{"id":436221,"date":"2025-08-07T20:15:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T20:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=436221"},"modified":"2025-08-07T20:15:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T20:15:54","slug":"mike-hill-pga-tour-champions-legend-passes-at-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/mike-hill-pga-tour-champions-legend-passes-at-86\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Hill: PGA Tour Champions Legend Passed Away At 86"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of golf has had some losses this year.\u00a0 In April, JC Snead passed away<\/a>, and in July, Kayla Hale lost the battle to cancer<\/a>.\u00a0 On August 4th of 2025, the golf world began mourning the loss of a star.\u00a0 He joined the PGA Tour after already winning three events and continued playing until 2007, at the age of 70.\u00a0 He spent a good portion of his time under his brother’s shadow, but managed to shine in the 1990s.\u00a0 Today, the PGA is mourning the loss of one Mike Hill, who became a legend on the PGA Tour Champions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who Was Mike Hill<\/span><\/h2>\n

Mike Hill was a PGA Tour pro golfer who originally went pro back in 1967.\u00a0 His brother Dave Hill had a head start of roughly nine years.\u00a0 Mike Hill, however, did manage to earn three PGA wins throughout the 1970s.\u00a0 Those wins include the 1970 Doral-Eastern Open, the 1972 Texas Open in San Antonio, and the 1977 Ohio Kings Island Open.\u00a0 Mike Hill was often compared to his brother, but he always had some admiration for his older brother.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDave became the best golfer in the family, and he deserved it because he worked so hard on his game,\u201d Mike said. \u201cSometimes I kind of leach off Dave\u2019s knowledge of the game and the courses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The rest of Mike Hill\u2019s time in the regular Tour did not see another victory.\u00a0 However, that would change in the 1990s when Hill joined the Champions circuit.\u00a0 That is where he really came into his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Hill As A PGA Tour Champion Player<\/span><\/h2>\n

In 1989, Hill decided it was time to leave the regular Tour and join the Champion Tour.\u00a0 Starting in 1990 and up through 1996, Hill would earn 18 wins, with his best years both having five wins each.\u00a0 According to the PGA Tour Champions President, Miller Brady, Mike Hill is what made the circuit so popular in the 90s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMike Hill was one of the players who made the PGA TOUR Champions so popular in the early 1990s as his name was seemingly on every leaderboard at a time he made winning a regular part of his game,\u201d said Miller Brady. \u201cWe are saddened by Mike’s death, and we extend our condolences to his family while we look back fondly on his career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During his time in the Champions circuit, Hill played in 382 events, only missing the cut in four of them.\u00a0 He made the top ten a total of 149 times, the top five 89 times, and for the first time in his career, Mike Hill was not compared to his brother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After The Champions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hill would stay on the PGA Tour Champions until his official retirement in 2007. When he decided it was time to take a step back and enjoy his remaining years.\u00a0 Hill did not leave golf entirely.\u00a0 His family owned an 18-hole course in Brooklyn, Michigan<\/a>, where he would play for leisure.\u00a0 He would also teach lessons at the course, showing newbies the ropes.\u00a0 He would pass away on August 4th, 2025.\u00a0 A legend who blossomed late in his career, now remembered fondly by the Tour, which saw his greatest success.\u00a0 As well as his family, who still run the golf course he taught at.\u00a0 He may someday be honored in a similar way to Payne Stewart<\/a>, but for now, golf must say goodbye to the legendary Mike Hills.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world of golf has had some losses this year.\u00a0 In April, JC Snead passed away, and in July, Kayla Hale lost the battle to cancer.\u00a0 On August 4th of 2025, the golf world began mourning the loss of a star.\u00a0 He joined the PGA Tour after already winning three events and continued playing until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":435312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19,46],"tags":[8171],"class_list":["post-436221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga","category-sports-history","tag-mike-hill"],"modified_by":"Taylor Craig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436222,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436221\/revisions\/436222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}