Bobby Clampett

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Bobby Clampett
Personal information
Full nameRobert Daniel Clampett Jr.
Born (1960-04-22) April 22, 1960 (age 63)
Monterey, California
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight171 lb (78 kg; 12.2 st)
Sporting nationalityFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Residence Bonita Springs, Florida
SpouseMarianna Clampett [1]
ChildrenKatelyn, Daniel, Michael [1] [2]
Career
College Brigham Young University
Turned professional1980
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins3
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
Japan Golf Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T23: 1979
PGA Championship T27: 1981
U.S. Open T3: 1982
The Open Championship T10: 1982
Achievements and awards
Haskins Award 1979, 1980

Robert Daniel Clampett Jr. (born April 22, 1960) is an American television golf analyst, golf course architect, writer, and professional golfer, who played on the PGA Tour from 1980 to 1995. Clampett began playing on the Champions Tour in April 2010.

Contents

College and amateur standout

Clampett was born in Monterey, California. He attended Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California. He based his early golf training on the book "The Golfing Machine," by Homer Kelley, and he worked closely with golf instructor Ben Doyle, the first authorized instructor of the Golfing Machine. From 1978 to 1980, he was a three-time All-American and two-time Collegiate Golfer of the Year at Brigham Young University. His important amateur titles included the Porter Cup, the Sunnehanna Amateur, and the Western Amateur. He also won the 1978 World Amateur medal, in team competition for the Eisenhower Trophy and the 1978 and 1980 California State Amateurs. He was the low amateur at the 1978 U.S. Open and 1979 Masters.

Professional highlights

Clampett turned professional after the 1980 U.S. Open. From 1980 to 1995, he played on the PGA Tour. He won only one tournament, the 1982 Southern Open. He had almost three dozen top-10 finishes in his career, including nine 2nd or 3rd-place finishes, and had over $1 million in career earnings. His best finish in a major was a T-3 at the 1982 U.S. Open. He was a member of the 1982 World Cup team.

Clampett won an event on the Japan Golf Tour in 1981. He finished 2nd at the 1983 Air New Zealand Shell Open, an official event on the Australasian Tour. He recorded three runner-up finishes in a four year stretch at the Italian Open in the early 1980s. At the 1982 Open Championship played at Royal Troon in Scotland. Clampett opened with rounds of 67 and 66 and held a five shot lead going into Saturday's play. His lead had increased two shots by the fifth hole. Then Clampett drove the ball into a pot bunker at the sixth hole. [3] It took him three shots to get out. This sparked the beginning of a precipitous collapse by Clampett that saw him finish with rounds of 78 and 77 and finish in a tie for 10th.

Like his play at the Open Championship, Clampett's career precipitously declined after the 1982 season. After recording a victory and nine top-3 finishes in his first two seasons as a pro Clampett abruptly changed his swing with devastating results. [4] He would record only two top-3 finishes for the remainder of his career and would never win again. [5]

He did notably, in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach – his first event in 21 months – shoot 68 in the opening round, which tied him for fourth with Hale Irwin and Loren Roberts, three shots behind eventual runaway winner Tiger Woods. Clampett admitted in interviews to being emotional because of how well his opening round went, and although he did not shoot better than 76 the rest of the tournament and tied for 37th, he still enjoyed a warm reception from crowds throughout. [6] [7]

During his 40s, Clampett competed periodically on the Nationwide Tour, and qualified into a PGA Tour event in November 2008. He became eligible for the Champions Tour after reaching age 50 in April 2010. On May 14, 2010, he tied for the first round lead in his second tournament on that tour.

Broadcaster, author, designer

Clampett joined CBS Sports as an on-course reporter for the 1991 PGA Championship, and joined CBS Sports full-time as a tower announcer in 1995. Clampett remained stationed at the 15th hole during CBS telecasts until 2006. In 2007, he was replaced by Ian Baker-Finch, coming over from ABC Sports. Clampett continued to work online webcasts streamed by CBS at the major championships and on CBS Sports Network.

He was also the lead golf analyst for Turner Sports from 1996–2007.

Clampett and Andy Brumer co-authored the book "The Impact Zone: Mastering Golf's Moment of Truth", published in late 2007. Clampett has become involved in golf course design in recent years.

Clampett lives in Bonita Springs, Florida with his second wife, Marianna. He has three children from his first marriage: Katelyn, Daniel, and Michael Clampett; and Marianna has two of her own: Nicholas and Anna Suciu. [8] [9]

Clampett was in the audience at a taping of The Price Is Right in 1985. As host Bob Barker was about to make his "inspiration putt" in the Hole In One game, he decided instead to ask Clampett to come up on stage to do it. (Clampett missed his putt, but the contestant sank hers.)

Controversy

On April 11, 2008, Clampett apologized for referring to golfer Liang Wenchong as "the Chinaman" during the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Clampett, working the Internet broadcast of Amen Corner, made the comment after Liang missed the cut. [10]

Amateur wins (6)

Professional wins (3)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Sep 26, 1982 Southern Open −14 (65-69-68-64=266)2 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 1981 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am Flag of the United States.svg John Cook, Flag of the United States.svg Ben Crenshaw,
Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin, Flag of the United States.svg Barney Thompson 		Cook won with par on third extra hole
Clampett, Crenshaw and Thompson eliminated by birdie on first hole
21981 Buick Open Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin, Flag of the United States.svg Peter Jacobsen,
Flag of the United States.svg Gil Morgan 		Irwin won with birdie on second extra hole

PGA of Japan Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Nov 8, 1981 ABC Cup Japan vs USA −17 (65-66-71-69=271)7 strokes Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Akira Yabe

Other wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Jan 5, 1980 Spalding Invitational
(as an amateur)		−16 (70-66-65-71=272)2 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Mike Reid

Other playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
11979 Spalding Invitational
(as an amateur)		 Flag of the United States.svg George Bayer, Flag of the United States.svg Al Geiberger Geiberger won with birdie on first extra hole

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1981 Italian Open Flag of Spain.svg José María Cañizares Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament1978197919801981198219831984198519861987...2000
Masters Tournament T23 LA50CUT
U.S. Open T30 LACUTT38T3CUTCUTT37
The Open Championship T10T53
PGA Championship T27CUTCUTT28
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament 00000132
U.S. Open 00111174
The Open Championship 00001122
PGA Championship 00000042
Totals0011231610

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Bobby's Biography" . Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ Kroichick, Ron (February 2, 2006). "Blast from the past: Clampett to play at Pebble again". San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. ↑ "Breaking 90". Golf Digest.
  4. ↑ "Golf: Bobby Clampett ready to get back into tour golf, and help out amateurs along the way". Naples Daily News. February 16, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Bobby Clampett – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  6. ↑ 2000 US Open Film: "Tiger's Roar" United States Golf Association on YouTube
  7. ↑ 2000 U.S. Open Leaderboard The Golf Channel on NBC
  8. ↑ "A Conversation with Bobby Clampett" . Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ Hardwig, Greg (February 15, 2014). "ACE Group Classic: Bonita Springs' Bobby Clampett taking tour pro/TV analyst perspective to different level". Naples Daily News.
  10. ↑ "Clampett apologizes for description of China's Liang". ESPN. April 14, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
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