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Bill Brask
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Jennings Brask Jr.
Born (1946-12-12) December 12, 1946 (age 77)
Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight209 lb (95 kg; 14.9 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceBloomington, Minnesota, U.S.
Career
CollegeUniversity of Minnesota
Turned professional1969
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
New Zealand Golf Circuit
Senior PGA Tour
European Seniors Tour
Professional wins11
Number of wins by tour
Sunshine Tour1
PGA Tour of Australasia3
Other7
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenT57: 1978
The Open ChampionshipT38: 1980
Achievements and awards
New Zealand Golf Circuit
money list winner		1975–76

William Jennings Brask Jr. (born December 12, 1946)[1] is an American professional golfer. Although he did not have much success on the PGA Tour he won a number of minor international tournaments. Due to this success overseas – where they used a smaller golf ball[2] – he was referred to as "the king of the small ball" by Lee Trevino.[3]

Early life

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Brask grew up in San Diego, California. He attended the University of Minnesota for college and played on the golf team. He was an All-American in 1967 and 1968. He won the Big Ten Championship in 1968 and finished third in the 1968 NCAA Championships.[3]

Professional career

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Brask successfully got through PGA Tour Qualifying School and played full-time on tour in 1970. He was paired with Arnold Palmer at the first event of the year, the Los Angeles Open. Despite being "nervous as a cat"[3] he played relatively well, finishing T-24.[4] He would record five more top-25s on tour in 1970[5] and kept his card.[3] In 1971, he made the cut in 7 of his 14 PGA Tour events but with no high finishes he lost his card.[5] He would not play full-time on the PGA Tour again.

Brask would have much better luck overseas. At the 1970 Dunlop International in Canberra, Australia he was tied for the lead in the final round and ultimately finished a shot back of Gary Player. He tied Lee Trevino and Kel Nagle for second. Brask was elated with his performance, stating "I'm so excited it is just like winning."[6] Later in the month he recorded a solo fourth at New Zealand's Caltex Tournament, three behind.[7] Four years later he won his first professional event at the Western Province Open on the South African Tour with a score of 280 (−4).[8]

Brask would have great success during the PGA Tour of Australia's 1975 season. In October he finished solo 4th at the New South Wales Open.[9] His first victory down under was in November 1975, winning the New Zealand Airlines Classic by a shot over Peter Thomson and four shots over Tom Kite who finished 3rd.[10] At the New Zealand Open he and fellow American Bruce Fleisher finished four shots back to Australian Bill Dunk. At the Australian Open he finished runner-up, three shots back of American Jack Nicklaus. This extraordinary play down under would help Brask a second place finish on the 1975 Australian Tour's Order of Merit.

This good play continued in 1976. On January 1, 1976 Brask fired a nine-under-par 61 at the opening round of the New Zealand PGA Championship. He held the lead through much of the tournament but New Zealand's John Lister caught him at the end of regulation. Lister would defeat Brask in a playoff.[11] Later in the month, he recorded a third place finish at the BP South African Open, three out of a playoff.[12] Much later in the year he finished a distant runner-up to Bob Shearer in defense of his New Zealand Airlines Classic title.[13]

His good international continued through the 1970s. He also seriously contended at the European Tour's 1977 Callers of Newcastle tournament, finishing two out of a playoff.[14] Brask won the South Seas Classic in Fiji in September 1977, five shots ahead of Guy Wolstenholme.[15] In March 1978 he won the Indian Open, shooting a final round 67 to defeat defending champion Brian Jones, Taiwan's Kuo Chie-Hsiung, and Australia's Stewart Ginn by four shots. Brask out-shot the trio of second-place finishers by 9 shots over the final round.[16] Three months later he was on the first page of the U.S. Open leaderboard. Brask shot an opening round 71 (E) to find himself in a tie for 5th, two back of Hale Irwin. He stumbled with a second round 76, however, and was not near the lead after that.

In 1978, with his touring career largely over, Brask took a job at Pauma Valley Country Club in San Diego. He moved back to Minnesota in 1980 and worked at Olympic Hills Golf Course until 1998.[3] In the winter, however, he continued to play overseas. He finished runner-up at the 1983 Singapore Open, losing in a playoff to Taiwan's Lu Chien-soon.[17] A year later he won the Hong Kong Open over defending champion Greg Norman.[3] After 1985 season, however, he would only record one more top-10 in an official regular event.[18]

In 1998, shortly after during 50, Brask gave up his job at Olympic Hills to compete on the European Seniors Tour.[1] In 1999 he had his three runner-up finishes in 16 events.[19] He also played full-time on the Senior PGA Tour in the United States from 2000 to 2002. His best finish was a runner-up to Larry Nelson at the Bank One Senior Championship in 2000.[5]

In 2002 he returned to Minnesota to work at Edina Country Club. As of 2018, he still works there.[3]

Professional wins (11)

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Asia Golf Circuit wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 Mar 12, 1978 Indian Open −8 (69-73-75-67=284) 4 strokes Australia Stewart Ginn, Australia Brian Jones,
Taiwan Kuo Chie-Hsiung
2 Feb 26, 1984 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open −12 (66-64-68-70=268) 7 strokes Australia Greg Norman

Asia Golf Circuit playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1983 Singapore Open Taiwan Lu Chien-soon Lost to birdie on second extra hole

Southern Africa Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 Nov 30, 1974 NCR Western Province Open −4 (70-73-68-69=280) 1 stroke South Africa John Fourie, South Africa Allan Henning

New Zealand Golf Circuit wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 Nov 16, 1975 New Zealand Airlines Classic −8 (70-68-67-71=276) 1 stroke Australia Peter Thomson
2 Dec 14, 1975 Southland Charity Golf Classic −4 (71-67-72-74=284) 4 strokes Australia Geoff Parslow

New Zealand Golf Circuit playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1976 New Zealand PGA Championship New Zealand John Lister Lost to par on second extra hole

Other wins (6)

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Results in major championships

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Tournament 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
U.S. Open CUT CUT T57
The Open Championship T47 CUT T38

Note: Brask only played in The U.S. Open and The Open Championship.

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1976 Open Championship)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Bill Brask – Bio". European Tour.
  2. ^ Wallace, Jamie (May 10, 2017). "Rules Throwback: One Size Didn't Always Fit All". USGA.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "The Unusual Career of Bill Brask". A Life In Golf. June 18, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  4. ^ "Past Results – Los Angeles Open – 1970". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Bill Brask – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  6. ^ Hourigan, John (November 2, 1970). "Two out of Two: Player takes one-stroke victory". The Canberra Times. p. 14.
  7. ^ "Two tie in NZ". The Age. November 23, 1970. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  8. ^ "Gullane post for Hume". The Glasgow Herald. December 2, 1974. p. 5. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Google News Archive.
  9. ^ "Gresham wins Open". Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). October 20, 1975. p. 12. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  10. ^ "Easzy N.Z. Win for Brask". The Canberra Times. AAP. November 17, 1975. p. 11. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  11. ^ "Lister edges Brask out". The Age. January 5, 1976. p. 21.
  12. ^ "Star Tribune 01 Feb 1976, page Page 42". Newspapers.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  13. ^ "NZ golf". The Age. November 22, 1976. p. 29. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  14. ^ "Fourie best of playoff quartet". The Glasgow Herald. August 1, 1977. p. 15.
  15. ^ "Brask wins his meal ticket". The Age. September 26, 1977. p. 31.
  16. ^ "Bill Brask Wins Indian Golf Tourney". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 13, 1978. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  17. ^ "American takes eight-stroke lead". Odessa American. Associated Press. February 26, 1984. p. 2. Retrieved May 20, 2019 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  18. ^ "Bill Brask". Official World Golf Ranking.
  19. ^ "Bill Brask – Record". European Tour. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
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