Billy Ray Brown | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Born | Missouri City, Texas, U.S. | April 5, 1963
Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
Weight | 205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st) |
Sporting nationality | United States |
Residence | Missouri City, Texas |
Career | |
College | University of Houston |
Turned professional | 1987 |
Former tour(s) | PGA Tour |
Professional wins | 3 |
Highest ranking | 54 (May 17, 1992) [1] |
Number of wins by tour | |
PGA Tour | 3 |
Best results in major championships | |
Masters Tournament | T19: 1992 |
PGA Championship | T40: 1992 |
U.S. Open | T3: 1990 |
The Open Championship | CUT: 1992 |
William [2] (Billy) Ray Brown (born April 5, 1963) is a former American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1980s and 1990s, and a current on course reporter for Golf Channel [3] and commentator for CBS Sports. [4]
Brown was born, raised, and makes his home in Missouri City, Texas. His father, Charlie Brown, [5] played football for the Houston Cougars football and professionally in the CFL and AFL. Billy Ray attended the University of Houston and was a member of the Cougar golf team. He won the 1982 NCAA Division I Championship as a freshman. He was also a member of the 1984 and 1985 national championship teams, and was an All-American all four years.
Brown won three PGA Tour events in a career cut short by an injury and subsequent surgeries to his wrist. His best finish in a major championship was T-3 at the 1990 U.S. Open, one stroke out of the playoff. [6] He had 17 top-10 finishes in 315 PGA Tour events.
After his playing days ended, Brown moved into the media to serve as an on-course reporter for ABC Sports from 1999 until 2006. In 2007, Brown joined the Golf Channel as an on-course reporter for their PGA Tour and Champions Tour coverage. [3]
this list may be incomplete
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jul 28, 1991 | Canon Greater Hartford Open | 67-72-65-67=271 | −10 | Playoff | Rick Fehr, Corey Pavin |
2 | May 17, 1992 | GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic | 69-64-66=199* | −11 | Playoff | Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Bruce Lietzke |
3 | Jul 20, 1997 | Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic | 69-66-69-67=271 | −17 | 1 stroke | Mike Standly |
*Note: The 1992 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.
PGA Tour playoff record (2–0)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1991 | Canon Greater Hartford Open | Rick Fehr, Corey Pavin | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
2 | 1992 | GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic | Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Bruce Lietzke | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Tournament | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | T42 | T19 | CUT | CUT | ||||||
U.S. Open | T3 | T19 | CUT | CUT | ||||||
The Open Championship | CUT | |||||||||
PGA Championship | CUT | CUT | T73 | T40 | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Donald Ray January was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1967 PGA Championship.
James William Nantz III is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has anchored CBS's coverage of the Masters Tournament since 1989 and been the lead play-by-play announcer on CBS's NFL coverage since 2004. He was also the lead broadcaster for the NCAA men's basketball tournament from 1990 to 2023.
Justin Charles Garrett Leonard is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship.
Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions. Formerly on the PGA Tour, he spent more than fifty weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 1995 to 1998. Elkington won a major title at the PGA Championship in 1995, and is a two-time winner of The Players Championship.
Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and TV golf analyst. He won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1988 and 1994.
William Charles Rogers is an American professional golfer who is best known as the winner of the 1981 Open Championship.
David William Feherty is a Northern Irish-born former professional golfer and current golf broadcaster. As a touring professional he won five European Tour events, competed at the Open Championship twice, and played on Europe's 1991 Ryder Cup team. Late in his career he joined the PGA Tour. Since retiring, he has worked as a television personality; from 1997 through 2015 Feherty served as an on-course reporter for the PGA Tour on CBS. In 2011, he introduced a self-titled interview series on the Golf Channel and subsequently joined NBC Sports full-time in 2016. In July 2022, it was announced that Feherty would depart NBC and become an analyst for LIV Golf.
John Drayton Mahaffey Jr. is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including 10 PGA Tour events.
Keith Carlton Fergus is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, the Nationwide Tour and the Champions Tour.
William August Kratzert III is an American professional golfer and sportscaster, who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour.
Blaine McCallister is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.
Joseph Brian Gay is an American professional golfer. During his career, he won five times on the PGA Tour. After turning 50, he played on the PGA Tour Champions.
David Ogrin is an American professional golfer.
Michael Dean Standly is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.
Robert Stanton Greenwood, Jr. is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from 1969 to 1975. He is a PGA of America Life Member.
Colt Knost is a retired American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour. Beginning in January 2022, he became a regular analyst and on-course commentator for PGA Tour events televised by CBS Sports.
Golf telecasts have aired on NBC since 1954, with some of its earliest telecasts having included the 1954 U.S. Open, and the first televised coverage of the Ryder Cup in 1959.
PGA Tour on ABC was the de facto branding used for telecasts of the main professional golf tournaments of the PGA Tour on ABC Sports in the United States until 2006. ABC broadcast at least one PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2009, focusing before 1995 on the majors, with the network serving as the primary television partner of the PGA Tour from 1999 until 2006.
Cameron Joseph Tringale is an American professional golfer. Born in Mission Viejo, California, Tringale was a three-time NCAA All-American at Georgia Tech. He was a member of the PGA Tour from 2010 until 2022, when he resigned his membership and joined LIV Golf.
Scott Alexander Scheffler is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is currently ranked world number one, first reaching the position in the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2022, and has held that ranking for over 80 weeks. He has won two major championships, both the 2022 and 2024 Masters Tournament. He became the first player to win The Players Championship in back-to-back years in 2023 and 2024.