American professional golfer
William August Kratzert III
(born June 29, 1952) is an American
professional golfer
and
sportscaster
, who has played on both the
PGA Tour
and the
Champions Tour
.
Early life
[
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]
Kratzert was born in
Quantico, Virginia
[1]
when his father was in the service but spent most of his youth in
Fort Wayne, Indiana
, where he attended
Elmhurst High School
. His father was head pro for over 20 years at the Fort Wayne Country Club.
[2]
Kratzert won the Indiana State Amateur at age 16.
[3]
Amateur career
[
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]
Kratzert attended the
University of Georgia
in
Athens, Georgia
.
[1]
He was a distinguished member of the
golf
team and an
All-American
in 1973 and 1974.
[2]
Kratzert graduated with a
Bachelor of Business Administration
(BBA) degree in 1974. He turned pro in that same year.
[1]
Kratzert, after two failed attempts at earning his Tour card, quit golf and worked as a
forklift
operator.
[4]
After eight months at that job, Kratzert returned to golf and succeeded on his third attempt in 1976 to get his PGA Tour card.
[2]
Professional career
[
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]
Kratzert won four PGA Tour events in his career.
[3]
His most successful years in professional golf were 1977?1980 when he finished in the top-12 on the money list in three of those 4 years.
[2]
Kratzert's best year for
majors
was 1978, when he finished with a T-5 in
The Masters
and a T-6 in the
U.S. Open
.
[5]
His career earnings exceed
$
1.4 million.
[2]
He continued to play on the PGA Tour until 1997, when he went to work as a
television
golf commentator.
Since turning 50 in June 2002, Kratzert has played some on the Champions Tour with his best finish a T10 at the 2003
Royal Caribbean Golf Classic
.
[3]
Kratzert has worked for many years as a TV golf analyst for outlets such as the
Golf Channel
,
ESPN
,
CBS
,
NBC
,
Turner Sports
, SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio and pgatour.com.
[6]
Kratzert was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 1993.
[2]
He lives in
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
with his wife and three children. His sister,
Cathy Gerring
, is also a professional golfer and has won three times on the
LPGA Tour
.
Amateur wins
[
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]
Professional wins (5)
[
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]
PGA Tour wins (4)
[
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]
PGA Tour playoff record (1?1)
Other wins
[
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]
Results in major championships
[
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]
Top 10
Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
"Profile on PGA Tour's official site"
. Retrieved
January 14,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"King of the course: Bill Kratzert won four events and earned more than $1 million on the PGA Tour"
.
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel
. Archived from
the original
on May 22, 2008
. Retrieved
March 3,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Biographical information on PGA Tour's official site"
. Retrieved
January 14,
2013
.
- ^
Achenbach, Jim (April 7, 1978).
"Kratzert Patches Up His Life And His Game"
.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
. p. 1-E
. Retrieved
January 14,
2013
.
- ^
"Golf Major Championships"
. Retrieved
January 14,
2013
.
- ^
"Billy Kratzert"
.
- ^
"Indiana Amateur Championship"
. Archived from
the original
on September 24, 2015
. Retrieved
July 15,
2015
.
External links
[
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]