Jim Ferree, who was the winner of two PGA Tour Champions events as well as the 1958 Vancouver Open, has died on Tuesday. He was 91 years of age.
Born in Pine Bluff, North Carolina on June 10, 1931. His father Purvis was a long-standing golf professional and Ferree also played occasionally on PGA Tour between 1930s and 1960s.
Ferree was a North Carolina native and was widely considered one of the greatest tee to green players of his generation. It was difficult to put the ball in the hole. He wore his trademark knickers, and a flat-hat.
In 1981, he joined the PGA Tour Champions (then called the Senior PGA Tour). Deane Beman, then-PGA Tour commissioner, chose Ferree as the model for the knickers-wearing players on the Tour’s logo. This created a living logo. Ferree is frequently cited as one the key players in the launch of the PGA Tour Champions. After he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, the Champions tour awarded Ferree Comeback Player of The Year in 1993. He was victorious twice at that circuit, the 1986 Greater Grand Rapids Open as well as the 1991 Bell Atlantic Classic. In a career that ended in 2002, he participated in 407 events and had 12 runner up finishes. He was still active and played every year in the Demaret Division of Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. In 2003, he won that division with his partner Miller Barber.
He was still an active player on the PGA Tour Champions and became the head pro of Westmoreland Country Club, Pennsylvania. In 1991, he was inducted into University of North Carolina’s Hall of Fame.
