Ben Crenshaw

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Ben Crenshaw
Ben Crenshaw 2008 Senior Players Championship.jpg
Personnel
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Nickname: Gentle Ben
Career data
Professional since: 1973
Current tour: Champions Tour
Tournament wins: 27
Major wins : 2 (1984, 1995)
Awards: Bob Jones Award (1991)
Old Tom Morris Award (1997)
World Golf Hall of Fame (2002)

Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952 in Austin , Texas ) is an American professional golfer of the Champions Tour and two-time major winner.

Career

Crenshaw attended the University of Texas . In his sensational amateur career, he achieved 17 victories. As an amateur, he played all three majors - for the fourth, only professionals are allowed in the PGA Championship - and a further eleven PGA TOUR events. Every time he made the cut . Three times in a row - 1971 to 1973 - he won the tournament of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the individual classification. Together with Phil Mickelson , he is the record holder of the title. In 1971 and 1972 he won the team championship alongside Tom Kite with the team from the University of Texas.

Crenshaw became a professional golfer in 1973 and won his first tournament on the PGA TOUR that same year . He won a total of 19 titles at this major North American tournament series, including the two majors , the Masters in 1984 and 1995. In the mid- 1980s he suffered from Graves' disease , but was able to continue his career successfully and without harm.

Between 1981 and 1995 he was part of the USA team at the Ryder Cup four times and was the non-playing captain of the victorious Americans in 1999 . With Mark McCumber , Crenshaw won the World Cup for his country in 1988 .

Crenshaw is widely recognized as one of the finest putters in golf history. Already in his youth, his golf instructor Harvey Penick had taught him a gentle, effortless putting style that enabled Crenshaw to dominate the world's fastest greens at Augusta National Golf Club and not allow a single three-putt during the 1995 Masters .

Crenshaw has played on the Champions Tour since 2002 .

Ben Crenshaw is married to his wife Julie and has two daughters. He is also active as a recognized golf course designer.

Gentleman and hot spur at the same time

Bob Jones Award, Payne Stewart Award, admission to the World Golf Hall of Fame - the honors that Crenshaw has received in the course of his career are testament to his high level of athleticism. He is described as a warm and kind man, just a perfect gentleman .

Crenshaw, on the other hand, admitted in an interview that his nickname "Gentle Ben" was a sarcastic reference to his temperament. Sports journalist Dick Collins first used the term when Crenshaw won the Austin City Championships at the age of 15. In addition to the more frequent throwing of clubs, two episodes impressively illustrate his tendency to outbursts of anger: in 1987 he lost his nerve on the final day of the Ryder Cup. On the sixth hole it took him three putts to pocket the ball. Angry about this and the fact that he was two holes behind against Eamonn Darcy, he broke the shaft of his putter. According to the rule, such a destroyed club may not be exchanged. So he had to finish the match without a putter. Instead, he used both a sand wedge and a 1 iron to hole the ball. Crenshaw only lost the game on the last hole after a great fight. Nevertheless, because of this match loss, the USA lost to the Europeans with 13:15 points.

Its biggest outbreak arguably took place at the Colonial Invitational in Fort Worth. Also after a three-putt, he kicked an oil barrel so hard that he suffered a hairline crack in his foot. Since the injury was still noticeable years later, he had to undergo an operation almost 20 years after the incident.

Awards

PGA Tour wins (19)

Major championships are in bold .

Results in the majors

competition 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP T19 LA T24 LA T22 T30 2 T8 T37 CUT
US 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
competition 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters T6 T8 T24 T2 1 T57 T16 T4 4th T3
US 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
competition 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters T14 T3 46 CUT T18 1 CUT 45 CUT CUT
US 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
competition 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT 47 T55 CUT CUT
US 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 WD DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
competition 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT
US Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = not started
WD = withdrawn
CUT = failed at the cut
"T" = shared rank
Green background for victories
Yellow background for top 10.

Champions Tour victories

Other tournament victories

Participation in team competitions

  • Ryder Cup 1981 (winner), 1983 (winner), 1987, 1995, 1999 (winner, non-playing captain )
  • World Cup : 1987, 1988 (individual victory and team winner with Mark McCumber )
  • Four Tours World Championship: 1988 (Winner)
  • Alfred Dunhill Cup: 1995

See also

Web links

(all english)

swell

  1. ↑ Golf Digest ( Memento from July 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
personal data
SURNAME Crenshaw, Ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Crenshaw, Ben Daniel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American golfer
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Austin , Texas , USA