Ben Crenshaw Signed Autographed 2007 Augusta National Masters Flag scrip 84 & 95

Description

Born in
Austin, Texas
, Crenshaw attended and played golf at
Austin High School
and the
University of Texas
, where he won three
NCAA Championships
from 1971 to 1973. He was also a member of the
Kappa Alpha Order
fraternity. He turned professional in 1973.
In 1973, Crenshaw became the second player in Tour history to win the first event of his career; this accomplishment was achieved earlier by
Marty Fleckman
(1967) and later repeated by
Jim Benepe
(1988),
Robert Gamez
(1990),
Garrett Willis
(2001), and
Russell Henley
(2013). Together with his teammate
George Burns
, he won the 1979
Walt Disney World National Team Championship
in Orlando.
Following five runner-up finishes in major championships without a victory, including losing a sudden-death playoff for the
1979 PGA Championship
, he won the
Masters Tournament
in 1984. In the mid-1980s, he suffered from
Graves' disease
, a disease of the
thyroid
, but he continued to accumulate victories, finishing with 19 on the PGA Tour, including an emotional second Masters victory in 1995, which came a week after the death of his mentor
Harvey Penick
.
In 1999, he was selected as captain of the United States
Ryder Cup
team for the matches at
The Country Club
in
Brookline, Massachusetts
. He was criticized from some quarters for his captaincy over the first two days as his team slipped to a 10-6 deficit; however, he was ultimately credited for providing the inspiration behind his side's remarkable turnaround in the Sunday singles, as the U.S. won 81⁄2 of the final day's 12 points to regain the Cup.
Crenshaw won several professional events outside the PGA Tour, including individual and team titles in the
World Cup of Golf
in 1988. He was among the top ten on
McCormack's World Golf Rankings
from 1976 to 1981 inclusive, and returned to spend 80 weeks in the top-10 of the
Official World Golf Ranking
from 1987 to 1989.
[3]
In 1987, he became one of the few players in history to finish in the top ten of all four major championships in the same season without winning any of them.
Despite playing mainly in the United States, Crenshaw had a number of top performances in international events in his career. He won the 1976
Irish Open
and then finished runner-up to compatriot
Hubert Green
the next year. He also finished runner-up at two events on the
Australasian Tour
, at the 1978
Australian Open
and the 1982
Australian PGA Championship
. And he famously had two runner-ups at
The Open Championship
, losing to
Jack Nicklaus
at the
1978 event
and
Seve Ballesteros
the
following year
.
Crenshaw is widely regarded as one of the best putters in golf history. His instructor growing up,
Harvey Penick
, taught him a smooth, effortless stroke on the greens, which allowed him to master even the speediest of greens–including those at
Augusta National Golf Club
. In winning the
Masters
in 1995, "Gentle Ben" did not record a single three-putt during the tournament.
Since 1986, Crenshaw has been a partner with Bill Coore in Coore & Crenshaw, a
golf course design
firm.
The
2015 Masters Tournament
was the 44th and final for Crenshaw.
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