Some of the greats of the game have paid tribute to another great in Billy Casper who passed away yesterday aged 83.

The three-time Major winner had spent five weeks after Thanksgiving in the hospital battling pneumonia and while he had been able to return home, he was still undergoing rehabilitation four days a week.

Unfortunately, Casper’s condition worsened late last week. His wife of 62 years, Shirley, and other members of his family were with Casper when he passed away.

Billy Casper and his victorious 1979 USA Ryder Cup team.

And here thanks to www.pgatour.com is some wonderful tributes to Casper from those he competed against.

Lee Trevino:

I met Billy when I first went out on TOUR and found him be an absolute delight as a gentleman, along with his wife, Shirley. And I knew all his kids. But most of all, I looked at his game. At the time I came out on TOUR, they had The Big Three, Gary (Player), Arnold (Palmer) and Jack (Nicklaus). I actually thought in that era, Billy Casper may have been the best player. But Billy wasn’t with (Mark) McCormack’s group, so he didn’t get that billing. I could talk for days about Billy Casper. He’s probably done as much or more for not only his religion but for charity than anybody. Plus, he won, what, 50-something tournaments? He won major championships. It makes me very happy to tell people that I was one of his friends, that I was a friend of Billy Casper’s.

Jack Nicklaus:

From my standpoint, every time I looked up at the leaderboard and I was coming down near the end of the golf tournament, I was trying to find (Arnold) Palmer and (Gary) Player, and I was always trying to find (Billy) Casper. You knew if you found one of those three names on the leaderboard, you better be playing golf if you wanted to win the tournament. Billy was in that group. He was a really good player.

Gary Player:

I played a lot with Billy, and I always thought Billy had a wonderful short game. The way he managed the golf course — he had tremendous course management, which not a lot of people talk about. They talk about elongating, but that’s not what wins golf tournaments; it’s a great short game, the kinds of games we see with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. They are not good drivers of the ball and yet, they’ve been No. 1 and No. 2. Billy had a great short game, managed the course well and he was always a thorough gentleman.

Hale Irwin:

Billy has just been a quality guy, and he helped a lot of people for a long time. He really went unrecognized for some great golf. You look at Jack Nicklaus’ years, you look at Arnold Palmer’s years and then you pull out the record book and see what Billy did in those same years and it often exceeded theirs. Billy was really not recognized as one of the truly great players. In my first encounter with Billy, I was in a playoff with him in 1970 at the L.A. Open at Rancho Park. He beat me on the first hole. That helped him at that point top $1 million in career earnings. Ever since then, Billy has been a good friend, and he was one of my first teammates in my first Ryder Cup. Gene Littler I played with in the morning, and Billy I played with in the afternoon.

Dave Stockton:

Billy Casper was everything good about being a professional. He was a kind and gentle man — a great player. It should have been The Big Four when it was actually The Big Three because Casper was an unbelievable player. He had a great short game, and he had a great mind and a whole solid golf game to go with it. He was always positive when you were around him and fun to play with. He probably didn’t stand out as much as some of the guys. But you know the kindness he and Shirley showed with all the kids they adopted. Theirs is a great, touching story about an American family. I was proud to know him, proud to play against him and proud to play with him on the first Ryder Cup team I was on in ’71 in St. Louis. He’s been a great friend and inspiration.

Charles Coody:

The first thing I would say about Billy is he was a great player. He always played within himself, he knew his capabilities and he had his shots the way he played them. I’m sure he probably mapped out a course as to how he was going to try to play it during the week. He didn’t vary from that. When he started moving the ball from left to right with the driver, that’s when he really became a great player because he always had the short game, the ability to chip and play the sand shots. And, of course, he was an exceptionally good putter. He didn’t say much during a round. He just stayed within himself and played his game. But on top of all that, Billy was really a good guy, a good family man. He was very kind, very giving, and I always had the highest of admiration for him.

Don January:

I called him Trailer Bill. Years ago, he traveled with (Arnold) Palmer, (Gene) Littler and Bud Holscher, and they would pull trailers behind their cars rather than stay in motels — because there weren’t many motels back then. He did that for a year or two until he finally found out how dangerous that was driving on those little roads we used to drive on. But Billy was a hell of a player. He won 50-plus tournaments and had a hell of a record. That’s a lot of good playing at a lot of different places. I always respected Billy. He learned to drive the ball in the fairway, and he had that marvelous short game. When he learned to drive the ball, well, that’s when he started beating everybody. It seemed he would win four, five, six tournaments every year. Arnold did it. Jack did it. But you can count those guys on your hands the guys who were winning that many tournaments.

Al Geiberger:

Billy is a bit older than me, so I followed him onto the TOUR. I was responsible for a couple of his wins, losing in playoffs to him. I felt he never got the credit he deserved, even with all the wins. He was like a machine. He had a unique golf swing but a simple golf swing. I called what he hit a power fade, but the ball kind of acted like a hook. Not many players could hit that low-slider fade. Of course, we all know he was a brilliant putter who did it in a totally different style. He would put his hands way down (on the grip), almost against his left leg. Billy was a wonderful person and a great guy who finally, especially in the last several years, got the credit that was due him, credit he truly deserved. He was a great player and a great person. The Big Three was getting all the attention, and meanwhile Billy was beating them all.