William (Billy) Ray Brown (born April 5, 1963) is an American former

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 as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

in the 1980s and 1990s. He is currently a on-course reporter for

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ba ...

and commentator for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

Early life

Brown was born, raised, and still lives in

Missouri City, Texas Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increas ...

. His father,

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...

, played football for the

Houston Cougars football The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH." The UH football program is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since th ...

and professionally in the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

and AFL.

Amateur career

Brown attended the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

and was a member of the Cougar golf team. He won the 1982 NCAA Division I Championship as a freshman. He was also a member of the 1984 and 1985 national championship teams, and was an All-American all four years.

Professional career

Brown won three

events in a career cut short by an injury and subsequent surgeries to his

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

. His best finish in a major championship was T-3 at the 1990 U.S. Open, one stroke out of the playoff. He had seventeen top-10 finishes in 315 PGA Tour events. After his playing days ended, Brown moved into the media to serve as an on-course reporter for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

from 1999 until 2006. In 2007, Brown joined the

as an on-course reporter for their PGA Tour and

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, f ...

coverage.

Amateur wins (1)

''this list may be incomplete'' *1982 NCAA Championship

Professional wins (3)

PGA Tour wins (3)

''*Note: The 1992 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.'' PGA Tour playoff record (2–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Billy Ray American male golfers Houston Cougars men's golfers PGA Tour golfers American golf commentators Golfers from Texas Sportspeople from Missouri City, Texas 1963 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen