The Most Underrated Golfer in History... Buffalo Bill! Huh??
Buffalo Bill was introduced to golf by his father at age 5 and started his PGA Tour career
in 1955 at the age of 24, which could be considered a late start compared to today's
standards. Even with this late start he ended up with 51 wins on the PGA Tour, 6th on the all
time win list. Included in those 51 victories are two U.S Opens and one Masters. He also has
won nine Senior Tour Championships including two Senior Majors, one of them the USGA Senior
Open in 1983.
Buffalo Bill was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978 and the
PGA Hall of fame in 1982. He played on eight Ryder Cup teams and captained the 1979 Ryder Cup.
He won five Vardon Trophies, awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average for the
year, and was a two-time Player of The Year winner. In 1968 he was the first player to surpass
$200,000 in single-season earnings and won his second money title. He was also the second
player in history to reach the $1 million career earnings mark, Arnold Palmer being the
first.
These are the highlights on Buffalo Bill's golfing career. Only five people in
the history of game have accomplished more on the PGA Tour. Sam Snead leads the all time
victory list with 81 wins, followed by Jack Nicklaus with 73 and Ben Hogan with 64, "The
King", Arnold Palmer, has 62 and Byron Nelson has 52, to round out the top five. All five of
these great champions, as well as lesser-accomplished pros, are talked about all the time, but
not Buffalo Bill. For some reason his name only pops up occasionally. One would think that
with credentials like these, his name would be a household word at least through-out the
golfing world. Yet, for some reason that is not the case.
Heck his name hasn't even
popped up here yet! Who is Buffalo Bill?
Well for those of you that haven't figured it
out yet, it is none other then San Diego's native son, Billy Casper.
Why Buffalo
Bill?
When Billy Casper began a strict diet of buffalo meat, he went on a winning streak
- 51 PGA Tour victories in all - that assured him legendary golf status. This culinary
peculiarity earned Casper the moniker "Buffalo Bill." The rest, including the above-mentioned
Masters championship and two U.S. Open titles, is history.