Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional

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 ...

er.

Early life

Crampton was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950. In August 1953 he reached final of the New South Wales Amateur Championship, losing 5&4 to

Harry Berwick Harry Williamson Berwick (23 April 1923 – 3 April 1988) was an Australian golfer. He won the Australian Amateur twice, in 1950 and 1956, and won the 1952 New Zealand Amateur. He won two open titles in 1956, the Lakes Open and the New Zealand ...

Professional career

Crampton turned professional in late 1953, becoming an assistant to

Billy McWilliam Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a yo ...

at Beverley Park in

. His decision to turn professional came soon after he had been left out of the Australian amateur team to tour Britain in 1954 and play in the

Commonwealth Tournament The Commonwealth Tournament was a men's team golf tournament between teams of amateurs golfers from Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It was played roughly every four years, in 1954, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1975. I ...

at St Andrews. Crampton won the

Vardon Trophy The Vardon Trophy is awarded by the PGA of America to the PGA Tour's leader in scoring average. When the award was first given in 1937, it was awarded on the basis of a points system. No award was given from 1942–1946 due to World War II. In ...

for the player with the lowest stroke average on 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 ...

in 1973 and 1975. He had 14 career wins on the

between 1961 and 1975 and was runner up in four major championships – one Masters, one U.S. Open, and two

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

s – all to

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

. He was ranked among the top five golfers in the world in both 1972 and 1973, according to

Mark McCormack's world golf rankings The McCormack rankings were unofficial world golf rankings published in Mark McCormack's ''World of Professional Golf Annual'' from 1968 to 1985, and were a forerunner of the current Official World Golf Ranking. Unlike their replacement they were ...

. His other regular career victories included the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

New Zealand PGA Championship The New Zealand PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is currently known for sponsorship reasons as the SEC NZ PGA Championship. History The tournament been played since 1909, with some gap periods. It was orig ...

, Far East Open and the Philippine Open. As a senior, he won 20 times on the Champions Tour, and topped the money list in 1986, but he did not win a senior major. Crampton was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 2001.

Professional wins (45)

PGA Tour wins (14)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

PGA Tour satellite wins (1)

* 1968

West End Classic The West End Classic was PGA Tour satellite event that was played at the Grand Bahama Hotel and Country Club in West End on Grand Bahama Island from 1967 to 1969. In 1970 it was replaced by a new PGA Tour event, the Bahamas National Open, which ...

Australian/New Zealand circuit wins (6)

''this list may be incomplete'' *1954

*1956

, Speedo Tournament *1957 Pelaco Tournament *1958

North Coast Open The North Coast Open was a professional golf tournament in Australia from 1951 to 1975. It was always held at Coffs Harbour Golf Club in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. It was a PGA Tour of Australia event from 1973 to 1975. The name "North Coas ...

*1971

Wills Masters The Wills Masters was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1963 to 1975. The Wills Classic had been held in Australia from 1960 and 1962. Total prize money from 1963 to 1965 was A£4,000. In 1966 and 1967 it was A$8,000 ...

Asian circuit wins (2)

*1959 Far East Open, Philippine Open

Senior PGA Tour wins (20)

''*Note: The 1986 Pepsi Senior Challenge was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.'' Senior PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)

Other senior wins (2)

*1987

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf The Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar is a golf tournament in Missouri on the PGA Tour Champions. Since 2014, it has been played at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale on the par-3 Top of the Rock course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and the 18- ...

(with

Orville Moody Orville James Moody (December 9, 1933 – August 8, 2008) was an American professional golfer who won numerous tournaments in his career. He won the U.S. Open in 1969, the last champion in the 20th century to win through local and sectional qua ...

) *1988

(with

)

Results in major championships

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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 33 (1961 U.S. Open – 1973 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Team appearances

Amateur *

Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played a ...

(representing New South Wales): 1953 Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Australia): 1957, 1963, 1964, 1967,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

* Slazenger Trophy (representing British Commonwealth and Empire): 1956 * Vicars Shield (representing New South Wales): 1956 (winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crampton, Bruce Australian male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Sydney 1935 births Living people