Jim Colbert, renowned for wearing his bucket hat while winning eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions, has died at 85.
Colbert died Sunday, the PGA Tour said. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Jim Colbert became one of the most recognizable figures in golf thanks to his trademark bucket hat — a look that began out of necessity. As a teenager playing in a tournament in Kansas, he nearly collapsed from sunstroke. Doctors told him to wear a hat for protection, and he stuck with the bucket style for the rest of his career.
Born in New Jersey, Colbert attended Kansas State on a football scholarship before an injury pushed him toward golf. He quickly emerged as a top player, finishing runner-up at the NCAA Championship in 1964 and joining the PGA Tour two years later.
He earned his first PGA Tour victory at the 1969 Monsanto Invitational Open and went on to win eight times on tour.
Colbert also found success in the majors, recording two top-five finishes in 1974 — a tie for fourth at the Masters and a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
His best season came in 1983, when he won twice and finished 15th on the money list.
After turning 50, Colbert thrived on the senior circuit, winning 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 and underwent surgery to remove his prostate. Colbert returned to competition two years later and won The Transamerica.
Away from competition, Colbert built a successful business in golf. According to the PGA Tour, he bought his first course in Las Vegas in 1980. His company, Jim Colbert Golf, eventually owned 23 courses, employed about 700 people, and generated roughly $50 million in revenue.
Colbert spent much of his later life in Las Vegas but maintained close ties to Kansas State. The school’s men’s and women’s golf teams play at Colbert Hills Golf Club in Manhattan, Kansas, which he helped design and which opened in 2000.
He was inducted into the Kansas State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame in 2019.
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