Jim Colbert, the bucket-hatted golfer who won eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions, died Sunday at age 85, the PGA Tour announced. No cause of death was given.

Colbert, who lived in Las Vegas for decades, built a business empire around golf. He bought his first Las Vegas course in 1980, and his Jim Colbert Golf eventually owned 23 courses, employed 700 people, and generated $50 million in gross revenue, according to the PGA Tour.

He also helped shape the local golf scene. Colbert was a key figure in making the 1983 Las Vegas Pro-Celebrity Classic — now the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open — the first million-dollar purse in PGA Tour history. The tournament ended in 2024 after 41 years. Colbert was inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame in 2019.

Colbert’s signature bucket hat originated from necessity. As a teenager playing a Kansas tournament, he nearly collapsed from sunstroke, and doctors insisted he wear head protection. The bucket hat became his trademark.

Born in New Jersey, Colbert attended Kansas State on a football scholarship but turned to golf after an injury. He was runner-up in the 1964 NCAA Championship and joined the PGA Tour in 1966. His first tour win came at the 1969 Monsanto Invitational Open. His best season was 1983, when he won twice and finished 15th on the money list. In majors, he tied for fourth at the 1974 Masters and tied for fifth at the U.S. Open that year.

After a prostate cancer diagnosis in 1996, Colbert had surgery and returned to win The Transamerica on the Champions Tour two years later.

Colbert maintained strong ties to Kansas State. He helped design Colbert Hills Golf Club in Manhattan, Kansas, which opened in 2000 and serves as home to the university’s men’s and women’s golf teams. He was inducted into the Kansas State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.