Dave Hill, 13-time PGA Tour winner, dies

The Associated Press

JACKSON, Mich. -- Dave Hill, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour who made three Ryder Cup appearances and won the 1969 Vardon Trophy for the tour's lowest scoring average, has died. He was 74.

Hill died Tuesday in Jackson. He suffered from emphysema for several years, brother Mike Hill -- also a former PGA Tour player -- told the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot.

Hill finished second in the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine in Minnesota, making headlines for saying the course "lacked only 80 acres of corn and a few cows to be a good farm" and that architect Robert Trent Jones "had the blueprints upside down."

"What he said about Hazeltine was the absolute, honest to God truth," Mike Hill said. "Players like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player sat in the locker room and laughed. They knew it was true, but because of them not wanting to be involved, they would never say it."

In 1969, Hill won three tournaments, finished second on the money list and earned his first Ryder Cup appearance in addition to taking the Vardon Trophy with a 70.34 scoring average.