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Jim Benepe

American professional golfer (born 1963)

Summary

American professional golfer (born 1963)

Field	Value
name	Jim Benepe
imagesize
fullname	James L. Benepe III
birth_date
birth_place	Sheridan, Wyoming, U.S.
death_date
height
weight	150 lb
nationality
spouse	Barbara
college	Northwestern University
yearpro	1986
tour
extour	PGA Tour
Canadian Tour
prowins	3
pgawins	1
auswins	1
champwins
seneurowins
otherwins	1
majorwins
masters	CUT: 1989, 1991
usopen	T14: 1990
open	T28: 1988
pga	CUT: 1988
wghofid
wghofyear
award1	Canadian Tour
Order of Merit winner
year1	1987
award2	PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year
year2	1988
awardssection

Canadian Tour Order of Merit winner](canadian-tour-order-of-merit-winners) Rookie of the Year](pga-tour-rookie-of-the-year) James L. Benepe III (born October 24, 1963) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour.

Early life and amateur career

Benepe was born, raised and lived most of his life in Sheridan, Wyoming. He attended Northwestern University and was a first-team All-American in 1986 and the 1986 Big Ten Champion while a member of the golf team.

Professional career

In 1986, Benepe turned pro. The following year, Benepe played his first full-year as a professional golfer. He played internationally on the Asia Golf Circuit, PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Canadian Tour. That year, he won the 1987 British Columbia Open in Canada; and was the winner of the Canadian Tour's Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year awards. The following year, in February 1988, he won Victorian Open in Melbourne, Australia.

Benepe won the 1988 Beatrice Western Open, the first PGA Tour event he played in. The tournament was held at Butler National GC in Oak Brook, Illinois that year, and he only got in through a last-minute sponsor exemption. Benepe used a local caddie, James Tunney, to help him achieve his victory. Peter Jacobsen double bogeyed the 72nd hole, which gave Benepe the victory. It turned out to be his only career win in an official PGA Tour event. He won the PGA Tour's 1988 Rookie of the Year honors. He is still the only person to win a PGA Tour event on his first attempt and the only Wyoming-born PGA Tour winner.

Benepe left the PGA Tour at the end of the 1991 season after struggling the previous several years with back problems and technical problems with his game. After leaving the Tour, he came home to Sheridan and began working in real estate sales and promotions. After a long hiatus, he began playing competitive tour golf again in the late 1990s in Australia, on the PGA Tour and in about 15 events per year on the Nationwide Tour. Benepe finished 26th on the Nationwide Tour in 2001 with 6 top-10 finishes and 16th on the Australian Order of Merit.

Today he works in the corporate world consulting in various aviation arenas and lives in Sheridan, Wyoming with his wife.

Awards and honors

In 1987, Benepe earned the Canadian Tour's Order of Merit
In 1987, he earned the Canadian Tour's Rookie of the Year award
In 1988, Benepe won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award
In 2006, he was inducted into the Wyoming Sports & Wyoming State Golf Association Hall of Fames
In 2008, Benepe was inducted into the Northwestern Sports Hall of Fame

Amateur wins (3)

1982 Wyoming Stroke Play Championship, Western Junior
1983 Wyoming State Match Play Championship

Professional wins (3)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner-up
1	Jul 3, 1988	Beatrice Western Open	−10 (71-68-69-70=278)	1 stroke	USA Peter Jacobsen

PGA Tour of Australia wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runners-up
1	Feb 14, 1988	Victorian Open	−6 (69-68-74-71=282)	3 strokes	AUS Ian Baker-Finch, AUS Peter McWhinney

Canadian Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runners-up
1	Aug 30, 1987	George Williams B.C. Open	−9 (69-75-70=204)	2 strokes	USA Jim Hallet, CAN Jim Rutledge

Results in major championships

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	2005
Masters Tournament		CUT		CUT
U.S. Open			T14	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	T28
PGA Championship	CUT

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

References

"Jim Benepe profile". PGA Tour.
(July 5, 1988). "Surprise Winner". The New York Times.
"Wyoming State Golf Association Hall of Fame".
"Best of Both Worlds for Jim Benepe".

Wikipedia Source

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.

american-male-golfers pga-tour-golfers northwestern-wildcats-men's-golfers golfers-from-wyoming people-from-sheridan,-wyoming 1963-births living-people 20th-century-american-sportsmen

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