Bill Rogers (golfer)

William Charles Rogers (born September 10, 1951) is an American professional golfer who is best known as the winner of the 1981 Open Championship.

Bill Rogers
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Charles Rogers
NicknamePanther
Born (1951-09-10) September 10, 1951
Waco, Texas
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight148 lb (67 kg; 10.6 st)
Nationality United States
ResidenceSan Antonio, Texas
Career
CollegeUniversity of Houston
Turned professional1974
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins14
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
European Tour1
Japan Golf Tour3
PGA Tour of Australasia2
Other3
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT29: 1978
PGA ChampionshipT8: 1980
U.S. OpenT2: 1981
The Open ChampionshipWon: 1981
Achievements and awards
PGA Player of the Year1981

Rogers was born in Waco, Texas. [1] His father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, and Rogers spent part of his military brat youth in Morocco and Germany. Rogers began playing golf at age nine and later attended the University of Houston, where he played on the Cougar golf team and roomed with fellow future PGA Tour pro Bruce Lietzke.[2] As an amateur golfer, he played for the U.S. in the 1973 Walker Cup.

Rogers played the PGA Tour full-time from 1975 to 1988 and won six tournaments, including four in 1981.[3] Almost uniquely for an American golfer, his two most notable victories were in Britain: Rogers won the Suntory World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in 1979, and The Open Championship in 1981 at Royal St George's, four strokes ahead of runner-up Bernhard Langer. He was the PGA Player of the Year for 1981, and finished second on McCormack's World Golf Rankings; he was also on the Ryder Cup team in 1981.

In 1982, Rogers won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and led the U.S. Open during the final day before falling short. After one further PGA Tour win in 1983, Rogers' tour career faded to the point where he experienced burnout; he left the tour in 1988 and took a position as director of golf at San Antonio Country Club, where he worked for 11 years.[2]

Since turning 50 in 2001, Rogers has played sporadically on the Champions Tour; his most notable accomplishment as a senior player was winning the team portion of the 2002 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with Bruce Lietzke.

Rogers lives in San Antonio, Texas.[2]

Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

Professional wins (14)

PGA Tour wins (6)
Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Feb 13, 1978 Bob Hope Desert Classic 69-67-67-67-69=339 −21 2 strokes Jerry McGee
2 Mar 29, 1981 Sea Pines Heritage 71-69-68-70=278 −6 1 stroke Bruce Devlin, Hale Irwin,
Gil Morgan, Craig Stadler
3 Jul 19, 1981 The Open Championship 72-66-67-71=276 −4 4 strokes Bernhard Langer
4 Aug 30, 1981 World Series of Golf 68-69-71-67=275 −5 1 stroke Tom Kite
5 Oct 4, 1981 Texas Open 67-66-70-63=266 −14 Playoff Ben Crenshaw
6 Mar 20, 1983 USF&G Classic 69-67-69-69=274 −14 3 strokes David Edwards, Jay Haas,
Vance Heafner

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1978 Western Open Andy Bean Lost to par on first extra hole
2 1979 Byron Nelson Golf Classic Tom Watson Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3 1981 Texas Open Ben Crenshaw Won with birdie on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Oct 9, 1977 Taiheiyo Club Masters 71-67-71-66=275 −9 1 stroke Mike Morley, Teruo Sugihara
2 Sep 7, 1980 Suntory Open 68-71-70-69=278 −10 2 strokes Graham Marsh
3 Sep 13, 1981 Suntory Open (2) 68-65-68-69=270 −18 2 strokes Norio Suzuki

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)
Legend
Australian Opens (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Nov 1, 1981 New South Wales Open 69-69-71-76=285 −7 3 strokes Lyndsay Stephen
2 Nov 22, 1981 Australian Open 71-69-69-73=282 −6 1 stroke Greg Norman

Other wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Oct 14, 1979 Suntory World Match Play Championship 1 up Isao Aoki
2 Mar 15, 1982 PGA Grand Slam of Golf 71 +1 5 strokes David Graham

Other senior wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (1)
YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
1981The Open Championship5 shot lead−4 (72-66-67-71=276)4 strokes Bernhard Langer

Results timeline
Tournament 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament T29
U.S. Open CUT CUT 61 CUT T44 T4
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT T42 T35
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Masters Tournament T33 T37 T38 CUT CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T16 T2 T3 CUT 57 WD CUT
The Open Championship T19 1 T22 T8 CUT CUT CUT
PGA Championship T8 T27 T29 CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000084
U.S. Open011334137
The Open Championship10012474
PGA Championship00001175
Totals1114693520
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 17 (1978 Masters – 1982 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1981 U.S. Open – 1981 Open Championship)

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Profile on PGA Tour's official site". Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  2. Stricklin, Art. "Bill Rogers Last Shot". Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. "Biographical information from PGA Tour's official site". Retrieved March 25, 2011.
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