Jim Colbert, who won eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 times on PGA Tour Champions, died May 10 at age 85. For a player whose career stretched from a near-collapse in Kansas to a late run of titles and a trademark hat, Colbert’s death closes the book on one of golf’s steadier winners.

Born March 9, 1941, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Colbert earned a football scholarship to Kansas State University and married Marcia at age 17 after telling her from the seat behind her in class, “I’m going to marry you and take you places.” In 1964 he was runner-up in the individual portion of the NCAA Championship, then turned professional two years later and began the long climb that would define his career.

The climb was not immediate. In 1966, Colbert played 13 PGA Tour events and earned $1,898 as a rookie. A year later he made $25,425, finished 46th on the money list and collected four top 10s. By 1969 he had his first victory, winning the Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida, by one shot. He added wins at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1972, the Greater Jacksonville Open in 1973 and the American Golf Classic in 1974, then captured the Walt Disney World National Team Championship with Dean Refram in 1975.

Colbert’s best season came in 1983, when he won the Texas Open with a 19-under 261 and the Colonial National Invitation, then finished 15th on the PGA Tour money list with $223,810. His PGA Tour career ended in 1987 with back pain, but his record on the senior circuit carried him to 20 more victories and kept his name in the game long after his prime years had passed.

That career was shaped early by a scare in 1957, when Colbert nearly collapsed from sunstroke during a tournament in Kansas. A doctor told him to start wearing a bucket hat, and the hat became part of his identity. He later wore a baseball cap for six months during the 1970 PGA Tour season and said nobody could recognize him in it. “Lee Trevino has his sombrero, Jack Nicklaus has the bear. I have my hat,” he said, turning a health warning into a personal trademark.

The tension in Colbert’s story was always the same: a player with enough talent to win, but a career that never unfolded in a straight line. He found his way through early lean years, back pain and a late transition into senior golf, and still finished with 28 professional victories. For Marcia, the woman he promised to take places, and for the game that watched him grow from a scholarship golfer into a fixture, Colbert leaves behind a career built less on flash than on persistence.