Jim Colbert, who became a beloved figure on the PGA Tour and later the PGA Tour Champions thanks to his signature bucket hat and eight Tour victories—along with 20 wins on the senior circuit—passed away, the PGA Tour confirmed. He was 85.
Colbert died Sunday, though no cause of death was immediately provided.
As a teenager competing in a Kansas tournament, Colbert nearly collapsed from sunstroke, prompting doctors to advise him to wear a hat for protection. He chose a bucket hat, which soon became his trademark throughout his PGA Tour career.
Born in New Jersey, Colbert attended Kansas State on a football scholarship. After an injury forced him to shift focus, he turned to golf full-time, finishing as runner-up in the 1964 NCAA Championship and joining the PGA Tour two years later.
His first PGA Tour victory came at the 1969 Monsanto Invitational Open. In 1974, he posted two top-5 finishes in majors—tying for fourth at the Masters and tying for fifth at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. His standout season was 1983, when he won twice and finished 15th on the money list.
Colbert was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996. After surgery to remove his prostate, he returned to competitive golf two years later and won The Transamerica.
Off the course, Colbert was an active businessman. According to the PGA Tour, he bought his first golf course in Las Vegas in 1980. His company, Jim Colbert Golf, eventually owned 23 courses, employed 700 people, and generated $50 million in gross revenue.
He lived his later years in Las Vegas but maintained strong ties to Kansas State. The men’s and women’s golf teams compete at Colbert Hills Golf Club in Manhattan, Kansas—a course he helped design that opened in 2000.
Colbert was inducted into the Kansas State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame in 2019.
