Billy Casper

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Billy Casper is also the name of the protagonist of A Kestrel for a Knave.

William Earl "Billy" Casper (born June 24, 1931) is an American golfer who was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s. He was born in San Diego, California. Between 1964 and 1970 Casper won 27 tournaments on the PGA Tour which was more than legends Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player during that time period according to the World Golf Hall of Fame. He won 51 times in his career, captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1979 and was considered the best putter of his era by many. After his professional career he has been a designer for many golf courses such as The Highlands, The Palm and Eagle Crest in Sun City Summerlin, Nevada.

Casper, a Mormon, and his wife have 11 children.

1 Career summary
2 PGA Tour wins (51)
3 Other wins (3)
4 Champions Tour wins (9)
5 Other senior wins
6 Major Championships
- 6.1 Wins (3)
- 6.2 Results timeline
7 See also
8 External link

[edit] Career summary

Casper's principal achievements include:

Three major championships: the 1959 and 1966 U.S. Opens, and the 1970 Masters Tournament.
51 PGA Tour wins: this puts him seventh on the all time list of golfers with most PGA Tour wins.
PGA Tour Money Winner in 1966 and 1968.
PGA Player of the Year in 1966 and 1970.
Won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average five times: 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966, and 1968.
Member of the United States team in the Ryder Cup 8 times -- in 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, and a non-playing captain in 1979.
Nine Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) wins from 1982 to 1989, including one senior major, the 1983 U.S. Senior Open.
Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978.

[edit] PGA Tour wins (51)

1956 (1) Labatt Open
1957 (2) Phoenix Open Invitational, Kentucky Derby Open Invitational
1958 (3) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am Golf Championship, Greater New Orleans Open Invitational, Buick Open Invitational
1959 (4) U.S. Open, Portland Centennial Open Invitational, Lafayette Open Invitational, Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational
1960 (3) Portland Open Invitational, Hesperia Open Invitational, Orange County Open Invitational
1961 (1) Portland Open Invitational
1962 (4) Doral C.C. Open Invitational, Greater Greensboro Open, 500 Festival Open Invitation, Bakersfield Open Invitational
1963 (2) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Insurance City Open Invitational
1964 (4) Doral Open Invitational, Colonial National Invitation, Greater Seattle Open Invitational, Almaden Open Invitational
1965 (4) Bob Hope Desert Classic, Western Open, Insurance City Open Invitational, Sahara Invitational
1966 (4) San Diego Open Invitational, U.S. Open, Western Open, 500 Festival Open Invitation
1967 (2) Canadian Open, Carling World Open
1968 (6) Los Angeles Open, Greater Greensboro Open, Colonial National Invitation, 500 Festival Open Invitation, Greater Hartford Open Invitational, Lucky International Open
1969 (3) Bob Hope Desert Classic, Western Open, Alcan Open
1970 (4) Los Angeles Open, The Masters, IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic, AVCO Golf Classic
1971 (1) Kaiser International Open Invitational
1973 (2) Western Open, Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open
1975 (1) First NBC New Orleans Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (3)

This list is incomplete.

1974 Trophée Lancôme (France, but not a European Tour event at that time.)
1975 Italian Open (European Tour)
1977 Mexican Open

[edit] Champions Tour wins (9)

1982 The Shootout at Jeremy Ranch, Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Pro-Am
1983 U.S. Senior Open
1984 SENIOR PGA TOUR Roundup
1987 Del E. Webb Arizona Classic, Greater Grand Rapids Open
1988 Vantage at The Dominion, Mazda SENIOR TOURNAMENT PLAYERS Championship
1989 Transamerica Senior Golf Championship

Senior major championship is shown in bold.

[edit] Other senior wins

1984 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Gay Brewer)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (3)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners Up
1959	U.S. Open	3 shot lead	-2 (71-68-69-74=282)	1 stroke	Bob Rosburg
1966	U.S. Open (2)	3 shot deficit	-2 (69-68-73-68=278)	Playoff ¹	Arnold Palmer
1970	Masters	1 shot lead	-9 (72-68-68-71=279)	Playoff ²	Gene Littler

¹ Defeated Arnold Palmer in 18-hole playoff - Casper (69), Palmer (73)
² Defeated Gene Littler in 18-hole playoff - Casper (69), Littler (74)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament	1956	1957	1958	1959
The Masters	DNP	T16	T20	CUT
U.S. Open	T14	CUT	T13	1
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	2	T17

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
The Masters	4	T7	T15	T11	T5	T35	T10	T24	T16	T2
U.S. Open	T12	T17	CUT	DNP	4	T17	1	4	T9	T40
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	4	T25
PGA Championship	T24	T15	T51	DNP	T9	T2	T3	19	T6	T35

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
The Masters	1	T13	T17	T17	T37	6	8	T14	CUT	43
U.S. Open	T8	CUT	T11	CUT	CUT	DNP	CUT	DNP	T30	DNP
The Open Championship	T17	T7	T40	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T18	2	T4	T35	T63	T5	T51	T31	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	T57	CUT	T50	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	DNP	T67	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	CUT	CUT	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
The Masters	WD	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10