CHEROKEE VILLAGE, Arkansas, Sept 4: Tommy Bolt, the 1958 US Open champion who had one of golf’s sweetest swings and most explosive tempers, has died. He was 92.

His wife, Mary Lou Bolt, said he died on Saturday after his liver shut down. “He was the best man I ever knew,” she said on Wednesday.

Bolt won 15 times on the US PGA Tour, with his lone major at Southern Hills club in Georgia by four shots over Gary Player. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002, which he called the highlight of his career.

But it was his temper that gained him the most notoriety. Bolt was called “Terrible Tommy” and “Thunder,” and he was often fined and suspended by the US PGA Tour for slamming clubs and using abusive language. He set up a special fund from his earnings to pay the fines.

“That’s been ballooned out of proportion a little bit,” Bolt said when he was selected for the Hall of Fame. “Now, I threw a couple of clubs. I’m human, just like the other guys. But I threw them at the most opportune time, it seemed like. They always had the camera on me when I was throwing one.”—AP