William August Kratzert III (born June 29, 1952) is 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 ...

and sportscaster, who has played on both the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

Early life

Kratzert was born in

Quantico, Virginia Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east a ...

when his father was in the service but spent most of his youth in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, where he attended

Elmhurst High School Elmhurst High School was a public high school with a comprehensive intake and over 1,000 students. Elmhurst High School was a part of the Fort Wayne Community Schools school district, serving those living in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne. I ...

. His father was head pro for over 20 years at the Fort Wayne Country Club. Kratzert won the Indiana State Amateur at age 16.

Amateur career

Kratzert attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. He was a distinguished member of the

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

team and an All-American in 1973 and 1974. Kratzert graduated with a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

(BBA) degree in 1974. He turned pro in that same year. Kratzert, after two failed attempts at earning his Tour card, quit golf and worked as a

forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...

operator. After eight months at that job, Kratzert returned to golf and succeeded on his third attempt in 1976 to get his PGA Tour card.

Professional career

Kratzert won four PGA Tour events in his career. His most successful years in professional golf were 1977–1980 when he finished in the top-12 on the money list in three of those 4 years. Kratzert's best year for majors was 1978, when he finished with a T-5 in

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

and a T-6 in the U.S. Open. His career earnings exceed $1.4 million. He continued to play on the PGA Tour until 1997, when he went to work as a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

golf commentator. Since turning 50 in June 2002, Kratzert has played some on the Champions Tour with his best finish a T10 at the 2003

Royal Caribbean Golf Classic The Royal Caribbean Golf Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from 1987 to 2004. It was played in late January/early February in Key Biscayne, Florida at the Crandon Park Golf Club (1997–2004) and at The Links at Key Biscayne (198 ...

. Kratzert has worked for many years as a TV golf analyst for outlets such as the

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

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...

, SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio and pgatour.com. Kratzert was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 1993. He lives in

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Ponte Vedra Beach is a wealthy unincorporated seaside community and suburb of Jacksonville, Florida in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located southeast of downtown Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jackso ...

with his wife and three children. His sister,

Cathy Gerring Cathy Kratzert Gerring (born April 28, 1961) is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. Born Cathy Kratzert, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, she played college golf at Ohio State University. Gerring won three times on the LPGA To ...

, is also a professional golfer and has won three times on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

Amateur wins

*1968 Indiana Amateur

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

Other wins

*1970

Indiana Open The Indiana Open is the Indiana state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Indiana section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1915 at a variety of courses around the state. ...

(as an amateur)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kratzert, Billy American male golfers Georgia Bulldogs men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golf writers and broadcasters Golfers from Virginia Golfers from Indiana Golfers from Florida American sports announcers People from Quantico, Virginia Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana People from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 1952 births Living people