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Silhouetted golfer on the tee during the 127th British Open Golf at Royal Birkdale GC in Southport 16th-19th July 1998. (Photo by David Ashdown/Getty Images)
Getty
Silhouetted golfer on the tee during the 127th British Open Golf at Royal Birkdale GC in Southport 16th-19th July 1998. (Photo by David Ashdown/Getty Images)
Jim Colbert was easy to spot on a golf course. He was the one in the bucket hat. He had worn it ever since a doctor told him to after he collapsed from sunstroke at a Kansas tournament in 1957. He won eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions, including a senior major championship. He was still wearing that hat as he battled prostate cancer. Now, the man behind the hat is gone.
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The somber news came on May 10, 2026. Jim Colbert passed away at the age of 85. Born on March 9, 1941, in Elizabeth, Jim Colbert did not begin his sporting life on a golf course. He arrived at Kansas State University on a football scholarship, but a series of injuries changed the course of his career.
Eventually, Colbert walked into the athletic director’s office and asked whether there was a golf scholarship available if he gave up football. That decision marked the beginning of his journey in the sport. Colbert went on to finish his collegiate career at Kansas State in 1964 as the runner-up at the NCAA Championship before turning professional the following year.
His first season on the PGA Tour in 1966 was far from easy. He earned just $1,898 across 13 events and came close to losing his playing privileges altogether. But by 1967, he had steadied his game and found his footing on Tour once again.
Jim Colbert, an eight-time PGA TOUR winner who added 20 titles on PGA TOUR Champions, died Sunday at 85.
Colbert, born in New Jersey, played golf and football in his youth and received a football scholarship to Kansas State University. An injury ended his football career and he… pic.twitter.com/vjLaPOzwgS
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 11, 2026
He earned his first PGA Tour victory at the 1969 Monsanto Open in Pensacola. Wins at the Greater Milwaukee Open, the Greater Jacksonville Open, and the American Golf Classic soon followed. By 1983, Colbert was at the peak, capturing both the Texas Open and the Colonial National Invitation in the same season. He finished 15th on the PGA Tour money list that year, the highest ranking of his career.
Deane Beman, the PGA Tour’s transformational second commissioner who served from 1974 to 1994, credited Colbert as the best player director he ever worked with.
“He was the best player-director that ever served with me. He was interested in the entire Tour, not just himself, and that’s how he made decisions as a board member for the benefit of the Tour. There’s no telling where the Tour would be if Jim hadn’t been there.”
Written by
Edited by
Riya Singhal