Troy University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2018
It’s not often you find a team where the seniors look up to a freshman, but it’s also not often that you find a golfer quite like Ben Bates.
“His golf game was just that strong,” former Troy head coach and Troy University Sports Hall of Fame member Mike Griffin said. “He never found a golf course he couldn’t beat. He would prove it very shortly when he got on that golf course.
“He was never arrogant or egotistical about it by any stretch of the imagination. He was very confident about what he could do with a golf club. He’s one of the easiest going, fun golf players to be around.”
Few in Troy history have had as storied of careers as Bates. The two-time All-American won a national championship with the Trojans before embarking on a career in the PGA.
Success was immediate in his collegiate career as Bates garnered All-Gulf South Conference honors in his debut season as a Trojan in 1981 en route to being named all-conference in all four years he played for Troy.
While learning under what will soon be his partner in the Hall of Fame in Griffin, Bates became an instrumental leader on a team that went on to win the 1984 NCAA Division II National Championship; the first in program history.
His final two seasons in 1983 and 1984 saw the current Havana, Fla., resident named to the All-America team. Troy made it to the national championship in all four seasons Bates was on the team and finished third or better in three of those appearances.
He claimed individual medals five times in his career, highlighted by the 1984 Gulf South Conference individual title. That victorious senior season propelled him into his professional career, where he played his 1,000th round in 2007 and has two victories.
Nobody has more starts and has made it through more cuts since the formation of the Nationwide Tour—since renamed the Web.com Tour—in 1990. In 1997, Bates achieved his first professional victory in the Wichita Open after winning a four-way playoff.
The win placed him in the top 10 on the money list, which qualified him for the first time for the PGA Tour after he spent seven years splitting time between the Nationwide Tour and mini tours.
In one of the most competitive eras in golfing history, Bates was able to play on the PGA Tour for nearly five years before making his return to the Nationwide Tour in 2002.
It didn’t take him long to secure another victory as he was able to again win in a playoff; this time in a two-man showdown against three-time Nationwide Tour winner Paul Gow in the 2004 Reese’s Cup Classic.
One of the highlights of his five-year career on the PGA Tour was when he competed in the 2001 U.S. Open. Since retiring from the Nationwide Tour, Bates has gone on to compete on the Champions Tour.
Bates made sure to devote time to giving back as he took part in the Together, Anything’s Possible initiative, which was created by the PGA to build a community of tournaments, players, charities, sponsors and partners to make a social investment in others.
“I’m extremely proud for our golfers to get recognition,” Griffin said. “He’s a special person that’s due that recognition. I couldn’t be prouder of him, his family and his teammates. For him to be recognized is another feather in the cap of the whole program. He earned it, without question, the opportunity to be so recognized.”
