Bill Dunk

Bill Dunk
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Edgar Dunk
Born (1938-12-10) 10 December 1938 (age 86)
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Sporting nationality Australia
ResidenceGosford, New South Wales, Australia
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)PGA of Japan Tour
Far East Circuit
PGA Tour of Australia
New Zealand Golf Circuit
Professional wins51
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour2
PGA Tour of Australasia8
Other41
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenCUT: 1962, 1964
The Open ChampionshipT35: 1981
Achievements and awards
New Zealand Golf Circuit
money list winner
1972–73

William Edgar Dunk (born 10 December 1938)[1] is an Australian professional golfer.

Early life

Dunk is the son of a greenkeeper at Gosford Golf Club on the NSW Central Coast.

Professional career

Dunk won five Australian PGA Championships.[2] In addition, he won the New Zealand Open.[3] He won over 100 tournaments and broke over 80 course records, more than any other golfer in Australia.[1] In 1970, he led the world's scoring averages from Jack Nicklaus with 70.21 for 110 rounds.[1]

In 1970, Dunk set an Australian lowest-score record of 10 under par 60 at Merewether in the NBN-3 Tournament.[4][1][5] His course records include 61 at Maitland, NSW, 63 at Hastings New Zealand, 64 at Victoria Golf Club (9 birdies, 9 pars), then the lowest score ever played in the Australian Open - 64 in the Texas Open, 65 at Royal Selangor, 66 at Royal Sydney Golf Club and 66 at Kingston Heath Golf Club. In 1971, at Coffs Harbour he surged to 11 under after only 12 holes. He finished with 63, nine under par on the card. In a span of 30 months between 1967 and 1969, he won 25 tournaments and set 25 course records.[1] Dunk also won the Malaysian Open and the New Zealand Open.[5]

Personal life

Dunk and his wife Annette have three children.[1] He settled on the New South Wales central coast.

Professional wins (51)

PGA of Japan Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 14 Sep 1975 Sanpo Classic −15 (67-69-69-68=273) 2 strokes United States Lon Hinkle
2 13 Jun 1976 Sapporo Tokyu Open −10 (72-67-69-70=278) 2 strokes Taiwan Hsieh Min-Nan, Australia Graham Marsh

Far East Circuit wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 3 Mar 1963 Malayan Open −20 (66-71-74-65=276) 4 strokes Japan Tadashi Kitta, Taiwan Hsieh Yung-yo

PGA Tour of Australia wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 23 Jun 1974 Queensland Open +1 (74-76-69-70=289) 1 stroke Australia John Sheargold
2 13 Oct 1974 Australian PGA Championship −9 (73-68-68-70=279) Playoff Australia Ian Stanley
3 9 Nov 1975 Chrysler Classic −3 (70-70-73-68=281) 1 stroke Australia David Graham
4 18 Jan 1976 Australian PGA Championship (2) −7 (68-70-72-71=281) Playoff Australia Peter Croker
5 13 Feb 1977 Tattersall's Tasmanian Open −12 (67-67-70-68=272) 4 strokes Australia Mike Cahill
6 19 Mar 1978 Illawarra Open −5 (69-66=135)* 1 stroke Australia Colin McGregor
7 12 Oct 1980 Queensland Open (2) −9 (69-69-71-70=279) 1 stroke New Zealand Richard Coombes
8 15 Feb 1981 Victorian Open −11 (69-74-67-67=277) 5 strokes Australia Wayne Grady

*Note: The 1978 Illawarra Open was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (2–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1974 Australian PGA Championship Australia Ian Stanley Won 18 hole playoff;
Dunk: −1 (71),
Stanley: E (72)
2 1976 Australian PGA Championship Australia Peter Croker Won 18 hole playoff;
Dunk: −1 (71),
Croker: +3 (75)
3 1977 Forbes Classic Australia Terry Gale Lost to birdie on second extra hole
4 1977 New South Wales Open Australia Trevor McDonald Lost to birdie on second extra hole

New Zealand Golf Circuit wins (7)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 24 Nov 1964 Metalcraft Tournament −14 (69-65-67-73=274) 5 strokes Australia Kel Nagle
2 5 Dec 1964 Wiseman's Tournament −13 (71-70-71-63=275) 3 strokes Australia Len Thomas
3 8 Dec 1964 Wattie's Tournament −6 (68-69-68-69=274) Shared title with South Africa Cobie Legrange
4 19 Dec 1964 BP Tournament −16 (70-69-64-69=272) 4 strokes Australia Kel Nagle, Australia Len Thomas
5 26 Nov 1972 New Zealand Open −5 (70-70-71-68=279) 1 stroke England Maurice Bembridge
6 10 Dec 1972 Caltex Tournament −11 (71-69-68-65=273) 3 strokes Australia Jack Newton
7 24 Nov 1975 New Zealand Open (2) −16 (64-72-70-66=272) 4 strokes United States Bill Brask, United States Bruce Fleisher

New Zealand Golf Circuit playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1969 Vonnel International New Zealand Terry Kendall, New Zealand John Lister,
Australia Randall Vines
Lister won with birdie on second extra hole
Kendall and Vines eliminated by par on first hole
2 1977 Air New Zealand Shell Open Australia David Good Lost to par on first extra hole

Other Australian wins (22)

this list is incomplete

Other New Zealand wins (1)

Senior wins (10)

this list is incomplete

  • 1989 Australian PGA Seniors Championship,[10] New South Wales Seniors
  • 1990 New South Wales Seniors, Mitsukoshi Seniors (Japan)
  • 1991 JAS Cup Senior (Japan), Misawa Resort Senior Open (Japan), Ho-Oh Cup (Japan)
  • 1995 Australian PGA Seniors Championship[10]
  • 1993 Mizuno Senior Classic (Japan), HTB Hokkaido Senior (Japan)

Awards and honors

Team appearances

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Billy Dunk Player Profile at Australian PGA
  2. ^ List of Past Australian PGA Champions Archived 13 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ List of New Zealand Open Winners Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Nagle in by stroke". The Age. 16 November 1970. p. 26.
  5. ^ a b "PGA makes Golfing History at Sandhurst," Sandhurst Club, November 2008, docstoc (pdf).
  6. ^ NSW Open Honors List
  7. ^ "Forbes purse to Dunk". The Canberra Times. 20 February 1967.
  8. ^ "Pacific Open to Bill Dunk". the Canberra Times. 11 August 1970.
  9. ^ "Dunk, Abbott easy four Winners". The Canberra Times. 3 December 1971.
  10. ^ a b "Australian PGA Seniors Championship Winners List" (PDF). PGA Australia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 June 2021.