Woody Austin
Residence: Derby, Kansas
DOB: 27/01/1964
Woody was born in Tampa, Florida and when to the University of Miami, where he was coached by Norman C. Parsons Jr. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in Business Administration and was inducted into the University’s Hall of Fame at its 40th Annual Banquet in 2008.
He turned professional on graduation in 1986 but tore tendons and cartilage in his left knee during the 1987 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. This injury sidelined him for two years was a reoccurrence of an originally injured knee he picked up as an 11-year old playing Little League baseball. He finally made his debut on the PGA Tour after capturing the 1994 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament bolstering his ranking from finishing 23rd on the Nationwide Tour money list.
He won Rookie of the Year honors on the PGA Tour in 1995 after securing his first PGA Tour victory at the Buick Open after a first round 63 set the tone for a wire-to-wire victory. He has won a further 2 times on tour, the 2004 Buick Championship, and the 2007 Stanford St. Jude Championship shooting a final round 62 to storm to victory.
During the 1997 Verizon Heritage, Austin struck his head with his putter 5 times and bent the shaft. He lost his PGA Tour playing privileges in 1997 after finishing 180th on the money list. The following season he played mainly on Nationwide Tour in 1998 finishing top of the scoring averages (69.61) on way to an 8th place finish on money list to regain his PGA Tour Card.
Before he found his touch and began to find success on the PGA Tour, Woody worked for years as credit-union teller and in the supplies department at Eckerd Drug during the off season. After losing to Davis Love III in a playoff at the 2003 MCI Heritage, he said "It's just so much fun to actually be in the game again and show people that I do know how to play the game and hit quality shots.”
During the 2007 Presidents Cup, he fell into a pond while attempting to hit a shot with one foot in the water. During his singles match against 2007 U.S. Open Champion Angel Cabrera, he wore a pair of swimming goggles.
Woody must like Buick’s as his best finish in 2008 came at the Buick Open, where he picked up his debut PGA Tour victory. A final round 68 was not enough to stop Kenny Perry marching through the field from 5th place to claim victory after overnight leader Daniel Chopra fell away in the final round. 5 further top-10 finishes have seen him sustain a place in the top-30 money leaders on the PGA Tour.