Paul Azinger
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Paul Azinger
| Paul Azinger | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Paul William Azinger |
| Nickname | Zinger |
| Born | January 6, 1960 Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Residence | Bradenton, Florida |
| Career | |
| College | Brevard Community College Florida State University |
| Turned professional | 1981 |
| Current tour(s) | Champions Tour |
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Professional wins | 18 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 12 |
| European Tour | 2 |
| Other | 4 |
| Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 1) |
|
| Masters Tournament | 5th: 1998 |
| U.S. Open | T3: 1993 |
| The Open Championship | T2: 1987 |
| PGA Championship | Won: 1993 |
| Achievements and awards | |
| PGA Player of the Year | 1987 |
| PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year |
2000 |
Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and occasional on air golf analyst. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1988 and 1994.[1]
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Contents
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Early years
Azinger was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts.[2] He started in golf at age five.[3] He moved to Sarasota, Florida where he attended and graduated from Sarasota High School. After graduating from Brevard Community College, he attended Florida State University and turned professional in 1981.[2]
Professional career
PGA Tour
Azinger finished one shot behind Nick Faldo at the 1987 Open Championship after making bogey at both the 71st and 72nd holes.[4] He won eleven tournaments on the PGA Tour in seven seasons from 1987 to 1993, climaxing in his one major title, the 1993 PGA Championship. He was subsequently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His treatment included six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation in California.[5] He wrote a book called Zinger about his battle with the disease[3] and was the recipient of GWAA Ben Hogan Award in 1995, given to the individual who has continued to be active in golf despite physical handicap or serious illness. In 2000, he won his first tournament in seven seasons at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Azinger was the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2008 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.[6] He led the team to its first victory over the European squad since 1999. The team's victory was largely credited to his innovative strategy. This strategy is outlined in his book, Cracking the Code: The Winning Ryder Cup Strategy: Make it Work for You, which was released in May 2010.[3][7] The book was co-authored with Ron Braund, a corporate team builder and psychologist, who consulted Azinger throughout the Ryder Cup.
Champions Tour
He made his Champions Tour debut at The ACE Group Classic in February 2010.[8]
Other interests
Azinger has done some work as a television commentator for ESPN. He served a lead analyst in 2010 for coverage of the British Open at St Andrews, the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort, and the Kraft Nabisco Championship — one of the four major championships on the LPGA Tour.[3]
Azinger is an avid poker player and competed in the main event at both the 2006 World Series of Poker[9] and the 2008 World Series of Poker.[10][5]
Azinger threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Tampa Bay Rays' second ever playoff game on October 3, 2008.[11]
Azinger recently launched a new application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch called Golfplan.[12][5]
Personal
Azinger is a Christian. He and his wife Toni met at FSU and have been married since 1982. They currently live in Bradenton, Florida and have two daughters, Sarah Jean Collins and Josie Lynn.[5]
Azinger gave the eulogy at the memorial service for friend Payne Stewart, who was killed in a plane crash in 1999.[3] His two managers and close friends, Robert Fraley and Van Arden, also died in the plane crash.
Professional wins (18)
PGA Tour wins (12)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 13, 1987 | Phoenix Open | -16 (67-69-65-67=268) | 2 strokes | Hal Sutton |
| 2 | May 3, 1987 | Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational | -17 (68-72-67-64=271) | 1 stroke | Hal Sutton |
| 3 | Jun 28, 1987 | Canon Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open | -15 (69-65-63-72=269) | 6 strokes | Dan Forsman, Wayne Levi |
| 4 | Mar 20, 1988 | Hertz Bay Hill Classic | -13 (66-66-73-66=271) | 5 strokes | Tom Kite |
| 5 | Jul 9, 1989 | Canon Greater Hartford Open | -17 (65-70-67-65=267) | 1 stroke | Wayne Levi |
| 6 | Jan 7, 1990 | MONY Tournament of Champions | -18 (72-67-67-69=275) | 1 stroke |  Ian Baker-Finch |
| 7 | Feb 3, 1991 | AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am | -14 (67-67-73-67=274) | 4 strokes | Brian Claar, Corey Pavin |
| 8 | Nov 1, 1992 | The Tour Championship | -8 (70-66-69-71=276) | 3 strokes | Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin |
| 9 | Jun 6, 1993 | Memorial Tournament | -14 (68-69-68-69=274) | 1 stroke | Corey Pavin |
| 10 | Jul 25, 1993 | New England Classic | -16 (67-69-64-68=268) | 4 strokes | Bruce Fleisher |
| 11 | Aug 15, 1993 | PGA Championship | -12 (69-66-69-68=272) | Playoff | Greg Norman |
| 12 | Jan 16, 2000 | Sony Open in Hawaii | -19 (67-70-73-68=278) | 7 strokes | Stuart Appleby |
European Tour wins (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 23, 1990 | BMW International Open | -11 (63-73-73-68=277) | Playoff |  David Feherty |
| 2 | Sep 8, 1992 | BMW International Open | -22 (66-67-66-67=266) | Playoff | Glen Day,  Anders Forsbrand Mark James,  Bernhard Langer |
Other wins (4)
- 1984 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament
- 1988 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Bob Tway)
- 1991 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Ben Crenshaw)
- 1994 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Fred Couples and Greg Norman)
Major championships
Wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 54 Holes | Winning Score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | PGA Championship | 1 shot deficit | -12 (69-66-69-68=272) | Playoff | Greg Norman |
Results timeline
| Tournament | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T17 | CUT | T14 |
| U.S. Open | CUT | DNP | CUT | 34 | CUT | T6 | T9 |
| The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T2 | T47 | T8 |
| PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | CUT | CUT | CUT | 2 | CUT |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | CUT | 52 | T31 | CUT | DNP | T17 | T18 | T28 | 5 | CUT |
| U.S. Open | T24 | CUT | T33 | T3 | DNP | CUT | T67 | T28 | T14 | T12 |
| The Open Championship | T48 | DNP | T59 | T59 | DNP | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | DNP |
| PGA Championship | T31 | DNP | T33 | 1 | CUT | T31 | T31 | T29 | T13 | T41 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | T28 | T15 | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | T12 | T5 | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T7 | DNP | DNP | WD | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| PGA Championship | T24 | T22 | CUT | CUT | T55 | CUT | CUT | DNP | T63 | CUT |
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
U.S. national team appearances
- Ryder Cup:
- World Cup: 1989
- Presidents Cup: 2000 (winners)
See also
References
- ^ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
- ^ a b "Profile from PGA Tour's official site". http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/10/42. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Biographical information from PGA Tour's official site". http://www.pgatour.com/players/r/?/00/10/42/media. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ Azinger loses big lead and British Open title
- ^ a b c d "Bio from Azinger's official site". http://www.paulazinger.com/bio/. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ Azinger made US Ryder Cup captain
- ^ Cracking the Code: The Winning Ryder Cup Strategy
- ^ Kupelian, Vartan (February 3, 2010). "Insider: Tour in 'good shape' with new faces, places". PGA Tour. http://www.pgatour.com/2010/s/02/03/ct.insider/index.html. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- ^ What the ...? Hellmuth knocked out of WSOP
- ^ A Different Sort of Green, pokernews.com
- ^ Azinger to throw out first pitch at Rays game Friday
- ^ Golfplan with Paul Azinger
External links
- Official website
- Paul Azinger at the PGA Tour official site
- Paul Azinger at the European Tour official site
- Paul Azinger at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
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Mentioned in
The Master System to Better Golf: Paul Azinger on the Fairway and Green Sand Traps
(1989 Sports & Recreation Film)
2008 Ryder Cup: America's Victory at Valhalla - Official and Exclusive Highlights
(2008 Sports & Recreation Film)
PGA: The 34th Ryder Cup Match
(2002 Sports & Recreation Film)
» More