Bradford John Faxon Jr. (born August 1, 1961) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He has won eight times on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Early years and amateur career

Faxon was born in

Oceanport, New Jersey Oceanport is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,832,Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ceded ...

. He attended

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

, and earned a

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

degree in 1983. At Furman, Faxon was a two-time All-American (1982, 1983) as a member of the golf team. He played on the 1983 Walker Cup team. Faxon won the

Haskins Award The Haskins Award is presented annually by the Haskins Commission to honor the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. The award is named in memory of Fred Haskins, former golf teaching professional at the Country Club of Columbus ...

for the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States in 1983. He also received that same year's

Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the world' ...

and NCAA Coaches Awards as the nation's outstanding amateur golfer. He turned professional in 1983.

Professional career

PGA Tour

Faxon has won eight times on the

and played on two

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

teams. While admittedly not a great driver of the golf ball or a great ball-striker, Faxon has built a reputation as one of the best pure putters in golf history. He led the PGA Tour in Putting Average in 1996, 1999, and 2000 (when he set the single-season record with only 1.704 putts/greens in regulation), and finished 13th in 2005 at the age of 44. Faxon explains his success on the greens thus: "My only secret is confidence... I just try to hit every putt as if I've just made a million in a row." Faxon had been one of the most successful players on the PGA Tour throughout the 1990s, a mainstay in the top 20 of the

Official World Golf Rankings The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

, but a knee injury began to hamper his effectiveness in 2003, causing him to suffer through his worst season in 14 years in 2004. Faxon bounced back in 2005, though, winning his first tournament in four years and finishing 45th on the PGA Tour Money List. On September 19, 2005, he underwent surgery to repair torn

ligaments A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

in his right knee. Faxon returned to competition for the 2006 season, in which he earned over $500,000. In addition to his success on the PGA Tour Faxon played quite well on the

Australasian Tour The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

. He won the 1993

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, finished second in the 1993 Air New Zealand Shell Open, and finished in third place at the 1995

Greg Norman Holden International The Greg Norman Holden International was a men's professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It was founded by Greg Norman in 1993, replacing the Johnnie Walker Australian Classic on the tour schedule, and was held until 2001. It ...

Champions Tour

Faxon made his Champions Tour debut at the 2011 3M Championship, where he finished T-31. He won his first title in October at the

Insperity Championship The Insperity Invitational is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour Champions. It debuted in 2004 as the Administaff Small Business Classic, and is played in suburban Houston. The first four editions were at Augusta Pines Golf C ...

Other projects

Charitable work

In addition to being one of the PGA Tour's top players over the past 25 years, Faxon is one of the game's most generous figures. In 1991, Faxon along with fellow Tour pro

Billy Andrade William Thomas Andrade (born January 25, 1964) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he was a four-time winner. Early life Andrade was born in Bri ...

, formed Billy Andrade/Brad Faxon Charities for Children, Inc., a non-profit organization that (as of 2005) has donated over $3 million to needy children in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

and southern

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. For their charity work, Faxon and Andrade were awarded the 1999 Golf Writers Association of America's Charlie Bartlett Award, given to professional golfers for unselfish contributions to society. Since 1999, Andrade and Faxon have also served as hosts of the CVS Charity Classic, a golf tournament held at the

Rhode Island Country Club Rhode Island Country Club (RICC) is a private country club located in Barrington, Rhode Island. It includes a golf course designed in 1911 by Donald Ross and overlooks the Narrangansett Bay near the intersection of Nayatt Road and Middle Highway. ...

each June, whose proceeds benefit the two players' charity. He also co-chair's ''Button Hole'' with Andrade, a short course that serves as a teaching and learning center for children. Faxon also runs his own junior golf foundation.

Broadcasting

In 2010, Faxon worked for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

as an analyst on golf broadcasts during the season. It was announced in July 2014 that Faxon would be joining

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

in 2015 as an on-air commentator along with David Fay.

Fight for Furman golf

In 2014,

announced the school was going to discontinue the golf program. Faxon helped lead an alumni drive to save the program.Furman reinstates men's golf program
/ref>

Personal

Faxon resides in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ceded ...

with his wife, Dory, and their four daughters.

Amateur wins

*1975 Rhode Island Junior *1979 Rhode Island Amateur *1980 New England Amateur, Rhode Island Amateur *1981 New England Amateur *1982

Sunnehanna Amateur The Sunnehanna Amateur, officially the Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions, is a men's amateur golf tournament. Founded in 1954, it is hosted annually at the Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. It is consider ...

Professional wins (21)

PGA Tour wins (8)

PGA Tour playoff record (3–6)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

PGA Tour satellite wins (1)

Other wins (9)

Other playoff record (2–3)

Champions Tour wins (2)

''*Note: The 2011 Insperity Championship was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.''

Results in major championships

LA = Low Amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 13 (1993 PGA – 1996 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

(winners) Professional *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

UBS Cup The UBS Cup was a team golf tournament contested by the United States and a team representing the "Rest of the World" which ran from 2001 to 2004. In 2001 and 2002 it was called the UBS Warburg Cup. Six golfers on each side had to be 50 or over, and ...

: 2003 (tie)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faxon, Brad American male golfers Furman Paladins men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golf writers and broadcasters Golfers from New Jersey Golfers from Rhode Island People from Oceanport, New Jersey People from Barrington, Rhode Island 1961 births Living people