Paul Azinger


Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1988 and 1994.

Early years

Azinger was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts; his father Ralph was a navigator in the U.S. Air Force and later a businessman. He started in golf at age five. After Ralph retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1972, he opened a marina, and Paul spent his summer pumping gas and painting boats.
The family moved to Sarasota, Florida, where he attended and graduated from Sarasota High School. Azinger attended Brevard Community College in the late 1970s. While there, he found more time to practice his swing, playing on the team as a walk-on, and landed a summer job at the Bay Hill Golf Academy in Orlando, which allowed him more practice time. Practice earned him more opportunity, in the form of a scholarship to Florida State University in Tallahassee, and he turned professional in 1981.
During his early years, Azinger collected meager earnings. He and his wife, Toni, bought a used motor home, a 1983 Vogue, and drove from tournament to tournament. Azinger had a breakout year in 1987, when he won three times on the PGA Tour and had a second place finish in the Open Championship

Professional career

PGA Tour

Azinger won eleven tournaments on the PGA Tour in seven seasons from 1987 to 1993, climaxing in his one major title, the 1993 PGA Championship at Inverness, which he won in a sudden-death playoff against Greg Norman.
Azinger finished one shot behind Nick Faldo at the 1987 Open Championship at Muirfield after making bogey at both the 71st and 72nd holes. Azinger was bidding to become only the fourth golfer since 1945 to win the Open Championship at the first attempt and said that he was "heartbroken" to leave Muirfield without the Claret Jug trophy.
At the 1991 Ryder Cup, Azinger was involved in a controversial episode with Seve Ballesteros, with whom he had a fierce rivalry. Azinger and American teammate Chip Beck were using balls of different compressions off the tee on multiple holes, in violation of an agreement between the Cup captains. Azinger initially denied that the Americans had engaged in this practice, but admitted to it once he realized that there would be no penalty assessed.
In December 1993, Azinger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his right shoulder. His treatment included six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation in California. He wrote a book called Zinger about his battle with the disease 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. 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. The book was co-authored with Ron Braund, a corporate team builder and psychologist, who consulted Azinger throughout the Ryder Cup.

Champions Tour

Azinger made his Champions Tour debut at The ACE Group Classic in February 2010. He played four events that year and none since.

Television work

From 2005 to 2015, Azinger worked as lead analyst for ESPN and ABC Sports' golf coverage. He initially shared analyst duties with his former Ryder Cup and Open Championship rival Nick Faldo. Azinger and Faldo, along with host Mike Tirico, formed a broadcast team that was met with positive critical acclaim. Faldo left for rival CBS after the 2006 season; since then, Azinger has worked alone with Tirico. However, when Faldo and Azinger were opposing captains at the 2008 Ryder Cup, Azinger's colleague Andy North filled in for him. Faldo and Azinger have also reunited as analysts on two occasions. The first reunion was at the 2007 Open Championship and the second was at the 2009 Presidents Cup.
After ESPN/ABC lost its rights to both the U.S. Open and Open Championship to Fox and NBC, Azinger joined Fox Sports as its head golf analyst in 2016, replacing Greg Norman.
In October 2018, NBC Sports and Golf Channel named Azinger their lead golf analyst, succeeding the retiring Johnny Miller. He will remain with Fox for the U.S. Open and U.S Women's Open.

Other interests

Azinger is an avid poker player and competed in the main event at both the 2006 World Series of Poker and the 2008 World Series of Poker. He is an avid foosball player, and often seeks places to play foosball while traveling.
Azinger threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Tampa Bay Rays' second ever playoff game on October 3, 2008. He recently launched a new application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch called Golfplan.

Personal

Azinger is a Christian. He and his wife Toni met at FSU and have been married since 1982. They have two daughters, Sarah Jean Collins and Josie Azinger Mark, and currently live in Bradenton, Florida.
Azinger gave the eulogy at the memorial service for his friend Payne Stewart, who was killed in a plane crash in 1999. His two managers and close friends, Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, also died in the crash.
Politically conservative, Azinger refused an invitation to the White House for the winning 1993 Ryder Cup team due to what he saw as draft dodging on the part of President Bill Clinton. He was however persuaded to attend and said that the visit "was just wonderful".

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour wins (12)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Jan 25, 1987Phoenix Open67-69-65-67=268−161 stroke Hal Sutton
2May 3, 1987Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational68-72-67-64=271−171 stroke Hal Sutton
3Jun 28, 1987Canon Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open69-65-63-72=269−151 stroke Dan Forsman, Wayne Levi
4Mar 20, 1988Hertz Bay Hill Classic66-66-73-66=271−135 strokes Tom Kite
5Jul 9, 1989Canon Greater Hartford Open 65-70-67-65=267−171 stroke Wayne Levi
6Jan 7, 1990MONY Tournament of Champions66-68-69-69=272−161 stroke Ian Baker-Finch
7Feb 3, 1991AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am67-67-73-67=274−144 strokes Brian Claar, Corey Pavin
8Nov 1, 1992The Tour Championship70-66-69-71=276−83 strokes Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin
9Jun 6, 1993Memorial Tournament68-69-68-69=274−141 stroke Corey Pavin
10Jul 25, 1993New England Classic67-69-64-68=268−164 strokes Jay Delsing, Bruce Fleisher
11Aug 15, 1993PGA Championship69-66-69-68=272−12Playoff Greg Norman
12Jan 16, 2000Sony Open in Hawaii63-65-68-65=261−197 strokes Stuart Appleby

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11989Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Steve Jones, Sandy LyleJones won with birdie on first extra hole
21990Doral-Ryder Open Mark Calcavecchia, Greg Norman,
Tim Simpson		Norman won with eagle on first extra hole
31993PGA Championship Greg NormanWon with par on second extra hole

European Tour wins (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Sep 23, 1990BMW International Open−11 Playoff David Feherty
2Aug 9, 1992BMW International Open −22 Playoff Glen Day, Anders Forsbrand,
Mark James, Bernhard Langer
3Aug 15, 1993PGA Championship−12 Playoff Greg Norman

European Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11990BMW International Open David FehertyWon with birdie on first extra hole
21992BMW International Open Glen Day, Anders Forsbrand,
Mark James, Bernhard Langer		Won with birdie on first extra hole
31993PGA Championship Greg NormanWon with par on second extra hole

Other wins (2)

Wins (1)

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half way cut

WD = Withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

CUT = missed the halfway cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

U.S. national team appearances