The list of golfers with Utah connections who have won tournaments on the PGA Tour is long and distinguished and includes Hall of Fame members Billy Casper and Johnny Miller who are also Major Tournament winners as is Mike Weir.
Regular PGA Tournament champions from Utah include Tony Finau and Jay Don Blake.
Club Professionals Bob Betley and Bruce Summerhays found fame and success after fifty and both won on the Champions Tour when their working days at Utah courses were finished and they had time to ply their trade at the professional level.
But, in the long history of outstanding players with Utah ties who have won at the highest level of professional golf, only one man has achieved that success, won on the PGA Tour while still a Club Professional, and competing with the greatest players in the world while holding down a full-time day job too.
Utah and Arizona Hall of Fame member, Bill Johnston, in a long, successful part-time playing career, was a contestant in over 400 PGA Tour events, every Major Championship including third place at the British Open, and almost 200 Champion Tour contests while still working daily as a PGA Club Professional at Golf Courses he helped design and build throughout Utah and Arizona.
A quiet, humble man who is loath to boast of his considerable accomplishments and achievements, Bill sat down with the Golf Guy, Jeff Waters after he finished playing 18-holes at age 95 and talked about his unique career rubbing shoulders with golf’s elite while working every day behind the counter of a golf shop for 42 years.
Please listen to that spellbinding and enthralling conversation here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
