Bruce Crampton


Bruce Crampton is an Australian professional golfer.

Early life and amateur career

In 1935, Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. He attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950.
In August 1953, Crampton reached final of the New South Wales Amateur Championship, losing 5&4 to Harry Berwick. As an amateur, he also had success at professional tournaments. In October 1953, at the age of 18, he led the Lakes Open after two rounds. According to Norman Von Nida, he was "probably" the first amateur in roughly 15 years, since Jim Ferrier, "to lead a big tournament after two rounds." In 1953, Von Nida also stated: "Crampton proves my prediction that he would become one of the greatest players Australia has produced."

Professional career

In 1953, Crampton turned professional, becoming an assistant to Billy McWilliam at Beverley Park in Sydney. His decision to turn professional came soon after he had been left out of the Australian amateur team to tour Britain in 1954 and play in the Commonwealth Tournament at St Andrews.
Crampton won the Vardon Trophy for the player with the lowest stroke average on the PGA Tour in 1973 and 1975. He had 14 career wins on the PGA Tour between 1961 and 1975 and was runner up in four major championships – one Masters, one U.S. Open, and two PGA Championships – all to Jack Nicklaus. He was ranked among the top five golfers in the world in both 1972 and 1973, according to Mark McCormack's world golf rankings. His other regular career victories included the Australian Open, New Zealand PGA Championship, Far East Open and the Philippine Open. As a senior, he won 20 times on the Champions Tour, and topped the money list in 1986.

Awards and honors

In 2001, Crampton was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame

Professional wins (45)

PGA Tour wins (14)

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11970Houston Champions International

PGA Tour satellite wins (1)

this list may be incomplete
Senior PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11988United Hospitals Classic

Other senior wins (2)

Tournament1960196119621963196419651966196719681969
Masters TournamentT16CUTT29T11T21T11T17T49T13
U.S. OpenT38T22T45T5T14T32T57T46T6
The Open Championship
PGA ChampionshipT17T3T56T20T43T26T23T15

Tournament1970197119721973197419751976
Masters TournamentT38T18T2T43T11CUT27
U.S. OpenT30T492CUTT23CUT
The Open ChampionshipT18CUT
PGA ChampionshipT6T57T242T482T38

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

Summary

  • Most consecutive cuts made – 33
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2

    Team appearances

Amateur
  • Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches : 1953
Professional
  • World Cup : 1957, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1972
  • Slazenger Trophy : 1956
  • Vicars Shield : 1956