Casper played on eight Ryder Cup teams, winning 23 ½ points, more than any other American, and he was the captain of the victorious 1979 squad. He was the PGA Tour player of the year in 1966 and 1970, won the Vardon Trophy for best stroke average five times, and was the tour’s leading money winner twice. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978.

Casper also won nine times on the senior tour, including two majors, the 1983 United States Senior Open and the 1988 Senior Tournament Players Championship.

“If I had to pick a man to play one round and my life depended on it, that man would be Billy Casper,” Nelson was quoted by The Deseret News of Salt Lake City as having said in 1970.

“Billy was a killer on the golf course,” the tour pro Dave Marr said, as related by the Hall of Fame. “He just gave you this terrible feeling he was never going to make a mistake, and then of course he’d drive that stake through your heart with that putter.”

Casper’s first major victory came at the 1959 United States Open at Winged Foot, in Mamaroneck, N.Y., when he set a tournament record with only 114 putts over 72 holes. Relying on his short game as well, he laid up in front of the narrow green on the 216-yard, par-3 third hole in each round, then got up and down for par.