and rain on the first day gave way to sunny weather, but the strong northerlies persisted and the winning score of three under par indicated its effect. In an event which could confirm the valued Order of Merit, the top Australians were expected to challenge strongly.
After two days Shearer, Lister and Krantz at three-under took the lead and the third day produced a closely bunched leaderboard with Charles and Gale moving forward. Shearer who reached six-under early in the third round proceeded to then drop two and retain a precarious share of the lead.
On the final day, Gale proved to be the big mover levelling with Shearer at the twelfth, but was unable to maintain this position and Shearer eventually held on to win by three.
