Tim Norris

Who is Tim Norris?

Tim Norris is a current college head golf coach and a former professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1980s.

Norris was born and raised in Fresno, California. He started his collegiate career at Fresno City College before transferring to Fresno State University. In 1979, he was a second-team All-American, helped lead Fresno State to the Big West Championship, and was the winner of the Sun Bowl Golf Classic. In 1980, he was a first-team All-American, shared Big West Athlete-of-the-Year honors with Jay Don Blake, helped lead Fresno State to its second Big West Championship in as many years, and was Fresno State's Athlete-of-the-Year.

Norris had 11 top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events including a win at the 1982 Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open. Norris established the tournament record at 259, which stood until it was eclipsed in 2009 by Kenny Perry. He was only one of two players to go wire-to-wire without sharing the lead. He defeated Raymond Floyd and Hubert Green by six strokes. His best finish in a major was T-40 at the 1985 PGA Championship.

In the 1990s, Norris switch careers from touring professional to college coach. He was men's head golf coach at University of Texas-El Paso from 1990–1997. Since August 1, 1997, he has been the men's head golf coach at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. When he arrived at K-State, he inherited a program that had finished dead last in the Big Eight Conference for 14 straight years from 1978–1991. Norris has made steady progress transforming the Wildcat's into winners; they appeared in the NCAA Regionals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. During the 2003-2004 season, the Wildcats won the Purina Classic in St. Charles, Missouri, and finished T-4 in the final Big 12 Conference standings.