Al Besselink
American professional golfer (1923–2017)
title: "Al Besselink" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-male-golfers", "pga-tour-golfers", "pga-tour-champions-golfers", "miami-hurricanes-men's-golfers", "golfers-from-new-jersey", "sportspeople-from-camden-county,-new-jersey", "people-from-merchantville,-new-jersey", "1923-births", "2017-deaths", "20th-century-american-sportsmen"] description: "American professional golfer (1923–2017)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Besselink" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American professional golfer (1923–2017) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox golfer"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Al Besselink |
| imagesize | |
| fullname | Albert Cornelius Besselink |
| nickname | Bessie |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Merchantville, New Jersey, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Florida, U.S. |
| height | |
| weight | 220 lb |
| nationality | |
| spouse | Jo Ann Stillwagon |
| college | University of Miami |
| yearpro | 1949 |
| extour | PGA Tour |
| Champions Tour | |
| prowins | 18 |
| pgawins | 5 |
| otherwins | 13 |
| majorwins | |
| masters | T3: 1952 |
| usopen | T6: 1951 |
| open | DNP |
| pga | T33: 1956, 1957, 1964 |
| wghofid | |
| wghofyear | |
| award1 | |
| year1 | |
| awardssection | |
| :: |
| name = Al Besselink | image = | imagesize = | caption = | fullname = Albert Cornelius Besselink | nickname = Bessie | birth_date = | birth_place = Merchantville, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Florida, U.S. | height = | weight = 220 lb | nationality = | residence = | spouse = Jo Ann Stillwagon | partner = | children = | college = University of Miami | yearpro = 1949 | extour = PGA Tour Champions Tour | prowins = 18 | pgawins = 5 | otherwins = 13 | majorwins = | masters = T3: 1952 | usopen = T6: 1951 | open = DNP | pga = T33: 1956, 1957, 1964 | wghofid = | wghofyear = | award1 = | year1 = | award2 = | year2 = | awardssection = Albert Cornelius Besselink (June 10, 1923 – April 10, 2017) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s.
Besselink grew up in Merchantville, New Jersey. He attended the University of Miami and was the first UM golfer to win a national tournament. He won the Southern Intercollegiate Championship twice before graduating in 1949. He turned pro later that year.
Besselink won five PGA Tour events including the inaugural Tournament of Champions in 1953. The field was made up of 20 professionals, all tournament winners in the prior twelve months. With a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole, he finished with a 280, beating Chandler Harper by one stroke. Besselink was paid off with a wheelbarrow filled with silver dollars. He also had bet $500 on himself at 25 to 1, earning another $12,500. Because he had just heard that Babe Zaharias had been diagnosed with cancer he donated half of his $10,000 first prize to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund. Besselink and Zaharias had won the International Two-Ball Championship at Orlando in February 1952.
Besselink was called "Bessie" by the other tour players and was known for living life with a gambler's recklessness and a showman's flair. One famous example of his showmanship occurred during the third round of the 1965 Colonial National Invitation in Fort Worth when Besselink played the final four holes of his third round with a red rose—plucked from a bush at the 15th hole—between his teeth. Afterward, Besselink said the gesture was a nod to the "loveliness of Texas women in general and Fort Worth women in particular." The next day, locker room attendants presented Besselink with 50 roses sent by female fans.
In 2016, it was reported that Besselink, then aged 93, was living in a one-storey care home in South Florida. He was by then using a wheelchair and suffering from severe memory loss. Besselink died in Florida on April 10, 2017, at the age of 93.
Amateur wins
- 1948 Southern Intercollegiate Championship
- 1949 Southern Intercollegiate Championship
Professional wins (18)
PGA Tour wins (5)
::data[format=table] | No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Jul 27, 1952 | Sioux City Open | −22 (65-70-67-64=266) | 4 strokes | USA Jerry Barber | | 2 | Apr 26, 1953 | Tournament of Champions | −8 (72-68-68-72=280) | 1 stroke | USA Chandler Harper | | 3 | May 26, 1957 | Kansas City Open | −9 (70-67-67-75=279) | 3 strokes | USA George Bayer, USA Dow Finsterwald | | 4 | Dec 1, 1957 | Venezuela Open | −1 (70-67-69-73=279) | Playoff | USA Bob Rosburg | | 5 | Mar 30, 1964 | Azalea Open | −6 (70-65-72-75=282) | 1 stroke | USA Lionel Hebert | ::
PGA Tour playoff record (1–1) ::data[format=table]
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1957 | Agua Caliente Open | USA Ed Furgol | Lost to par on second extra hole |
| 2 | 1957 | Venezuela Open | USA Bob Rosburg | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| :: |
Other wins (13)
- 1946 Azalea Open (as an amateur)
- 1952 International Mixed Two-Ball Open (with Babe Zaharias), Colombian Open, Barranquilla Open (Colombia)
- 1955 West Palm Beach Open
- 1956 Havana Invitational
- 1960 Philadelphia PGA Championship
- 1961 Pennsylvania Open Championship
- 1963 Philadelphia Open Championship
- 1965 Caracas Open (Feb), Caracas Open (Nov)
- 1966 Philadelphia Open Championship
- 1969 Philadelphia PGA Championship
Results in major championships
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T20 | T3 | 9 | T9 | T63 | |||||
| U.S. Open | T12 | T6 | CUT | CUT | WD | CUT | CUT | |||
| PGA Championship | R64 | R64 | CUT | |||||||
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | |||||||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | CUT | ||||||||
| PGA Championship | T39 | 63 | CUT | T33 | CUT | CUT | |||||
| :: |
Note: Besselink never played in The Open Championship.
WD = withdrew
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Summary
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made | Totals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |||||||||
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 2 | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | |||||||||
| :: |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1950 U.S. Open – 1952 Masters)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)
References
References
- (April 26, 1981). "Conlin". The Sacramento Bee.
- (November 2000). "PGA Tour 2000 Official Media Guide of the PGA Tour". [[PGA Tour]].
- [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E16F83E591A728DDDA00A94DB405B848AF1D3 "Besselink Posts 65 for 135 Total to Gain One-Stroke Margin in Azalea Golf; Gajda is Second in $20,000 Event Besselink Gets 8 Birdies in Gaining Lead -- Four Tied for Third Place"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 29, 1964. Accessed November 26, 2007.
- "Al Besselink 1946 to 1949". University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame official site.
- Myers, Bob. (April 27, 1953). "Besselink Grabs $10,000 Prize In Champs' Tourney". The Charlotte Observer.
- (February 25, 1952). "Besselink, Zaharias Win At Orlando". The Atlanta Constitution.
- "Whoa, Bessie".
- [https://golf.com/news/from-the-mag-catching-up-with-al-bessie-besselink/ From the Mag: Catching up with Al 'Bessie' Besselink]
- "Albert Cornelius Besselink".
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