Don January, Who Won the 1967 P.G.A. Title, Dies at 93

January won the tour’s PGA Seniors’ Championship in 1982, and three years later he became the first player with $1 million in winnings as a senior (about $2.8 million in today’s money). He gained his 22nd and final senior victory in 1987.

Donald Ray January was born on Nov. 29, 1929, in Plainview, Texas, the son of a roofing contractor. The family moved to Dallas when he was a child, and he began hitting golf balls at age 8 on a municipal course.

January played on N.C.A.A. championship teams at North Texas State College in Denton (now the University of North Texas), then served in the Air Force before turning pro. His first PGA Tour victory came in 1956 when he won the Dallas Centennial Open. He lost four times in playoffs before besting Massengale in an 18-hole playoff at the 1967 P.G.A. Championship.

January quit the PGA Tour in 1972 to design golf courses, but the venture proved unsuccessful financially, and he returned two years later. His last regular tour victory came in 1976, in the MONY Tournament of Champions (now the Sentry Tournament of Champions, held in early January on the island of Maui in Hawaii), though he continued to play on the regular tour until 1984 while competing as a senior player.

He is survived by a daughter, Cherie Depuy; two sons, Tim and Richard; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

He was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.

For many years, January sponsored the Don January Golf Classic in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to fund scholarships at the University of North Texas.

A lanky 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds, January was an unflappable figure as he walked the courses, his shirt collar tucked up. As he told The Dallas Morning News in 1999: “People thought I was a cool cat from east Dallas. All I was trying to do was to keep the back of my neck from sunburn so I could sleep on it.”

His dry wit was in evidence after he won the P.G.A. Championship, when he was asked about his approach to golf. “Just tee up and hit it,” he said, “and when you find it, hit it again.”