Pete Cooper (golfer)

Richard Bernice "Pete" Cooper (December 31, 1914 – October 8, 1993) was an American professional golfer. Cooper played on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s; he was best known for winning the 1976 PGA Seniors' Championship.

Pete Cooper
Personal information
Full name	Richard Bernice Cooper
Born	(1914-12-31)December 31, 1914
Died	October 8, 1993(1993-10-08) (aged 78)
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
Turned professional	1938
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	23
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	4
Other	18 (regular) 1 (senior)
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T12: 1956
PGA Championship	T9: 1953
U.S. Open	T4: 1953
The Open Championship	CUT: 1976

Professional career

In 1938, Cooper turned professional. In the ten-year span between 1949 and 1958, he won five official PGA Tour events and had runner-up finishes in the 1950 Houston Open and the 1955 Tournament of Champions. His best finish in a major was T4 at the 1953 U.S. Open.^[1] He helped a young Chi-Chi Rodríguez improve enough to secure a spot on the PGA Tour.

Cooper won the 1976 PGA Seniors' Championship at the age of 61 with a four-day total of 283 over runner-up Fred Wampler. The tournament was held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

He was also active in golf course design.

Personal life

Cooper lived in Lakeland, Florida, where he owned the Par 3 and Lone Palm Golf Club.

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Mar 6, 1949	St. Petersburg Open	−9 (68-67-69-71=275)	1 stroke	Cary Middlecoff
3	Jun 13, 1954	Virginia Beach Open	−13 (67-64-64-68=263)	1 stroke	Tommy Bolt
4	Mar 17, 1957	St. Petersburg Open	−15 (68-68-68-65=269)	4 strokes	Jack Burke Jr.
5	Nov 23, 1958	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	−19 (68-63-68-70=269)	Playoff	Wes Ellis

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1958	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	Wes Ellis	Won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1959	West Palm Beach Open Invitational	Gay Brewer, Arnold Palmer	Palmer won with par on fourth extra hole

Sources:^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Latin American and Caribbean wins (6)

• 1959 Panama Open, Puerto Rico Open, Colombian Open
• 1960 Jamaica Open, Maracaibo Open
• 1961 Panama Open

Other regular wins (12)

this list is probably incomplete

• 1944 Florida Open
• 1946 Florida Open
• 1948 Florida Open
• 1949 Florida Open
• 1950 Florida Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Claude Harmon)^[7]
• 1953 Metropolitan Open
• 1954 Orlando Two-ball (with Patty Berg)
• 1956 Michigan Open
• 1957 Florida Open
• 1958 Florida Open
• 1966 Florida Open

Senior wins (1)

• 1976 PGA Seniors' Championship

Team appearances

• Canada Cup (representing Puerto Rico): 1961^[8]