Willard West Wood Jr. (born October 1, 1960) 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 ...

who has 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 k ...

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental golf tour, tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at tha ...

, and

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

Professional career

Wood was born in

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi and Harlingen, Kingsville is the principal city of the Kingsville Micropo ...

. He had an outstanding junior career, winning the 1977

U.S. Junior Amateur The United States Junior Amateur Championship is one of the fourteen U.S. national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association. It is open to amateur boys who are under 19 on the last day of the competition and have a USGA Ha ...

, the 1978 PGA Junior, and the 1979

Western Junior The Western Junior is the oldest national junior golf tournament in the United States. It was founded in 1914 and is organized by the Western Golf Association. It is played at a different course each year, primarily in the midwest. From 1914 to 19 ...

, and was named the 1978 AJGA Rolex Player of the Year. He attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Stillwater, Oklahoma Stillwater ( iow, Ñápinⁿje, ''meaning: "Water quiet"'') is a city in, and the county seat of, Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177 and State Highway 51. As of th ...

and was a star member of the

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 wi ...

team, where he played alongside

Bob Tway Robert Raymond Tway IV (born May 4, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including eight PGA Tour victories. He spent 25 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986–87. Early life Tway w ...

Scott Verplank Scott Rachal Verplank (born July 9, 1964) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early years and amateur career Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Verplank was a leading member of the W.T. Wh ...

, and Tommy Moore. He played in the

1983 Walker Cup The 1983 Walker Cup, the 29th Walker Cup Match, was played on 25 and 26 May 1983, at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England. The event was won by the United States 13½ to 10½. The match was level after the second day foursomes. In the fina ...

. Later that same year joined the PGA Tour by being medalist at 1983 PGA Tour Qualifying School. Wood has split his playing time between the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He has 23 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour including a win at the 1996

Deposit Guaranty Golf 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 12 top-10 finishes on the Nationwide Tour. His best finish in a major championship was T12 at

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

in 1997. Willie Wood and his wife Holly had two children. In October 1988 Holly Wood was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died ten months later.Sorrow dashed Wood's career
/ref> After turning 50 in late 2010, Wood played his first Champion Tour event, the AT&T Championship, where he finished T13. He won the

Dick's Sporting Goods Open The Dick's Sporting Goods Open is a PGA Tour Champions event in Endicott, New York. It debuted in July 2007, supplanting the B.C. Open, a former PGA Tour event from 1971 through 2006. It is sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods, founded in adjacent B ...

at En-Joie Golf Club in

Endicott, New York Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the En ...

on August 19, 2012, by defeating Michael Allen on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff for his first victory on the Champions Tour. Wood has a sister, Deanie, who was a member of the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

. He makes his home in

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest cit ...

and is a member of the "Oak Tree Gang", a group of touring professionals who all play at

Oak Tree National Oak Tree National, formerly called Oak Tree Golf Club, is a golf and country club located in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, Oklahoma. The course was designed by Pete Dye, and it opened in 1976. It plays to a par 71. The course Like other cour ...

in Edmond.

Amateur wins (3)

*1977

*1978 PGA Junior *1979

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Other wins (4)

*1979 Nevada Open (as an amateur) *1984

Colorado Open The Colorado Open is the Colorado state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. It has been played annually since 1964 at a variety of courses around the state. Win ...

*1990

Oklahoma Open The Oklahoma Open is the Oklahoma state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Oklahoma Golf Association. It has been played every year since 1910 at a variety of courses around the state. It was ...

*1995

Champions Tour wins (2)

Champions Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

''Note: Wood 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 th ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in senior major championships

''Results not in chronological order prior to 2022.'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

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)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Willie American male golfers Oklahoma State Cowboys golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golfers from Texas Golfers from Oklahoma People from Kingsville, Texas Sportspeople from Edmond, Oklahoma 1960 births Living people