Ken Venturi, the golf champion who won the 1964 US Open and was an announcer on CBC Sports for 35 years, dies at age 82. Venturi's passing was 11 days after he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Ken Venturi had been hospitalized the last two months for a spinal infection, pneumonia, and then an intestinal infection that he could no longer fight. He died in a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California.

Though the golfer/announcer couldn't make the induction into the World Golf Hall Of Fame, his two sons accepted the accomplishment on their father's behalf.

"When dad did receive the election into the Hall of Fame, he had a twinkle in his eye, and that twinkle is there every day," son Tim Venturi said at the induction.

Venturi was a fighter that beat all odds his entire life.

At the 1964 US Open, Venturi showed signs of dehydration and a doctor recommended he stop playing because it could be fatal. Venturi pressed on to the finish, closed with a 70 and was heard to say, "My God, I've won the U.S. Open."

Even though he had a severe stuttering problem as a child, Venturi went on to become one of the familiar voices in golf broadcasting. He began working for CBS in 1968 and lasted 35 years.

His stuttering problem is what led him to golf:

"When I was 13 years old, the teacher told my mother, 'I'm sorry, Mrs. Venturi, but your son will never be able to speak. He's an incurable stammerer,'" Venturi said in 2011. "My mother asked me what I planned to do. I said, 'I'm taking up the loneliest sport I know,' and picked up a set of hickory shaft across the street from a man and went to Harding Park and played my first round of golf."

"His tremendous accomplishments on the golf course were certainly Hall of Fame worthy on their own, but in Ken one finds a rare example of a golfer whose second career, in television, rivaled the legendary status of his competitive achievements," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "His unique perspective and poetic delivery as an announcer enhanced countless memorable moments in golf, making his voice and presence as in indelible as the historic tournaments he covered. Ken will forever be remembered as a consummate gentleman, and he will be truly missed."