James Lacey Dent (born May 9, 1939) is an American 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.
Dent was born in the golf mecca of
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Geor ...
, home of the
Masters Tournament
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 ma ...
, though as an African American he wouldn't have been allowed onto the
Augusta National course at the time, except as a
caddie
In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives the player advice and moral support.
Description
A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the ...
. He caddied both at Augusta National and at Augusta Country Club as a youth. Dent attended Augusta's historically black
Paine College.
Dent turned pro in 1966. During his regular (under 50) career he was Florida PGA Champion three times. However he is mainly notable for his success on the
Senior PGA 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 ...
(now Champions Tour), where he won 12 tournaments between 1989 and 1998. Known for his driving ability, Dent was in 1974 the inaugural winner of the
World Long Drive Championship and would go on to retain the title in 1975.
Professional wins (16)
Tournament Players Series wins (1)
Other wins (3)
*1976 Florida PGA Championship
*1977 Florida PGA Championship
*1978 Florida PGA Championship
Senior PGA Tour wins (12)
''*Note: The 1990 Kroger Senior Classic was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.''
Senior PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)
See also
*
1970 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
*
1985 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
*
List of golfers with most Champions Tour wins
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dent, Jim
American male golfers
PGA Tour golfers
PGA Tour Champions golfers
African-American golfers
Golfers from Augusta, Georgia
Paine College alumni
1939 births
Living people
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople