Bill McColl, who won the PGA Professional Championship during almost 50 years of membership and tested his skills on Tour against the likes of major champions Ian Woosnam and Sir Nick Faldo, has passed away at the age of 66.
A proud Scot whose formative years were spent in Dundee, Bill was elected to PGA Membership in 1977 and spent 14 years on what has become the DP World Tour.
In doing so, he competed in seven majors, a total that included a quartet of appearances in the Open Championship. The highlight of those came in 1980 at Muirfield when Bill finished tied-23rd and, thanks to his round of 68 on day three, won the Tooting Bec Cup for the lowest total for 18-holes posted by a British or Irish PGA Member.
Bill won the Ivory Coast Open Championship four years later by which time he was about to concentrate on coaching, starting in 1985 at Cainhoe Wood Golf and Country Club in Bedfordshire.
He moved on to Trevose in Cornwall in 1986 before joining Northenden Golf Club, Manchester, in January 1990. Eighteen months later, he exhibited the skills that had served him well on Tour in winning the PGA Professional Championship at Kings Lynn.
Bill spent four years at Northenden and followed up by moving to Essex where he worked at Thorpe Hall Golf Club and then Leigh Driving Range before accepting a coaching role at Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club, Oman, in 2010.
He made his final appearance on the Senior Tour in the same year, competing in the Sicilian Senior Open and then moving on to the Pyramid Golf Course in Egypt.
Bill was there for six months before the pull of his homeland proved irresistible and he spent the last six years of his career working for Scotland for Golf in St Andrews.
He continued to live in the town following his retirement in 2017 and, proving a popular figure, maintained his links with Scotland for Golf and the Scottish golfing community.
Paying tribute to their former colleague, a Scotland for Golf blogger posted: “We know many of our regular clients will remember Bill McColl as a great pro and treasured member of our team. As a team we will all miss him terribly.”
And on hearing of Bill’s death due to the cardiac arrest he experienced while passing the Old Course at St Andrews, players in the Genesis Scottish Open wore black ribbons as a mark of respect.
Bill is survived by his three children, daughters Holly and Aimee, son Josh, a caddy on the DP World Tour, and Susan, their mother. The PGA extends heartfelt condolences to them and Bill’s other family members and friends on their loss.
