RIP, the late Great Billy Casper

[Hammer 4]

Was one of my favorite players back then...RIP Billy

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/doug-ferguson/casper-passes-away-83/

[Shindig]

Two legends in such a short period of time. :-( I got into golf too late to have seen Casper as a player, but I certainly read my history and know about him.

[mchepp]

This is very sad news.

I recently read his book "The Big Three and Me" and enjoyed it very much. I highly recommend if you are feeling nostalgic about his passing.

[turtleback]

Buffalo Billy, probably the best player in the game for about 3 years or so in the mid-60s.  Had lots of crazy allergies that caused him problems and led to him eating a lot of Buffalo meat, hence the moniker Buffalo Billy.

I'd guess that of all players with at least a couple of major victories he has the highest ratio of PGA tour victories to major victories, 51:3.  There are guys with "worse" ratios who have one major (Kite and Love, for 2) but to equal that ratio with 2 majors would need 34 PGA Tour wins and there just are not too many guys who've done it.

One reason for that is he rarely went over to Britain to play their Open.  He played the US Open 20 times, but only played the British Open 5 times, and those were just after his peak, in the late 60s and early 70s.

A place I used to play at occasionally was managed by his company - I thought they did a decent job there.

RIP Billy.

As someone with an interest in golf history, it fries my fanny that the PGA Tour  web site cuts off their historical stat info at 1980.  They have the data they have the money to do it, but they just do not do it.  Thereby shortchanging golfing fans from being able to fairly evalue the records of earlier golfers compared to their peers.  The whole "Big Three" era is a statistical vacuum on the most official site!  It isn't like golf just started in 1980.  It makes it hard for the younger golfer of today to easily access info and compare a guy like Billy to the guys of his time like Jack, Arnie, Gary, etc.  It is a real shame and I wish the Tour would do something about it.

[Shorty]

Certainly never underrated, but too often overlooked in conversations about the greats of that era.

Player, Trevino, Palmer, Nicklaus.........and Casper.

[boogielicious]

Was one of my favorite players back then...RIP Billy

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/doug-ferguson/casper-passes-away-83/

Thanks for posting.

[9iron]

Billy was a great player. Got over shadowed, but he was still great.

[JetFan1983]

I didn't start playing golf until 2008, so I never knew much about Casper until watching his Playing Lesson on GC about a year or so after I took up the game. It was fun watching an older gentleman masterfully navigate a tough course. That's probably my best connection to him. He came off as a very nice guy in the episode. Another big loss for golf this week.

[phan52]

Definitely the most underrated player in the history of golf. He was a dominant player for close to a decade, it just happened to be the decade of Jack and Arnie. Saw him play a lot in the sixties at the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and he won it in 1970. A very popular guy among his peers who helped grow both the PGA Tour and the Senior Tour.

And it certainly appears that he never spent any time in a fitness trailer. Maybe something some of today's players need to figure out.

RIP Billy.

[9iron]

Definitely the most underrated player in the history of golf. He was a dominant player for close to a decade, it just happened to be the decade of Jack and Arnie. Saw him play a lot in the sixties at the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and he won it in 1970. A very popular guy among his peers who helped grow both the PGA Tour and the Senior Tour.

And it certainly appears that he never spent any time in a fitness trailer. Maybe something some of today's players need to figure out.

RIP Billy.

phan, you probably recall that Jack and Arnie both won that tournament in the years leading up to Casper's win in 1970. That event was played at Whitemarsh Valley CC which was designed by the same guy who designed Riviera CC in Los Angeles. I remember the year that Casper won in 1970 in part because Bill Robinson of Whitemarsh won the Golf Association of Philedelphia Tournament of Champions that year at Aronomink taking the title away from Jay Sigel who won it the year before.

RIP Billy Casper. A true gentleman and golfer.

[Hammer 4]

Certainly never underrated, but too often overlooked in conversations about the greats of that era.

Player, Trevino, Palmer, Nicklaus.........and Casper.

Totally agree. In fact, I was going to make a thread regarding this very subject about 6 months ago, sorry to say, I never got around to it.

[Mulligan Jeff]

Scorned by his mother through childhood he discovered an answer to the emptiness by caddying at a local golf course. Reluctant to return home at the end of his work day he would putt into the darkness. It would lead to a finite touch on the greens later in life. Married and father of 11 children he had a heart of gold second to none.

[9iron]

Scorned by his mother through childhood he discovered an answer to the emptiness by caddying at a local golf course. Reluctant to return home at the end of his work day he would putt into the darkness. It would lead to a finite touch on the greens later in life. Married and father of 11 children he had a heart of gold second to none.

CBS did one of the finest tributes I have ever seen for Billy Casper. His mother may not have liked him, but his wife loved him and they had 11 children? Then 71 grandchildren and great grand children. The breadth of Billy Casper's life was pretty significant, and he is going to be remembered by an awful lot of people.

I really enjoyed that piece.

[colin007]

I just read that from'64 through '70, he won more times than Palmer and Player combined, and 2 more than Nicklaus did.

[9iron]

I just read that from'64 through '70, he won more times than Palmer and Player combined, and 2 more than Nicklaus did.

The man was a great player. He had more feel in his game than most who did not see him play could ever dream of. He had to, because he wasn't a physical specimin. But he could do wonders with a golf ball given the equipment and course conditions of the day.

[nevets88]

Quote from the front page of Geoff Shackelford's blog today:

Casper practices less than any great player in history. He doesn't show up in dancing pumps like Walter Hagen used to or have to set down a champagne bucket while he tees it up, but he has walked direct from his car to the first tee - and drilled a 1-wood 260 yards straight down the middle. "I never practice more than an hour at a time, because I figure that's the equivalent of two 18-hole rounds," he explains. Casper's secret is a repeating swing, so grooved in his consciousness that you could wake him out of a sound sleep at 4 in the morning and hand him a 4-iron--and he would hit it to the middle of a green with one eye open.

JIM MURRAY

[9iron]

Quote from the front page of Geoff Shackelford's blog today:

Casper practices less than any great player in history. He doesn't show up in dancing pumps like Walter Hagen used to or have to set down a champagne bucket while he tees it up, but he has walked direct from his car to the first tee - and drilled a 1-wood 260 yards straight down the middle. "I never practice more than an hour at a time, because I figure that's the equivalent of two 18-hole rounds," he explains. Casper's secret is a repeating swing, so grooved in his consciousness that you could wake him out of a sound sleep at 4 in the morning and hand him a 4-iron--and he would hit it to the middle of a green with one eye open.

JIM MURRAY

Awesome!

[The Recreational Golfer]

It should have been the Big Four in those days, but for some reason Casper wasn't the self-promoter those other guys were. He had a quiet public presence, but in the clubhouse he was the life of the party. If you were trying to win a tournament, he was not the guy you wanted breathing down you neck.

I saw him at the first tournament I ever went to, the 1959 Portland Open Invitational, which he won that year and again in 1960 and 1961. I was too young then to have appreciated him, but I did later and do now.