Joseph William Conrad (March 14, 1930 – December 12, 2018) 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 ...

. He had a successful amateur career, playing in the 1955 Walker Cup and winning the 1955

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. He turned professional at the end of 1956 but had limited success as a tournament professional.

Amateur career

Conrad had early successes as an amateur winning the Mexican Amateur in 1950 and the Texas Amateur in 1951. He attended

North Texas State The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco. It serves as the flagship of the University of North Texas Syst ...

, playing in the team that won the NCAA Men's Golf Championship in 1950, 1951 and 1952. He had further successes, winning the

Southern Amateur The Southern Amateur is an amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1902 and is organized by the Southern Golf Association. From 1902 to 1963, it was played at match play. Since 1964, it has been played at stroke play. In December 2021, t ...

and Trans-Mississippi Amateur in 1953 and the Southern Amateur for a second time in 1954. He was selected for the Americas Cup team in 1954. In January 1955, Conrad was selected for the

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 ...

team on the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course in the world. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links ...

. He won his foursomes match but lost in the singles to David Blair by 1 hole, although the United States still won the match by 10 matches to 2. The

was played at Royal Lytham soon after the Walker Cup. Conrad met Alan Slater in the final. Conrad led by 4 holes after the first round but Slater reduced the deficit to 1 hole with 9 to play before Conrad won two holes to win 3 & 2. The following week he lost in the semi-final of the French Amateur championship to Henri de Lamaze. Conrad stayed on to play in the

1955 Open Championship The 1955 Open Championship was the 84th Open Championship, played 6–8 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Peter Thomson won the second of three consecutive Open titles, two strokes ahead of runner-up John Fallon. Thomson won a ...

on the Old Course. He qualified well, tying for 4th place, but in the Open itself he only just made the cut after a second round 76, one of three amateurs to make the cut. Rounds of 74 and 71 on the final day lifted him into a tie for 22nd place and he won the Silver Medal as the leading amateur. In 1956 Conrad travelled to Troon, Scotland to defend his

title. He reached the quarter-finals before losing to

Reid Jack Robert Reid Jack (17 January 1924 – 25 June 2003) was a Scotland, Scottish amateur golfer. He tied for 5th place in the 1959 Open Championship and played in the Walker Cup in 1957 and 1959. Amateur wins *1955 Scottish Amateur *1957 Amateur Cha ...

by 1 hole. Later in the year he also made his second appearance in the Americas Cup.

Professional career

Conrad turned professional at the end of 1956 and played on the PGA tour for two seasons. He had a top-20 finish in the 1957

Colonial National Invitation The Colonial National Invitation, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Charles Schwab Challenge since 2019, is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth at Colonial Country Club, which organiz ...

and played in the

1957 Masters Tournament The 1957 Masters Tournament was the 21st Masters Tournament, held April 4–7 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. This was the first Masters played with a 36-hole cut; 101 players started and forty made the cut at 150 (+6). Do ...

. Conrad received an invitation for the 1957 Masters as an

winner but from 1958 winners of the U.S. Amateur and Amateur Championships no longer received invitations if they turned professional, unless they qualified in a different category.

Amateur wins

*1950 Mexican Amateur *1951 Texas Amateur *1953

, Trans-Mississippi Amateur *1954

*1955

Results in major championships

LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Joe American male golfers North Texas Mean Green men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from San Antonio 1930 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen