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More golf notables who passed away in 2022

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Bart Bryant, former New Mexico State University Aggie golfer, lost his life in a tragic auto accident in Florida on May 31, 2022. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Bryant and his wife were waiting in their SUV as construction crews stopped traffic when they were hit from behind by a pickup truck traveling at 60 mph. Bryant played for NMSU men’s golf coach Herb Wimberly and was a two-time All-American before turning pro in 1986. He won three times on the PGA Tour, but not before he turned 40. His first tour victory was in the 2004 Texas Open at age 41, where he shot a third round of 60 in San Antonio, on his way to winning in his 187th tour start. He won twice in 2005. He captured The Memorial (hosted by Jack Nicklaus) by four shots over Tiger Woods. Then he won the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake by six over Woods, with a course record 62 in the first round. He is survived by his brother Brad Bryant (also former PGA Tour player), his wife and two daughters. He was 59.

Longtime PGA Tour pro Bob Goalby died at 92 on Jan. 20, 2022. Goalby won 11 professional tournaments and remarkably had 101 top 10 finishes in his pro career. But Goalby is best remembered for his strange and controversial Masters victory in 1968. In the final round, Roberto De Vicenzo from Argentina technically tied Goalby, however, he signed his score card as one behind Goalby. The two should have been in a playoff but the “Rules of Golf” prevailed.

Another longtime PGA Tour pro, Dow Finsterwald, died at 93 in his home in Colorado Springs. After graduating from Ohio University in 1952, and then completing a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he turned pro in 1955. Finsterwald played the tour for three decades (1950s to 1970s), establishing himself as one of the best golfers in his era. He won 12 tour tournaments, including one major – the 1958 PGA Championship, beating Billy Casper by two shots. He had fond memories of Ryder Cup matches, playing on four winning teams (1957, ’59, ’61, and ’63), compiling a 9-3-1 match play record, and later captaining another victorious American team in 1977. In 1962, he and Gary Player lost to Arnold Palmer in the Masters, and he and Palmer remained close lifelong friends.  His son, Dow Finsterwald, Jr., head pro at famed Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, said of his father, “He did all he could for the game.”

A name most current golfers are not familiar with is Shirley Spork, who was one of the original 13 founders of the LPGA in 1950. Spork died April 12, 2022, in Palm Springs, California, at 94. Spork grew up in Redford, Michigan (suburban Detroit), where her home was next to a golf course. She started selling golf balls that landed in the family garden, using her savings to buy a putter at a local thrift shop. She learned to play as a teen and went on to win the 1947 National Collegiate Golf Championship as a student at Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) well before Title IX was enacted. As a professional golfer she played numerous LPGA tournaments, and had top 10 finishes in both the 1962 Women’s PGA Championship and the 1962 U.S. Women’s Open. But she found her niche as a teaching professional and was recognized as LPGA Teacher of the Year in 1959 and 1984. In 1998 she received the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award, the LPGA’s highest teaching honor.

Richard Sykes, legendary coach of North Carolina State men’s golf team for 46 years died Sept. 25, 2022, at age 78. Sykes was one of the first college coaches to recruit young, talented European golfers. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year five times (1982, 1988, 1990, 2000 and 2017), and he was inducted into the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001. The North Carolina State Wolfpack golf teams won 53 team tournament titles and qualified as a team in 12 NCAA Championships during Sykes’ career as head coach.


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