Richard Bernice "Pete" Cooper (December 31, 1914 – October 8, 1993) was an American professional

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. Cooper 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 1940s and 1950s; he was best known for winning the 1976 PGA Seniors' Championship.

Professional career

In 1938, Cooper turned professional. In the ten-year span between 1949 and 1958, he won five official

events and had runner-up finishes in the 1950 Houston Open and the 1955 Tournament of Champions. His best finish in a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

was T4 at the 1953 U.S. Open. He helped a young Chi-Chi Rodríguez improve enough to secure a spot on the PGA Tour. Cooper won the 1976 PGA Seniors' Championship at the age of 61 with a four-day total of 283 over runner-up Fred Wampler. The tournament was held at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. He was also active in golf course design.

Personal life

Cooper lived in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Located along Interstate 4, I-4 east of Tampa and southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, it is the List of municipalities in Florida, most populous city in Polk County. As of the 2020 ...

, where he owned the Par 3 and Lone Palm Golf Club.

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1) Sources:

Latin American and Caribbean wins (6)

*1959 Panama Open, Puerto Rico Open, Colombian Open *1960 Jamaica Open, Maracaibo Open *1961 Panama Open

Other regular wins (12)

''this list is probably incomplete'' *1944 Florida Open *1946 Florida Open *1948 Florida Open *1949 Florida Open *1950 Florida Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Claude Harmon) *1953 Metropolitan Open *1954 Orlando Two-ball (with

Patty Berg Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a fem ...

) *1956 Michigan Open *1957 Florida Open *1958 Florida Open *1966 Florida Open

Senior wins (1)

*1976 PGA Seniors' Championship

Team appearances

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

(representing Puerto Rico):

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

References

External links

*
Notice of Pete Cooper's death
American male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers American golf course architects Golfers from Florida Sportspeople from Lakeland, Florida 1914 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-golf-bio-stub