Jim Dent grew up within the caddie yards of Augusta, Georgia, finally working on the Masters and honing his sport on the municipal course referred to as “The Patch.” He went on to grow to be one of many PGA Tour’s longest hitters and one of many high Black golfers of his era.
Dent died on Friday at age 85, every week earlier than his birthday, his grandson posted on Facebook. The PGA Tour stated on its web site that Dent suffered a stroke the day after Augusta Nationwide introduced plans for Tiger Woods to design a par-3 course at The Patch.
“What I realized about taking part in golf has most likely stored me all by life,” Dent told the USGA for a story in 2012. “You needed to be trustworthy. You needed to work at it. You simply could not decide up in the present day and never come again ’til subsequent week. And when you broke a rule, you needed to flip your self in.”
Dent labored laborious sufficient on his sport that he entered a number of United Golfers Affiliation tournaments, a league dedicated to Black gamers, moved to California and took classes from former U.S. Open champion Johnny Goodman.
He lastly earned his PGA Tour card by qualifying faculty in 1970, and whereas he by no means received on tour, he stored a full schedule of a minimum of 22 tournaments for the following 16 years. His finest end result was within the 1972 Walt Disney World Open Invitational, when he trailed Jack Nicklaus by two photographs going into the ultimate spherical. Nicklaus shot 64 and received by 9.
Dent received the Michelob-Chattanooga Gold Cup Basic in 1983, a Event Gamers Sequence occasion for gamers who weren’t totally exempt — the tour had gone to the all-exempt tour that 12 months as an alternative of nearly all of the sector going by Monday qualifying.
Dent by no means met any of the qualifying standards to play within the Masters, however he made the minimize in eight of the 11 majors he performed — six on the PGA Championship, 5 on the U.S. Open.
He was finest identified for his prodigious size, and Dent received the inaugural World Lengthy Drive Championship in 1974.
After turning 50, he received 12 instances on the PGA Tour Champions. Al Geiberger stated after Dent shot 64 to win his first Champions occasion, “Jim Dent should be outlawed [for] the best way he can hit the ball.”
“Lots of people will bear in mind Jim Dent for a way far he hit the ball, and he actually did,” stated Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions. “But his long-term success, particularly on our tour, proved Jim was extra than simply lengthy off the tee.”
The fourth of six youngsters, Dent misplaced each mother and father by the point he was 12 and was raised by his aunt, Mary Benton. She was against him caddying at The Patch and instructed him, “When you learn to caddie, you are going to learn to gamble.”
“Youngsters assume they’re the neatest individuals on this planet,” Dent stated within the USGA story. “Second factor I realized tips on how to do after I realized tips on how to caddie was shoot cube and play playing cards. She was lifeless proper.”
He labored at Augusta Nation Membership, and Dent recalled how caddies may play in the event that they have been keen to chop crabgrass out of the greens. Among the many gamers he caddied for at Augusta Nationwide for the Masters have been Bob Goalby and Bob Rosburg.
Augusta named the highway main into The Patch as “Jim Dent Means” in 2020 as a tribute. Two years later, Dent was inducted into the Caddie Corridor of Fame.
His son, Jim Dent Jr., now’s the pinnacle professional at The Patch.
Augusta Nationwide is pouring help into upgrading the municipal course underneath the work of architects Tom Fazio and Beau Welling. It’ll embrace an extended, conditioned course with a brand new short-game space and clubhouse. Woods is designing a par-3 course known as the “Loop at The Patch” to honor Augusta Nationwide caddies who performed there.
