Paul Azinger
| Paul Azinger | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Paul William Azinger |
| Nickname | Zinger |
| Born |
January 6, 1960 Holyoke, Massachusetts |
| 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 |
| Former tour(s) |
PGA Tour Champions Tour |
| Professional wins | 17 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 12 |
| European Tour | 2 |
| Other | 3 |
| 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 TV golf analyst. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1988 and 1994. He was a twelve-time winner on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1993 PGA Championship.
Azinger was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. His father, Ralph Azinger, was a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and businessman. He started in golf at age five. After Ralph retired from the Air Force, he opened a marina, and Paul spent his summer pumping gas and painting boats.
He moved to Sarasota, Florida where he attended and graduated from Sarasota High School. After high school, he attended Brevard Community College into the late 1970s. While he was 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 and he turned professional in 1981.
During his early years, he collected meager earnings. He and his wife, Toni, bought a used motor home, a 1983 Vogue, and drove from tournament to tournament. He got his big break in 1987, when he first played in the British Open, even though he did not win.
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 British Open at the first attempt and said that he was "heartbroken" to leave Muirfield without the Claret Jug trophy.
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