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Billy Kratzert
American professional golfer (born 1952)
American professional golfer (born 1952)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Billy Kratzert |
| imagesize | |
| fullname | William August Kratzert III |
| nickname | Bill or Billy |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Quantico, Virginia, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| height | |
| weight | 205 lb |
| nationality | |
| residence | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| college | University of Georgia |
| yearpro | 1974 |
| tour | |
| extour | PGA Tour |
| Champions Tour | |
| prowins | 5 |
| pgawins | 4 |
| champwins | |
| seneurowins | |
| otherwins | |
| majorwins | |
| masters | T5: 1978 |
| usopen | T6: 1978 |
| open | CUT: 1978 |
| pga | T12: 1978 |
| wghofid | |
| wghofyear | |
| award1 | |
| year1 | |
| awardssection |
Champions Tour William August Kratzert III (born June 29, 1952) is an American professional golfer and sportscaster, who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour.
Early life
Kratzert was born in Quantico, Virginia when his father was in the service but spent most of his youth in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he attended Elmhurst High School. His father was head pro for over 20 years at the Fort Wayne Country Club. Kratzert won the Indiana State Amateur at age 16.
Amateur career
Kratzert attended the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. He was a distinguished member of the golf team and an All-American in 1973 and 1974. Kratzert graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in 1974. He turned pro in that same year. Kratzert, after two failed attempts at earning his Tour card, quit golf and worked as a forklift operator. After eight months at that job, Kratzert returned to golf and succeeded on his third attempt in 1976 to get his PGA Tour card.
Professional career
Kratzert won four PGA Tour events in his career. His most successful years in professional golf were 1977–1980 when he finished in the top-12 on the money list in three of those 4 years. His career earnings exceed $1.4 million. He continued to play on the PGA Tour until 1997, when he went to work as a television golf commentator.
Since turning 50 in June 2002, Kratzert has played some on the Champions Tour with his best finish a T10 at the 2003 Royal Caribbean Golf Classic.
Kratzert has worked for many years as a TV golf analyst for outlets such as the Golf Channel, ESPN, CBS, NBC, Turner Sports, SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio and pgatour.com.
Personal life
He lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with his wife and three children. His sister, Cathy Gerring, is also a professional golfer and has won three times on the LPGA Tour.
Awards and honors
In 1993, Kratzert was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame.
Amateur wins
- 1968 Indiana Amateur
Professional wins (5)
PGA Tour wins (4)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| victory | Runner(s)-up | ||||
| 1 | Nov 7, 1976 | Walt Disney World National Team Championship | |||
| (with USA Woody Blackburn) | −28 (63-68-63-66=260) | Playoff | USA Gay Brewer and USA Bobby Nichols | ||
| 2 | Aug 7, 1977 | Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open | −19 (66-66-64-69=265) | 3 strokes | USA Grier Jones, USA Larry Nelson |
| 3 | Jul 13, 1980 | Greater Milwaukee Open | −22 (67-66-67-66=266) | 4 strokes | USA Howard Twitty |
| 4 | Oct 28, 1984 | Pensacola Open | −14 (67-66-71-66=270) | 2 strokes | SCO Ken Brown, USA John Mahaffey |
PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1976 | Walt Disney World National Team Championship | ||
| (with USA Woody Blackburn) | USA Gay Brewer and USA Bobby Nichols | Won with birdie on third extra hole | ||
| 2 | 1978 | Hawaiian Open | USA Hubert Green | Lost to par on second extra hole |
Other wins
- 1970 Indiana Open (as an amateur)
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | T24 | T5 | T17 | T19 | CUT | T14 | T42 | |||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | T19 | T6 | T36 | T33 | ||||||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | ||||||||||||
| PGA Championship | T25 | T12 | CUT | T50 | CUT | CUT | T40 |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
References
References
- "Profile on PGA Tour's official site".
- Achenbach, Jim. (April 7, 1978). "Kratzert Patches Up His Life And His Game". [[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]].
- "King of the course: Bill Kratzert won four events and earned more than $1 million on the PGA Tour". [[Fort Wayne News-Sentinel]].
- "Biographical information on PGA Tour's official site".
- "Golf Major Championships".
- "Billy Kratzert".
- "Indiana Amateur Championship".
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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