Mike Morley (born June 17, 1946) is an American

golf course architect A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

and a former professional golfer who played 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 ...

for 14 years.

Early life

Born in

Morris, Minnesota Morris is a city in and the county seat of Stevens County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,105 at the 2020 census. Morris is surrounded by some of the nation's richest agricultural land, and agribusiness is important to the loca ...

, Morley was raised there and in

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

, where his family later moved during his youth. He graduated from high school in La Jolla, California, in 1964 and then attended Arizona State University in Tempe and was a two-time first-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n on the Sun Devil

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

team in 1967 and 1968.

Professional career

Morley won a handful of tournaments as a professional, including the satellite

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Magnolia State Classic The Sanderson Farms Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually in Mississippi. It moved to the Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson in autumn 2014, early in the 2015 PGA Tour, 2015 season. T ...

, and the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open; both events were opposite major championships. He had a great deal of success at the

Bing Crosby Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on three different courses, currently Pebble Bea ...

finishing in the top-10 four times including a solo 2nd in 1976. His best finish in a major was a tie for eighth at the U.S. Open in 1980 at Baltusrol. After losing his PGA Tour card in 1984, Morley played on an

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wo ...

for two or three years. When he retired as a tour professional, Morley first tried selling real estate in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, but found that golf course architecture and design was the business that he wanted to pursue. Early in this phase of his career, he worked for Tom Watson's firm. Today he is a partner in a golf course architecture and design business with fellow former PGA Tour golfer

Dan Halldorson Daniel Albert Halldorson (April 2, 1952 – November 18, 2015) was a Canadian professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Canadian Tour. Halldorson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Brandon, Manitoba. He did not attend col ...

. Most of the courses Morley has designed are in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Morley was inducted into the North Dakota Golf Hall of Fame in 1977, and is also a member of the Arizona State University Hall of Fame. He was voted ''Mr. Golf'' for 2002 by the Minnesota Golf Association, and lives in Minot, North Dakota.

Amateur wins

*mid-1960s Two North Dakota State Amateur Opens

Professional wins (11)

PGA Tour wins (1)

Other regular wins (9)

*1972

*1973 Shreveport Open, North Dakota Open *1975 Minnesota State Open *1978 North Dakota Open *1982 Minnesota State Open *1983 Minnesota State Open,

Arizona Open The Arizona Open Championship is the annual open state championship of golf in Arizona. The competition is 54-holes of stroke play (3 rounds on an 18-hole course), with the winner being the player with the lowest total number of strokes. Following ...

*1986

Senior wins (1)

*2003 Minnesota Senior Open

Results in major championships

''Note: Morley never played in

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

External links

*
Arizona State University Athletics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Mike American male golfers Arizona State Sun Devils men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golf course architects Golfers from Minnesota Golfers from North Dakota People from Morris, Minnesota Sportspeople from Minot, North Dakota 1946 births Living people