Professional career
In 1986, Benepe turned pro. The following year, Benepe played his first full-year as a professional golfer. He played internationally on the Asia Golf Circuit, PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Canadian Tour. That year, he won the 1987 British Columbia Open in Canada; and was the winner of the Canadian Tour's Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year awards. The following year, in February 1988, he won Victorian Open in Melbourne, Australia.
Benepe won the 1988 Beatrice Western Open, the first PGA Tour event he played in. [2] The tournament was held at Butler National GC in Oak Brook, Illinois that year, and he only got in through a last-minute sponsor exemption. Benepe used a local caddie, James Tunney, to help him achieve his victory. Peter Jacobsen double bogeyed the 72nd hole, which gave Benepe the victory. It turned out to be his only career win in an official PGA Tour event. He won the PGA Tour's 1988 Rookie of the Year honors. [3] He is still the only person to win a PGA Tour event on his first attempt and the only Wyoming-born PGA Tour winner.
Benepe left the PGA Tour at the end of the 1991 season after struggling the previous several years with back problems and technical problems with his game. After leaving the Tour, he came home to Sheridan and began working in real estate sales and promotions. After a long hiatus, he began playing competitive tour golf again in the late 1990s in Australia, on the PGA Tour and in about 15 events per year on the Nationwide Tour. [4] Benepe finished 26th on the Nationwide Tour in 2001 with 6 top-10 finishes and 16th on the Australian Order of Merit.
Today he works in the corporate world consulting in various aviation arenas and lives in Sheridan, Wyoming with his wife.
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