Biography

Born in Austin, Texas, Crenshaw attended and played golf at Austin High School and the University of Texas, where he won three NCAA Championships from 1971 to 1973. He was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He turned professional in 1973.

In 1973, Crenshaw became the second player in Tour history to win the first event of his career; this accomplishment was achieved earlier by Marty Fleckman (1967) and later repeated by Jim Benepe (1988), Robert Gamez (1990), Garrett Willis (2001), and Russell Henley (2013). Following five runner-up finishes in major championships without a victory, including losing a sudden-death playoff for the 1979 PGA Championship, in 1984 he won The Masters. In the mid-1980s, he suffered from Graves' disease, a disease of the thyroid, but he continued to accumulate victories, finishing with 19 on the PGA Tour, including an emotional second Masters victory in 1995, which came a week after the death of his mentor Harvey Penick.

In 1999, he was selected as captain of the United States Ryder Cup team for the matches at The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts. He was criticized from some quarters for his captaincy over the first two days as his team slipped to a 10-6 deficit; however, he was ultimately credited for providing the inspiration behind his side's remarkable turnaround in the Sunday singles, as the U.S. won 8 ½ of the final day's 12 points to regain the Cup.

Crenshaw won several professional events outside the PGA Tour, including individual and team titles in the World Cup of Golf in 1988. He spent 80 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 1987 to 1989.

Crenshaw is widely regarded as one of the best putters in golf history. His instructor growing up, Harvey Penick, taught him a smooth, effortless stroke on the greens, which allowed him to master even the speediest of greens-including those at Augusta National Golf Club. In winning the Masters in 1995, "Gentle Ben" did not record a single three-putt during the tournament.

Since 1986, Crenshaw has been a partner with Bill Coore in Coore & Crenshaw, a golf course design firm.

The 2015 Masters was the 44th and final for Crenshaw.

Amateur wins (13)

• 1968 International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament
• 1971 NCAA Championship, Eastern Amateur, Southern Amateur
• 1972 NCAA Championship (tie with Tom Kite), Eastern Amateur, Porter Cup, Trans-Mississippi Amateur
• 1973 NCAA Championship, Western Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur, Southern Amateur, Northeast Amateur

Professional wins (29)

PGA Tour wins (19)

Legend

Major championships (2)

Other PGA Tour (17)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Nov 4, 1973	San Antonio Texas Open	−14 (65-72-66-67=270)	2 strokes	Orville Moody
2	Jan 25, 1976	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	−7 (75-67-70-69=281)	2 strokes	Mike Morley
3	Feb 1, 1976	Hawaiian Open	−18 (70-69-65-66=270)	4 strokes	Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson
4	Sep 19, 1976	Ohio Kings Island Open	−9 (69-69-67-66=271)	1 stroke	Andy North
5	May 15, 1977	Colonial National Invitation	−8 (65-70-68-69=272)	1 stroke	John Schroeder
6	Jan 22, 1979	Phoenix Open	−14 (67-61-71=199)	1 stroke	Jay Haas
7	Oct 28, 1979	Walt Disney World National Team Championship (with George Burns)	−33 (62-66-62-65=255)	3 strokes	Peter Jacobsen & D. A. Weibring Jeff Hewes & Sammy Rachels Scott Bess & Dan Halldorson
8	Sep 28, 1980	Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	−16 (66-67-68-71=272)	4 strokes	Jack Renner
9	May 1, 1983	Byron Nelson Golf Classic	−7 (71-69-67-66=273)	1 stroke	Brad Bryant, Hal Sutton
10	Apr 15, 1984	Masters Tournament	−11 (67-72-70-68=277)	2 strokes	Tom Watson
11	Jul 27, 1986	Buick Open	−18 (69-67-66-68=270)	1 stroke	J. C. Snead, Doug Tewell
12	Oct 26, 1986	Vantage Championship	−14 (65-67-64=196)	1 stroke	Payne Stewart
13	Mar 22, 1987	USF&G Classic	−20 (66-68-67-67=268)	3 strokes	Curtis Strange
14	Mar 6, 1988	Doral-Ryder Open	−14 (70-69-69-66=274)	1 stroke	Chip Beck, Mark McCumber
15	May 20, 1990	Southwestern Bell Colonial	−8 (69-65-72-66=272)	3 strokes	John Mahaffey, Corey Pavin, Nick Price
16	Jul 5, 1992	Centel Western Open	−12 (70-72-65-69=276)	1 stroke	Greg Norman
17	Mar 21, 1993	Nestle Invitational	−8 (71-70-69-70=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III, Rocco Mediate, Vijay Singh
18	Apr 3, 1994	Freeport-McMoRan Classic	−15 (69-68-68-68=273)	3 strokes	José María Olazábal
19	Apr 9, 1995	Masters Tournament	−14 (70-67-69-68=274)	1 stroke	Davis Love III

PGA Tour playoff record (0-8)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1978	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	Tom Watson	Lost to par on second extra hole
2	1979	Western Open	Larry Nelson	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3	1979	PGA Championship	David Graham	Lost to birdie on third extra hole
4	1981	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	Bobby Clampett, John Cook Hale Irwin, Barney Thompson	Cook won with par on third extra hole Clampett, Crenshaw, and Thompson eliminated with birdie on first hole
5	1981	Texas Open	Bill Rogers	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
6	1987	Los Angeles Open	Chen Tze-chung	Lost to par on first extra hole
7	1989	NEC World Series of Golf	David Frost	Lost to par on second extra hole
8	1992	GTE Byron Nelson Classic	Billy Ray Brown, Raymond Floyd, Bruce Lietzke	Brown won with birdie on first extra hole

European Tour wins (1)

• 1976 Irish Open

Other wins (8)

• 1975 Texas State Open
• 1979 Texas State Open
• 1980 Texas State Open
• 1981 Mexican Open
• 1985 Shootout at Jeremy Ranch (with Miller Barber)
• 1988 World Cup (individual title and team title with Mark McCumber)
• 1991 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Paul Azinger)
• 1995 PGA Grand Slam of Golf

Senior wins (1)

• 2009 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with Fuzzy Zoeller)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1984	Masters Tournament	2 shot deficit	−11 (67-72-70-68=277)	2 strokes	Tom Watson
1995	Masters Tournament	Tied for lead	−14 (70-67-69-68=274)	1 stroke	Davis Love III

Results timeline

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	T19 LA	T24 LA	T22	T30	2	T8	T37	CUT
U.S. Open	T36 LA	T27	CUT	CUT	DNP	T3	T8	T49	CUT	T11
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T28	DNP	DNP	T5	T2	T2
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T63	T10	T8	DNP	T16	2

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	T6	T8	T24	T2	1	T57	T16	T4	4	T3
U.S. Open	T32	T11	T19	CUT	CUT	CUT	T6	T4	T12	CUT
The Open Championship	3	T8	T15	CUT	T22	T35	T21	T4	T16	T52
PGA Championship	T41	CUT	CUT	T9	CUT	T59	T11	T7	T17	T17

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	T14	T3	46	CUT	T18	1	CUT	45	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	T33	T71	CUT	T65	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	T31	T80	DNP	CUT	T77	T15	T27	DNP	CUT	DNP
PGA Championship	T31	WD	T73	T61	T9	T44	T69	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	47	T55	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	WD	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

LA = Low amateur
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	2	2	2	8	11	18	44	25
U.S. Open	0	0	1	2	4	8	26	15
The Open Championship	0	2	1	5	6	11	21	18
PGA Championship	0	1	0	1	6	10	26	18
Totals	2	5	4	16	27	47	117	76

• Most consecutive cuts made - 13 (twice)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 6 (1975 U.S. Open - 1977 Masters)

Notable

• He played on four Ryder Cup teams (1981, 1983, 1987, 1995) and captained the 1999 team.
• In 1987, he became one of the few players in history to record top-10 finishes in all four major championships in the same season. Ed Dudley, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Doug Sanders, Miller Barber, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Sergio García, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, and Vijay Singh have also achieved the feat.
• In 1991, Crenshaw was given the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
• His stepmother, Roberta Crenshaw, was an Austin-area philanthropist.
• He is now a noted golf course designer, working in partnership with Bill Coore.
• He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.
• He is the 2006 Kappa Alpha Order Sportsman of the Year.
• "If we are to preserve the integrity of golf as left to use by our forefathers, it is up to all of us to carry on the true spirit of the game."

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy: 1972 (winners)

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1981 (winners), 1983 (winners), 1987, 1995, 1999 (winners, non-playing captain)
• World Cup: 1987, 1988 (winners, individual winner)
• Dunhill Cup: 1995

[ Source: Wikipedia ]