William Joseph Patton (April 19, 1922 – January 1, 2011) was an American

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

er best known for almost winning the 1954 Masters Tournament. Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He graduated from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

in 1943. In the 1954 Masters Tournament at

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta National, Augusta, or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is known for hosting the annual Masters Tournament. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Rob ...

, Patton came within one stroke of being in a three-man playoff with

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory, hi ...

and

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (; May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades (having won PGA of America and Senior PGA Tour events over six decades) an ...

. His final round 71 included a hole-in-one on the par-3 6th hole and a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole, when he tried to reach the green in two and put his ball into Rae's Creek. Patton won several amateur tournaments including the

North and South Amateur The North and South Men's Amateur Golf Championship, commonly known as the North and South Amateur, is an annual golf tournament held since 1901 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina, US. An invitational tournament, participants ar ...

three times and the Southern Amateur twice. He also won the Carolinas Open twice. Patton played on five

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

teams; 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, and 1965 and was captain of the 1969 team. He played on the

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

team in 1958 and 1962. Patton was awarded the

Bob Jones Award The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It is named in honor of Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones. Winners *1955 Francis Ouimet *1956 William C. C ...

by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...

in 1982. Patton was inducted into several Halls of Fame: * North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1967 *Wake Forest University's Sports Hall of Fame in 1974 *Southern Golf Association Hall of Fame in 1975 *Carolinas Golf Reporters Association Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1981 *Burke County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007

Tournament wins

*1947 Carolinas Amateur *1951 Carolinas Open *1952 Carolinas Open (tied with Bobby Locke) *1954

*1958 Carolinas Amateur *1961 Southern Amateur, Azalea Invitational, Carolinas Amateur *1962 North and South Amateur *1963 North and South Amateur *1964 North Carolina Amateur *1965 Southern Amateur *1979 Carolinas Senior Amateur *1981 Carolinas Senior Amateur

Results in major championships

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play Sources: Masters, U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Amateur: 1955, 1959

U.S. national team appearances

: 1955 (winners),

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

(winners),

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

(winners),

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

(winners),

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

(tied, cup retained), 1969 (non-playing captain, winners) *

: 1958,

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

(winners) * Americas Cup: 1954 (winners), 1956 (winners), 1958 (winners), 1963 (winners)

References

External links

Seventy Years of Great Golf with Billy Joe
- ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'', August 23, 1954 {{DEFAULTSORT:Patton, Billy Joe American male golfers Amateur golfers Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's golfers Golfers from North Carolina People from Morganton, North Carolina 1922 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen