James L. Benepe III is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional golferIn golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
who has played on the
PGA TourThe PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
and the
Nationwide TourThe Nationwide Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either failed to score well enough at that level's Qualifying School to earn their PGA Tour card, or who have done so but then failed to win enough money to stay at that level...
.
Benepe was born, raised and lived most of his life in
Sheridan, WyomingSheridan is a city in Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. The 2010 census put the population at 17,444 and a Micropolitan Statistical Area of 29,116...
. He attended
Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and was a first-team All-American in 1986 as well as the 1986 Big Ten Champion while a member of the
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
team. He turned pro in 1986.
Benepe played his first full-year as a professional golfer, 1987, in Asia, on the Australian Tour and on the Canadian Tour.