Ben Crenshaw

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Ben Crenshaw
Personal Information
Birth January 11, 1952 (1952-01-11) (age 56)
Austin, Texas
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
Residence Austin, Texas
College University of Texas
Career
Turned Pro 1973
Tours PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins 27 (PGA Tour: 19, Other: 8)
Best Results in Major Championships
Wins: 2
Masters Won 1984, 1995
U.S. Open T3: 1975
British Open T2: 1978, 1979
PGA Championship 2nd: 1979
Awards
Bob Jones Award 1991
Old Tom Morris Award 1997
World Golf Hall of Fame 2002

Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952) is an American professional golfer.

Crenshaw was born in Austin, Texas. He attended and played golf at Austin High School and the University of Texas before turning professional in 1973.

In 1973, Crenshaw became the second player in Tour history to win the first event of his career; this accomplishment was achieved earlier by Marty Fleckman (1967) and later repeated by Robert Gamez (1990) and Garrett Willis (2001). In 1984 he won The Masters, one of golf's four major championships. In the mid-1980s he suffered from Graves' disease, a disease of the thyroid, but he continued to accumulate victories, finishing with 19 on the PGA Tour, including a second Masters in 1995.

Crenshaw won several further professional events outside the PGA Tour, including individual and team titles in the World Cup of Golf in 1988. He spent 80 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from 1987 to 1989.[1]

Crenshaw is widely regarded as one of the best putters in golf history. His instructor growing up, Harvey Penick, taught him a smooth, effortless stroke on the greens, which allowed him to master even the speediest of greens — including those at Augusta National Golf Club. In winning the Masters in 1995 (a victory that came a week after Penick's death), "Gentle Ben" did not record a single three-putt during the tournament.

Since 1986, Crenshaw has been a partner with Bill Coore in Coore & Crenshaw, a golf course design firm.

Contents

[edit] Amateur wins (11)

[edit] Professional wins (27)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (19)

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (8)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (2)

Year Championship Winning Score Margin Runner Up
1984 The Masters -11 (67-72-70-68=277) 2 strokes Flag of the United States Tom Watson
1995 The Masters -14 (70-67-69-68=274) 1 stroke Flag of the United States Davis Love III

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP T19 LA T24 LA T22 T30 2 T8 T37 CUT
U.S. Open T36 LA T27 CUT CUT DNP T3 T8 T49 CUT T11
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP T28 DNP DNP T5 T2 T2
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP T63 T10 T8 DNP T16 2
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters T6 T8 T24 T2 1 T57 T16 T4 4 T3
U.S. Open T32 T11 T19 CUT CUT CUT T6 T4 T12 CUT
The Open Championship 3 T8 T15 CUT T22 T35 T21 T4 T16 T52
PGA Championship T41 CUT CUT T9 CUT T59 T11 T7 T17 T17
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters T14 T3 46 CUT T18 1 CUT 45 CUT CUT
U.S. Open CUT DNP DNP DNP T33 T71 CUT T65 CUT CUT
The Open Championship T31 T80 DNP CUT T77 T15 T27 DNP CUT DNP
PGA Championship T31 WD T73 T61 T9 T44 T69 CUT CUT CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT 47 T55 CUT
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship WD DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

LA = Low Amateur
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

[edit] Notable

  • He played on four Ryder Cup teams (1981, 1983, 1987, 1995) and captained the 1999 team.
  • In 1991, Ben Crenshaw was given the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
  • He is now a noted golf course designer, working in partnership with Bill Coore.
  • He is the 2006 Kappa Alpha Order Sportsman of the Year.
  • "If we are to preserve the integrity of golf as left to use by our forefathers, it is up to all of us to carry on the true spirit of the game." --Ben Crenshaw[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
  2. ^ The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, ed. Jim Apfelbaum. 2007.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Masters champions

1934 Horton Smith • 1935 Gene Sarazen • 1936 Horton Smith • 1937 Byron Nelson • 1938 Henry Picard • 1939 Ralph Guldahl • 1940 Jimmy Demaret • 1941 Craig Wood • 1942 Byron Nelson • 1943-45 Cancelled due to World War II • 1946 Herman Keiser • 1947 Jimmy Demaret • 1948 Claude Harmon • 1949 Sam Snead • 1950 Jimmy Demaret • 1951 Ben Hogan • 1952 Sam Snead • 1953 Ben Hogan • 1954 Sam Snead • 1955 Cary Middlecoff • 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. • 1957 Doug Ford • 1958 Arnold Palmer • 1959 Art Wall, Jr. • 1960 Arnold Palmer • 1961 Gary Player • 1962 Arnold Palmer • 1963 Jack Nicklaus • 1964 Arnold Palmer • 1965 Jack Nicklaus • 1966 Jack Nicklaus • 1967 Gay Brewer • 1968 Bob Goalby • 1969 George Archer • 1970 Billy Casper • 1971 Charles Coody • 1972 Jack Nicklaus • 1973 Tommy Aaron • 1974 Gary Player • 1975 Jack Nicklaus • 1976 Raymond Floyd • 1977 Tom Watson • 1978 Gary Player • 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller • 1980 Severiano Ballesteros • 1981 Tom Watson • 1982 Craig Stadler • 1983 Severiano Ballesteros • 1984 Ben Crenshaw • 1985 Bernhard Langer • 1986 Jack Nicklaus • 1987 Larry Mize • 1988 Sandy Lyle • 1989 Nick Faldo • 1990 Nick Faldo • 1991 Ian Woosnam • 1992 Fred Couples • 1993 Bernhard Langer • 1994 José María Olazábal • 1995 Ben Crenshaw • 1996 Nick Faldo • 1997 Tiger Woods • 1998 Mark O'Meara • 1999 José María Olazábal • 2000 Vijay Singh • 2001 Tiger Woods • 2002 Tiger Woods • 2003 Mike Weir • 2004 Phil Mickelson • 2005 Tiger Woods • 2006 Phil Mickelson • 2007 Zach Johnson • 2008 Trevor Immelman
v • d • e
American Ryder Cup captains
1927 Walter Hagen · 1929 Walter Hagen · 1931 Walter Hagen · 1933 Walter Hagen · 1935 Walter Hagen · 1937 Walter Hagen · 1947 Ben Hogan · 1949 Ben Hogan · 1951 Sam Snead · 1953 Lloyd Mangrum · 1955 Chick Harbert · 1957 Jack Burke, Jr. · 1959 Sam Snead · 1961 Jerry Barber · 1963 Arnold Palmer · 1965 Byron Nelson · 1967 Ben Hogan · 1969 Sam Snead · 1971 Jay Hebert · 1973 Jack Burke, Jr. · 1975 Arnold Palmer · 1977 Dow Finsterwald · 1979 Billy Casper · 1981 Dave Marr · 1983 Jack Nicklaus · 1985 Lee Trevino · 1987 Jack Nicklaus · 1989 Raymond Floyd · 1991 Dave Stockton · 1993 Tom Watson · 1995 Lanny Wadkins · 1997 Tom Kite · 1999 Ben Crenshaw · 2002 Curtis Strange · 2004 Hal Sutton · 2006 Tom Lehman · 2008 Paul Azinger
v • d • e
2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
Models
Locations
Malaysia • Oahu • Maui • Mexico
Athletes
Ben and Julie Crenshaw • Bill and Julie Romanowski • Evander Holyfield and Heidi Klum • Glen and Christina Rice • Jason and Joumana Kidd • Junior and Gina Seau • Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece • Ricky Williams and Kadra Ahmed-Omar
Photographers
Walter Chin • Robert Erdmann • Walter Iooss • Russell James • Antoine Verglas
Swimsuit issues: 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 •
86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 00 • 01 • 02 • 03 • 04 • 05 • 06 • 07 • 08 • 09