William R. Collins (September 23, 1928 – April 8, 2006) was an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

in the 1950s and 1960s and the

Senior PGA Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

in the 1980s.

Life

Collins was born in

Meyersdale, Pennsylvania Meyersdale is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on the Casselman River, southeast of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the past, Meyersdale's chief industry was the mining of coal ...

and grew up in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Collins joined the PGA Tour in 1958 and won four events between 1959 and 1962. His first victory came at the 1959 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational by three strokes (280) over Jack Burke Jr. and Tom Nieporte. In 1960, Collins finished in a three-way tie for first at the end of regulation at the

Insurance City Open Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, which he and

Jack Fleck Jackson Donald Fleck (November 7, 1921 – March 21, 2014) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1955 in a playoff over Ben Hogan. Early years Born in 1921 and raised in Bettendorf, Iowa, Fleck's parents ...

lost in a playoff to

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

. His best finishes in major championships were T-7 at

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first ma ...

in 1961 and a 7th-place finish at the 1964 U.S. Open. He was a member of the victorious 1961 Ryder Cup team. Collins was forced to quit the Tour after back surgery in 1963. In 1965, he took a club pro job at Brae Burn Country Club in

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet in the town and village of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in ...

and remained there until December 1981. He joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1982 and won the Greater Syracuse Senior's Pro Golf Classic in his first full season. Collins died in

Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 33,039 as of 2019 according to the US Census Bureau. Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is part of the Atlanta metropolitan are ...

at the age of 77.

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–3)

Other wins (2)

*1956 Metropolitan PGA Championship *1975 Metropolitan PGA Championship

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Bill American male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Pennsylvania Golfers from New York (state) People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania People from Purchase, New York 1928 births 2006 deaths