Jim Dent, the long hitter and one of the top Black golfers on PGA Tour Champions, dies at age 85

Jim Dent grew up in the caddie yards of Augusta Georgia eventually working at the Masters and honing his competition at the municipal module known as The Patch He went on to become one of the PGA Tour s longest hitters and one of the top Black golfers of his generation Dent died on Friday at age a week before his birthday his grandson posted on Facebook The PGA Tour revealed on its website that Dent suffered a stroke the day after Augusta National released plans for Tiger Woods to design a par class at The Patch What I learned about playing golf has seemingly kept me all through life Dent advised the USGA for a story in You had to be honest You had to work at it You just couldn t pick up the present day and not come back til next week And if you broke a rule you had to turn yourself in Dent worked hard enough on his match that he entered a scant United Golfers Association tournaments a league devote to Black players moved to California and took lessons from former U S Open champion Johnny Goodman He ultimately earned his PGA Tour card through qualifying school in and while he never won on tour he kept a full schedule of at least tournaments for the next years His best conclusion was in the Walt Disney World Open Invitational when he trailed Jack Nicklaus by two shots going into the final round Nicklaus shot and won by nine Dent won the Michelob-Chattanooga Gold Cup Classic in a Tournament Players Series event for players who were not fully exempt the tour had gone to the all-exempt tour that year instead of the majority of the field going through Monday qualifying Dent never met any of the qualifying criteria to play in the Masters but he made the cut in eight of the majors he played six at the PGA Championship five at the U S Open He was best known for his prodigious length and Dent won the inaugural World Long Drive Championship in After turning he won times on the PGA Tour Champions Al Geiberger stated after Dent shot to win his first Champions event Jim Dent ought to be outlawed for the way he can hit the ball A lot of people will remember Jim Dent for how far he hit the ball and he really did announced Miller Brady president of the PGA Tour Champions Yet his long-term success especially on our tour proved Jim was more than just long off the tee The fourth of six children Dent lost both parents by the time he was and was raised by his aunt Mary Benton She was opposed to him caddying at The Patch and informed him If you learn how to caddie you re going to learn how to gamble Kids think they re the smartest people in the world Dent mentioned in the USGA story Second thing I learned how to do when I learned how to caddie was shoot dice and play cards She was dead right He worked at Augusta Country Club and Dent recalled how caddies could play if they were willing to cut crabgrass out of the greens Among the players he caddied for at Augusta National for the Masters were Bob Goalby and Bob Rosburg Augusta named the road leading into The Patch as Jim Dent Way in as a tribute Two years later Dent was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame His son Jim Dent Jr now is the head pro at The Patch Augusta National is pouring backing into upgrading the municipal program under the work of architects Tom Fazio and Beau Welling It will include a longer conditioned program with a new short-game area and clubhouse Woods is designing a Par subject called the Loop at The Patch to honor Augusta National caddies who played there AP golf https apnews com hub golf Source