Billy Joe Patton RIP

[Ed Oden]

This may have been posted previously, but I searched and couldn't find any mention.  Billy Joe Patton passed away this weekend.  Here is a Charlotte Observer article by Ron Green Sr...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/02/1949543/billy-joe-patton-nearly-won-54.html

Those of you who attended this year's Dixie Cup will remember Mimosa Hills as Billy Joe's home course and Kris Spence's remarks about working with Billy Joe on the course's restoration.

[Bill_McBride]

Ed, sorry to hear that.  As a real old guy     I clearly remember Billy Joe at the Masters with his swash buckling style.

Loved Mimosa Hills.  I'll bet old Billy Joe was long off the tee with a definite right to left tee ball.

[Chris Buie]

I did have the pleasure of meeting Billy Joe in the early Eighties at Grandfather.  He was a fine fellow and a devil of a player.  He had more authentic character and charm in his pinky than the bland, baseball hat wearing automatons that contend at Augusta theses days ever dreamed of.

[john_stiles]

Was lucky to meet Billie Joe at Mimosa as part of a large group.    He kept everyone entertained.

Also happened to need to call him one day.   Billy Joe won his first Southern Amateur at Holston Hills in 1961.   Local newspaper had a nice photo of Billy Joe that turned up about 1999.   I called his home in the late fall,  and lo and behold,   Billy Joe answered after one ring.  He  said    " Why sure I'll autograph that photo for Holston.  Get the photo to me in  two days.   It is now very cold in Morganton and I don't like the cold.    I'm headed down to Augusta for a bit, and then to Seminole for the winter so you better get to me soon. "     

I thanked him very much.  He returned it with a note on the photo,    "A wonderful day, Billy Joe Patton"

I just chuckled when I received the photo, picturing him driving down to Augusta and on to Seminole.    What a great amateur.

Lore has it that he was the only person who twice became an ANGC member.    He joined sometime in the 1950s. He later left ANGC maybe soon after Mr Jones passed away, and rejoined after Clifford Roberts passed away.


Chris,

A very nice photo .  Looks the like year BJ missed the Snead-Hogan playoff by one stroke.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ed,

In the late 1960's or early 1970's I was playing in the North-South Amateur.

At the player's dinner, they introduced the "stars" of the field, US Am Champs, Walker Cup Members, State Champs, etc, etc..

It was a pretty strong field.

Then, they introduced Billy Joe Patton.

As he approached the mike, everyone applauded.

He took the mike and said words to the following.

Many of you have asked why I haven't competed in the North-South Amateur over the last few years.
Well, the answer is simple, I never wanted to compete when my game wasn't at its best.
But now, I'm here."

And with that,  he sat down, followed by thunderous applause, hoops and hollers.

I watched him practice and play and he sure had a quick swing and plenty of swagger.

One of those legendary amateurs from a special generation

Doesn't Crenshaw tell a story of how he won the Masters after making a decision to lay up after seeing Billy Joe in the Gallery on 13 or 15 ?

[jim_lewis]

One of my favorite Masters memories involves Billy Joe. Some of you will recall it.

For many years I saw Billy Joe officiating on the 13th hole at ANGC. When Ben Crenshaw came to the 13th on Sunday afternoon in 1984, he debated whether to go for the green on his second shot. I happened to be standing next to Ben's father as Ben waited for the green to clear. He stood for a while leaning on the head of a fairway wood, still in his bag. Mr. Crenshaw said, "If he pulls that wood, I'm going to go tackle him.". Ben reported later that while he was considering his options, he spotted Billy Joe standing nearby. Ben remembered the story about Billy Joe losing the Masters when he hit his second shot into the creek on #13. He took his hand off the wood, pulled an iron, layed up and still made his birdie on the way to his victory. When he pulled the iron, Mr. Crenshaw whispered, "I didn't raise no fool!".

The world of golf and North Carolina, in particular, has lost one of its most colorful and beloved sports figures. Harvie has been gone a few years and now Billy Joe. Who's going to fill their shoes? Probably no one.

[BCrosby]

Great story Jim. Thanks.

One of my earliest memories was watching Patton at the Masters with my father. He knew Patton a little from some amateur tournaments in the 50's and was devastated when Patton lost.  

I saw a film clip of Patton's swing recently. I remembered it as being an odd, loopy swing. It certanly looked quick, but seeing it again recently it didn't look very odd at all. Am I getting that right?

Bob

[Bill Shamleffer]

One of my favorite Masters memories involves Billy Joe. Some of you will recall it.

For many years I saw Billy Joe officiating on the 13th hole at ANGC. When Ben Crenshaw came to the 13th on Sunday afternoon in 1984, he debated whether to go for the green on his second shot. I happened to be standing next to Ben's father as Ben waited for the green to clear. He stood for a while leaning on the head of a fairway wood, still in his bag. Mr. Crenshaw said, "If he pulls that wood, I'm going to go tackle him.". Ben reported later that while he was considering his options, he spotted Billy Joe standing nearby. Ben remembered the story about Billy Joe losing the Masters when he hit his second shot into the creek on #13. He took his hand off the wood, pulled an iron, layed up and still made his birdie on the way to his victory. When he pulled the iron, Mr. Crenshaw whispered, "I didn't raise no fool!".

The world of golf and North Carolina, in particular, has lost one of its most colorful and beloved sports figures. Harvie has been gone a few years and now Billy Joe. Who's going to fill their shoes? Probably no one.

The great addition to that story is that Billy Joe Patton later stated that he was nowhere near the 13th when Crenshaw made that decision to lay-up.

[Chris Buie]

http://www.thepilot.com/news/2011/jan/16/saint-billy-joe-was-one-kind/

[Steve Lang]

to put things into perspective, a time when a dollar was really worth something

1954 Masters Scores
Results from the 1954 Masters golf tournament played at the par-72 Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. (x-won playoff; a-amateur):

x-Sam Snead  74-73-70-72--289 $5,000 
Ben Hogan  72-73-69-75--289 $3,175 
a-Billy Joe Patton  70-74-75-71--290     
Dutch Harrison  70-79-74-68--291 $1,937 
Lloyd Mangrum  71-75-76-69--291 $1,937 
Jerry Barber  74-76-71-71--292 $1,041 
Jack Burke Jr. 71-77-73-71--292 $1,041 
Bob Rosburg  73-73-76-70--292 $1,041 
Al Besselink  74-74-74-72--294 $781 
Cary Middlecoff 73-76-70-75--294 $781 
a-Dick Chapman 75-75-75-70--295     
Tommy Bolt  73-74-72-77--296 $631 
Chick Harbert 73-75-75-73--296 $631 
Byron Nelson  73-76-74-73--296 $631 
Lew Worsham  74-74-74-74--296 $631 
Julius Boros 76-79-68-74--297 $562 
Jay Hebert  79-74-74-70--297 $562 
Peter Thomson 76-72-76-73--297 $562 
a-Ken Venturi 76-74-73-74--297   
a-Charlie Coe  76-75-73-74--298     
a-Harvie Ward Jr. 78-75-74-71--298   
Walt Burkemo  74-77-75-73--299 $442 
Pete Cooper  73-76-75-75--299 $442 
Marty Furgol 76-79-75-69--299 $442 
Gene Littler  79-75-73-72--299 $442 
Ed Oliver  75-75-75-74--299 $442 
Earl Stewart Jr.  78-75-75-71--299 $442 
Bob Toski 80-74-71-74--299 $442 
Jimmy Demaret  80-75-72-73--300 $333 
Vic Ghezzi 73-79-73-75--300 $333 
Dick Mayer 76-75-72-77--300 $333 
Gardner Dickinson  73-78-76-74--301 $333 
Jimmy Clark  76-82-72-72--302 $250 
George Fazio 78-79-74-71--302 $250 
Doug Ford 77-78-74-73--302 $250 
Fred Haas Jr. 76-78-78-70--302 $250 
Johnny Palmer 75-81-77-69--302 $250 
Clarence Doser 74-78-72-79--303 $250 
Lawson Little  76-77-74-76--303 $250 
Al Mengert  76-79-73-75--303 $250 
Skee Riegel  75-76-76-76--303 $250 
Horton Smith  80-78-71-74--303 $250 
Billy Maxwell  75-77-77-75--304 $250 
a-Frank Stranahan 79-75-72-78--304   
Felice Torza  74-78-74-78--304 $250 
Skip Alexander 80-77-73-75--305 $250 
a-Bruce Cudd  76-78-73-78--305     
Leland Gibson  75-77-78-75--305 $250 
Bud Holscher 78-77-73-77--305 $250 
Bill Nary  78-74-78-75--305 $250 
a-Bill Campbell  73-77-75-81--306   
Ted Kroll 78-76-75-77--306 $250 
a-Arnold Blum  75-82-75-75--307   
Dave Douglas  72-76-77-82--307 $250 
Claude Harmon 77-75-77-78--307 $250 
Jack Isaacs 76-79-76-76--307 $250 
Gene Sarazen  79-75-78-75--307 $250 
a-Don Cherry  80-79-74-76--309     
Fred Hawkins  78-80-76-75--309 $250 
Bill Ogden  81-76-77-76--310 $250 
Johnny Revolta 81-79-75-75--310 $250 
Jim Turnesa  83-79-75-73--310 $250 
a-Bob Sweeny  81-76-79-76--312     
a-James Jackson  75-82-79-78--314   
a-Robert Kuntz 80-77-82-75--314     
a-Jimmy McHale  78-82-79-76--315     
a-Don Albert  77-79-83-77--316     
a-Angelo Santilli  79-81-82-75--317     
Denny Shute  73-85-82-77--317 $250 
a-Raymond Palmer 84-78-80-77--319     
Craig Wood  87-80-78-75--320 $250 
Sam Parks Jr.  86-79-79-80--324 $250 

[KBanks]

Look at the number of amateurs who played four rounds in the 1954 Masters.

Patton was said to be very long, with a special short game and genius for recovery. A marker observed him compete with Bill Campbell in a Seminole club championship round in the mid seventies. Campbell played well throughout and shot 68, bogeying 1 and 18 with six birdies. Patton shot 70 with 6 GIR. Patton's short game was described as "phenomenal".

Ken

[Bill_McBride]

Look at the number of amateurs who played four rounds in the 1954 Masters.

Patton was said to be very long, with a special short game and genius for recovery. A marker observed him compete with Bill Campbell in a Seminole club championship round in the mid seventies. Campbell played well throughout and shot 68, bogeying 1 and 18 with six birdies. Patton shot 70 with 6 GIR. Patton's short game was described as "phenomenal".

Ken

Ken, I think the entire Walker Cup team was invited in those days.

[Steve Okula]

According to an inflation calculator, the $5000 first prize money Snead won in 1954 would be worth $39,455 in 2009.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

The dollar wasn't worth all that much back then, but tour pros had to work for a living.

[Chris Buie]

There is a well done article about Patton in this months edition of a local magazine.  I think you'd probably enjoy it.
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4e6bc16c#/4e6bc16c/50

I stumbled across a memorable quote from Patton recently, as well.  It's from a speech he gave to a group up at Biltmore Forest in Asheville:
“I came pretty close to winning the Masters in 1954. But upon reflection, I decided it was probably a good thing that I didn’t...
I’m fairly confident I couldn’t have handled the fame, I’m pretty certain I couldn’t have handled the money. And I’m damn sure I couldn’t have handled all the women.”

[john_stiles]

Some of the highlights of his amateur career included :

Played in 9 US Opens, with his better finishes being  6th in 1954 US Open (low amateur),  13th in 1956,  and 8th in 1957 (low amateur).

Played in 13 Masters from 1954 to 1966.  Notable finishes included the famous 3rd place  in 1954 (low amateur), and there were also an 8th in 1958 (low amateur),  8th in 1959 , and 13th in 1960 (low amateur) .

Played in 5 Walker Cups from 1955 to 1965.

A listing of his USGA events and finish,  and his more notable amateur wins follows.  He finished 3rd in US Amateur in 1962 losing in the semi-finals.

Event / Year / Finish

U.S. Amateur  1949  33
U.S. Open  1950  FQ
U.S. Amateur  1951  17
U.S. Amateur 1952  33
U.S. Open  1952  36
U.S. Open  1953  54
U.S. Amateur  1954  33
U.S. Open  1954  6
U.S. Amateur  1955  129
U.S. Amateur  1956  17
U.S. Open  1956  13
U.S. Amateur  1957  65
U.S. Open  1957  8
U.S. Amateur  1958  33
U.S. Open  1958  FQ
U.S. Amateur  1959  17
U.S. Amateur  1960  33
U.S. Amateur  1961  17
U.S. Amateur  1962  3
U.S. Open  1962  FQ
U.S. Amateur  1963  33
U.S. Amateur  1964  9
U.S. Open  1964  FQ
U.S. Amateur  1965  19
U.S. Amateur  1966  26
U.S. Amateur  1968  8
U.S. Amateur  1969  FQ
U.S. Amateur  1972  23
U.S. Senior Open  1980  FQ
USGA Senior Amateur  1982  9

Played in the Walker Cup in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, and 1965. His match record in singles was 5-2 and foursomes was 6-1.    He has the Cup record  with his partner Charlie Coe for largest winning margin in their  foursomes  victory,   9 and 8 versus Michael Bonallack and Arthur Perowne  in 36 hole match in 1959 at Muirfield.  He was also the Walker Cup captain in the 1969 matches at Milwaukee CC.  US won 10-8.

Received the USGA's Bob Jones Award in 1982.

As to other well known amateur events, Billy Joe won

1947 Carolinas Amateur
1951 Carolinas Open
1952 Carolinas Open
1954 North and South Amateur
1958 Carolinas Amateur
1961 Southern Amateur, Azalea Invitational, Carolinas Amateur
1962 North and South Amateur
1963 North and South Amateur
1964 North Carolina Amateur
1965 Southern Amateur
1969 Carolinas Father  Son
1972 Carolinas Father  Son
1973 Carolinas Senior Four Ball
1979 Carolinas Senior Amateur
1981 Carolinas Senior Amateur

[Carl Johnson]

According to an inflation calculator, the $5000 first prize money Snead won in 1954 would be worth $39,455 in 2009.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

The dollar wasn't worth all that much back then, but tour pros had to work for a living.

The U.S. DOL Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI calculator gives you about the same number -- $39,877.  Shocking the change in what the star golf jocks can make today.  Are they giving us our money's worth?  I think not.  Discuss.

[Rick Shefchik]

Look at the number of amateurs who played four rounds in the 1954 Masters.

Patton was said to be very long, with a special short game and genius for recovery. A marker observed him compete with Bill Campbell in a Seminole club championship round in the mid seventies. Campbell played well throughout and shot 68, bogeying 1 and 18 with six birdies. Patton shot 70 with 6 GIR. Patton's short game was described as "phenomenal".

Ken

Ken, I think the entire Walker Cup team was invited in those days.

In addition, they were probably still inviting all eight quarter-finalists of the previous year's U.S. Amateur. I know they were doing that as of 1950, when the Am was played at Minneapolis Golf Club.

[John_Conley]

I was fortunate to caddie for Billy Joe twice.  He was a USGA guy that attended the 1986 Senior Amateur (where he had to answer to several people that said, "you should be playing") and the 1993 Walker Cup.

The first time was at Minikahda and the second was at Woodhill.  Quiet for most of the round, he at some point muttered, "13," while pointing to a nearby fairway. 

"What?" someone asked.

"That's 13."  And then he proceeded to regale the group with a story about his match in a long-ago Walker Cup.  If I remember correctly, it involved falling way down and coming back after lunch with a huge comeback.  The hole he singled out was memorable to him because he played the wrong fairway and made birdie or something.

The other thing I remember was him speaking about a change in business philosophy after heart trouble.

"I hahd some probbums with my tickah, so I decided I had to stop doing bidniss with them summanubicches.  Then I found out those summanubicches wuz seventy percent of my bidniss!"

[Chris Buie]

Here's a letter from Eisenhower (while he was President) to Cliff Roberts which adds a bit of texture to the Billy Joe folk story.  It goes to show one of the greatest aspects of golf.  Through the game you get to meet great people you probably wouldn't have met otherwise.  Consider about the value of that.  I doubt a guy named Billy Joe from the back woods of some Southern state would be convening with people as profound as Eisenhower or Bobby Jones otherwise.



Apparently Mr. Patton was particularly close to Bobby Jones.  In addition to sitting in for Jones during some of the Masters presentations, he accompanied Jones to that extraordinary event in 1958 at the home of golf. 

Here's your GCA photo of his notable visit to the creek on 13 during the final round of the '54 Masters.  The hazard certainly has a different look and play from the ultra manicured affair we see today.