Albert Woody Austin II (born January 27, 1964) is an American professional golfer who played the majority of his career on the PGA Tour, but now plays on the PGA Tour Champions.

Woody Austin
Personal information
Full nameAlbert Woody Austin II
NicknameAquaman
Born (1964-01-27) January 27, 1964 (age 60)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceDerby, Kansas, U.S.
Career
CollegeUniversity of Miami
Turned professional1986
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins11
Highest ranking29 (October 28, 2007)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour4
PGA Tour Champions4
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 1996, 2008
PGA Championship2nd: 2007
U.S. OpenT23: 1996
The Open ChampionshipT39: 2008
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year
1995

Austin was born in Tampa, Florida and attended George D. Chamberlain High School where he graduated in 1982 and was awarded best golf player in the conference.[2] He attended the University of Miami, where he was a member of the golf team coached by Norman C. Parsons Jr. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in Business Administration and turned professional later that year.

Austin won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors in 1995. He has won four times on tour: the 1995 Buick Open, the 2004 Buick Championship, the 2007 Stanford St. Jude Championship shooting a final round 62, and the 2013 Sanderson Farms Championship (where he became the 8th oldest winner in Tour history, just younger than Raymond Floyd).

During the 1997 Verizon Heritage, Austin intentionally struck his head with his putter five times. He hit his head so hard that the shaft bent.[3]

After the second round of the 2007 PGA Championship, Austin joked that he was named after actor Woody Harrelson (Harrelson being only three years older than Austin). He went on to finish 2nd behind Tiger Woods, his best major finish. This achievement moved Austin into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. Austin's career high ranking was 29th in 2008. During the 2007 Presidents Cup, Austin fell into a pond while attempting to hit a shot with one foot in the water. This incident led to Woody's nickname "Aquaman".[4] During his singles match against 2007 U.S. Open Champion Ángel Cabrera, he wore a pair of swimming goggles.[3]

After struggling for years with limited PGA Tour status as a past champion, Austin won the 2013 Sanderson Farms Championship, his first PGA Tour win in six years. In that season's PGA Championship, Austin was given a four-stroke penalty for having fifteen clubs in his bag; he would miss the cut by one stroke. Although Austin didn't do well enough to earn entry into the FedEx Cup (137th after making two cuts in eight events, plus the win was an alternate event only worth 300 FedEx Cup points rather than 500), his win earned him a tour card through 2015. Despite his exemption, Austin decided to focus on the PGA Tour Champions.

In March 2016, Austin won his maiden title on the PGA Tour Champions with a one stroke victory at the Tucson Conquistadores Classic; he followed that victory up with two additional PGA Tour Champions wins in 2016. On October 21, 2018, Austin won the Dominion Energy Charity Classic. Austin closed with a three-under-par 69 on a cool day to record his fourth senior victory, but first since 2016. The tournament was held at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.[5]

Austin was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame at its 40th Annual Banquet held February 13, 2008 at Miami's Jungle Island. He resides in Derby, Kansas.

Professional wins (10)

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PGA Tour wins (4)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 6, 1995 Buick Open −18 (63-68-72-67=270) Playoff   Mike Brisky
2 Aug 29, 2004 Buick Championship −10 (68-70-66-66=270) Playoff   Tim Herron
3 Jun 10, 2007 Stanford St. Jude Championship −13 (72-66-67-62=267) 5 strokes   Brian Davis
4 Jul 21, 2013 Sanderson Farms Championship −20 (69-65-67-67=268) Playoff   Cameron Beckman,   Daniel Summerhays

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1995 Buick Open   Mike Brisky Won with par on second extra hole
2 2003 MCI Heritage   Davis Love III Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
3 2004 Buick Championship   Tim Herron Won with birdie on first extra hole
4 2013 Sanderson Farms Championship   Cameron Beckman,   Daniel Summerhays Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (2)

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PGA Tour Champions wins (4)

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Legend
Charles Schwab Cup playoff events (1)
Other PGA Tour Champions (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 Mar 20, 2016 Tucson Conquistadores Classic −16 (65-70-65=200) 1 stroke   Jim Carter
2 Apr 17, 2016 Mitsubishi Electric Classic −11 (72-69-64=205) Playoff   Wes Short Jr.
3 Apr 24, 2016 Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf
(with   Michael Allen)
−23 (49-59-48=156) 1 stroke   Roger Chapman and   David Frost
4 Oct 21, 2018 Dominion Energy Charity Classic −11 (68-68-69=205) 1 stroke   Bernhard Langer

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2016 Mitsubishi Electric Classic   Wes Short Jr. Won with par on second extra hole
2 2016 Boeing Classic   Bernhard Langer,   Kevin Sutherland Langer won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2019 Hoag Classic   Kirk Triplett Lost to eagle on second extra hole

Other senior wins (1)

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Playoff record

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Nike Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 1998 Nike Permian Basin Open   Jeff Barlow,   Stiles Mitchell Mitchell won with par on first extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open T23
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship T23 T69
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open T37 CUT T48 T32 CUT T71
The Open Championship T39
PGA Championship T27 T62 T66 T16 2 CUT T36
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 5
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 0 1 0 1 1 3 10 8
Totals 0 1 0 1 1 4 21 14
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2003 U.S. Open – 2006 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Players Championship T67 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Players Championship T61 CUT CUT T16 CUT 73 CUT T21 T22
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The Players Championship T56 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Match Play QF
Championship T44
Invitational T36 T56 T52 T15
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Results in senior major championships

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Results not in chronological order before 2022.

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
The Tradition T29 T47 T16 NT T15 T45 T28 T75
Senior PGA Championship 3 T64 CUT T33 11 NT T11 T29 CUT T57
U.S. Senior Open T3 T26 T24 CUT CUT T11 NT T28 CUT T57 CUT
Senior Players Championship T26 T25 T46 13 T7 T5 T58 T5 T27
Senior British Open Championship T5 T23 T15 T12 T7 NT T28 T47
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. national team appearances

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 43 2007 Ending 28 Oct 2007" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Chamberlain High School Totem Yearbook. 1982. p. 87.
  3. ^ a b "Summer of Woody: Austin becomes household name in span of weeks". PGA Tour. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009.
  4. ^ Auclair, T.J. (September 29, 2007). "Austin takes a highlight-reel dive, then rallies his team". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on August 16, 2009.
  5. ^ Strege, John (October 21, 2018). "Woody Austin wins Dominion Energy Charity Classic, spoils Jay Haas' bid to become oldest senior winner". Golf Digest. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
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