Clyde Ellett "Tim" Collins, Jr. (July 19, 1945 – April 17, 2012) was an American professional golfer. He earned All-America honors two years at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

in the mid-1960s and went on to play professionally 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 ...

. He was a native of Christiansburg, Virginia.

College career

Collins was the first full scholarship player for

in 1964. At Tech, he played in the NCAA golf championship for three consecutive years (1965–1967). He earned third team All-America honors in 1965, and finished seventh at the NCAA tournament, leading the Hokie team to an 11th-place finish. He capped his career by finishing tied for fifth in the 1967 event, three strokes back of

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Op ...

(known then as a Colorado football star). He also earned All-America honors, this time as a second team selection. No Tech golfer had finished higher in the NCAA tournament through 2018. He finished 20th at the 1966 NCAA tournament. Collins was the first golfer inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

Professional career

First PGA tournament

Collins served three years in the U.S. Army after graduating from college. After leaving the Army in December 1971, he resumed his golfing pursuits as an assistant club pro in Greenville, South Carolina. In his first attempt at qualifying for a PGA event, he won the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Sectional Qualifying tournament for the U.S. Open, making him eligible for the 1972 U.S. Open. At the event, the first ever played at

Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Regarded by ''Travel and Leisure'' blog as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastlin ...

, Collins shot an opening round 79, eight shots off the lead set by Jack Nicklaus. On the following day he shot a 71, three off the best of the day carded by two players: one of nine golfers tied for tournament leader

Lanny Wadkins Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins Jr. (born December 5, 1949) is an American professional golfer. He ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 86 weeks from the ranking's debut in 1986 to 1988. Early years Born in Richmond, Virgini ...

, and

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

. He made the cut, and was just five behind the leaders going into Saturday, in a tie for 26th. He shot an 81 on Saturday, and was 60th going into the final round. On Sunday, he shot a 79, moving up to a 55th place tie for the week. Nicklaus bettered

Bruce Crampton Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional golfer. Early life Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950. In August 1953 he reached final of the New South Wales Am ...

by three strokes, winning his 11th major championship. Collins earned $890, compared to $30,000 for Nicklaus. Collins said in a 1973 interview that the money was enough to pay for his trip to Monterey, California for the "vacation" to California with his wife. (Note, in the detailed statistical profile of Collins' career, his participation in the 1972 U.S. Open is not included, even though it is included in the same website in the full results of the actual tournament. This is likely because he did not yet have his Tournament Players Division (precursor to the

) card.

Qualifying School 1972

Encouraged by his success at Pebble Beach, he decided to take a shot at earning his Tournament Players Division "card" in the fall of 1972, going through

Qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. He was one of 468 to begin the process. In September, he was one of 30 from the Eastern Division tournament held in Rockville, Maryland to make it to the national event at the Silverado Country Club, in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

. In total, 81 golfers took the written qualifying exam and played 108 holes to narrow the field down to 25. Larry Stubblefield and John Adams were the top finishers, and Collins was on the cut line and received his card for the following season.

Career results

In 1973, he played in a career-high 14 PGA tournaments, making the cut 13 times and carding two top-25 finishes. In 1974 he played in seven tournaments, making the cut in every attempt, and finishing in the top-10 two times, including a fifth place finish at the 1974 Kaiser International Open Invitational, played at the Silverado Country Club in

. He finished tied for 44th in the 1976 U.S. Open. He also played in five

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 ...

tournaments. He played in at least 38

events including the 37 listed in his PGA profile and the one 1972 U.S. Open which is not listed there.

Professional wins

''this list may be incomplete'' *1978

North Carolina Open The North Carolina Open is the North Carolina state open golf tournament, open to both amateurs and PGA professionals. It is organized by the Carolinas section of the PGA of America, and both state opens run by the Carolinas section, the North Caro ...

*1982

, Carolinas PGA Championship *1983 Carolinas PGA Championship *1984

Carolinas Open The Carolinas Open is a golf tournament played in the Carolinas, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is run by the Carolinas section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1923 at a variety of courses around both sta ...

U.S. national team appearances

* PGA Cup: 1977 (tie), 1978, 1979, 1984

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tim American male golfers Virginia Tech Hokies men's golfers PGA Tour golfers People from Christiansburg, Virginia 1945 births 2012 deaths