Joseph William Conrad (March 14, 1930 – December 12, 2018) was an American professional golfer. He had a successful amateur career, playing in the 1955 Walker Cup and winning the 1955

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. He turned professional at the end of 1956 but had limited success as a tournament professional.

Amateur career

Conrad had early successes as an amateur winning the Mexican Amateur in 1950 and the Texas Amateur in 1951. He attended

North Texas State The University of North Texas (UNT) is a Public university, public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private Normal school, teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 y ...

, playing in the team that won the NCAA Men's Golf Championship in 1950, 1951 and 1952. He had further successes, winning the

Southern Amateur The Southern Amateur is an amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1902 and is organized by the Southern Golf Association. From 1902 to 1963, it was played at match play. Since 1964, it has been played at stroke play. In December 2021, ...

and

Trans-Mississippi Amateur The Trans-Mississippi Amateur or Trans-Miss Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and was first played in 1901. It is played at a different course each year that are located near or ...

in 1953 and the Southern Amateur for a second time in 1954. He was selected for the

Americas Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

team in 1954. In January 1955, Conrad was selected for the

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

team on the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

. He won his foursomes match but lost in the singles to David Blair by 1 hole, although the United States still won the match by 10 matches to 2. The

was played at Royal Lytham soon after the Walker Cup. Conrad met

Alan Slater Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * A ...

in the final. Conrad led by 4 holes after the first round but Slater reduced the deficit to 1 hole with 9 to play before Conrad won two holes to win 3 & 2. The following week he lost in the semi-final of the French Amateur championship to Henri de Lamaze. Conrad stayed on to play in the

1955 Open Championship The 1955 Open Championship was the 84th Open Championship, played 6–8 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Peter Thomson won the second of three consecutive Open titles, two strokes ahead of runner-up John Fallon. Thomson won ...

on the Old Course. He qualified well, tying for 4th place, but in the Open itself he only just made the cut after a second round 76, one of three amateurs to make the cut. Rounds of 74 and 71 on the final day lifted him into a tie for 22nd place and he won the Silver Medal as the leading amateur. In 1956 Conrad travelled to Scotland to defend his

title. He reached the quarter-finals before losing to Reid Jack by 1 hole. Later in the year he also made his second appearance in the

Professional career

Conrad turned professional at the end of 1956 and played on the PGA tour for two seasons. He had a top-20 finish in the 1957

Colonial National Invitation The Colonial National Invitation, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Charles Schwab Challenge since 2019, is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth at Colonial Country Club, which organize ...

and played in the 1957 Masters Tournament. Conrad received an invitation for the 1957 Masters as an

winner but from 1958 winners of the U.S. Amateur and Amateur Championships no longer received invitations if they turned professional, unless they qualified in a different category.

Amateur wins

*1950 Mexican Amateur *1951 Texas Amateur *1953

*1954

*1955

Results in major championships

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

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

: 1955 (winners) *

: 1954 (winners), 1956 (winners)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Joe American male golfers North Texas Mean Green men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from San Antonio 1930 births 2018 deaths