Jim Colbert, a winner eight times on the PGA TOUR and 20 times on PGA TOUR Champions, died May 10, 2026, at age 85.
Colbert was born March 9, 1941, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and built a career that stretched from college golf at Kansas State University to one of the most recognizable runs in senior golf. He also carried a piece of his own legend with him: the bucket hat he began wearing after nearly collapsing from sunstroke in Kansas in 1957.
He won 28 combined PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions titles, but the path to that total was anything but smooth. Colbert earned a football scholarship to Kansas State, married Marcia at 17 and was the runner-up in the individual portion of the 1964 NCAA Championship before turning professional on the PGA TOUR in 1966. His rookie season brought only $1,898, and by 1967 he had tied for third at the Jacksonville Open, finished 46th on the money list and posted four top 10s in 13 events.
Colbert broke through with his first PGA TOUR victory at the weather-delayed 1969 Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida. He later won the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1972, the Greater Jacksonville Open in 1973, the American Golf Classic in 1974 and the Walt Disney World National Team Championship with Dean Refram in 1975. In 1983, he added the Texas Open with a 19-under 261 and the Colonial National Invitation, then finished 15th on the PGA TOUR money list with $223,810.
The hat became part of the story too. Colbert said he wore it because “Lee Trevino has his sombrero, Jack Nicklaus has the bear. I have my hat.” For a stretch in 1970, he wore a baseball cap for six months and discovered that nobody recognized him. “By the time we finished up, the only person around was the shoeshine guy, waiting for his tip,” he said of one round in disguise.
His PGA TOUR career ended in 1987 because of back pain, closing out a run that included eight TOUR wins, 20 PGA TOUR Champions titles and a reputation built as much on grit as results. He also left behind one of golf’s simplest lines from high school, when he told Marcia, “I’m going to marry you and take you places,” a promise his career ultimately kept.
