William McGirt (born June 21, 1979) 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 plays 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 ...

College career

Born in

Lumberton, North Carolina Lumberton is a city in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. As of 2020, its population was 19,025. It is the seat of Robeson County's government. Located in southern North Carolina's Inner Banks region, Lumberton is located on the Lum ...

, McGirt grew up playing both baseball and golf, receiving scholarship offers from colleges in North Carolina and South Carolina. After being recruited by multiple colleges for both sports, McGirt decided to play college golf at

Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the America ...

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

. He was the 1998

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

Freshman of the Year and won three collegiate events for the

Terriers Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary gr ...

, including the 2001 conference championship. He graduated in 2001 and was a 2010 inductee of the Wofford College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

McGirt turned professional in 2004 and spent several years playing on mini-tours. His first break came by reaching the final stage of the 2009

PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. Beginning in 2013, Q-School grants privileg ...

(Q-School), allowing him to play on the Nationwide Tour in 2010. He ended

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

at 34th on that tour's money list, then finished runner-up at Q-School to earn his PGA Tour card for

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. McGirt qualified for the

FedEx Cup Playoffs The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

in his rookie season, advancing as far as the

Deutsche Bank Championship The Dell Technologies Championship was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Norton, Massachusetts, Norton, Massachusetts, United States, held annually in late summer over the Labor Day weekend. The 2018 edition was the last time the ...

and finishing 83rd in the FedEx Cup standings. He finished 141st on the 2011 PGA Tour money list. Unfortunately, it was the money list that mattered at the time and McGirt had to go back to Q School to regain his Tour privileges or be relegated to the conditional category. He qualified for the tour in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

by finishing T13 in the 2011 Q-School. McGirt's first appearance in a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

was at the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

, where he missed the cut. He had three runner-up finishes before his first win at age 36 in June

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

at the

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large n ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff with

Jon Curran Jonathan Lynch Curran (born February 17, 1987) is an American professional golfer. Curran was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He played college golf at Vanderbilt University. Curran turned professional in 2009. He played on the NGA Pro Golf To ...

. It was McGirt's first professional win since his mini-tour victory nine years earlier in 2007. He earned $1.53 million for winning the Memorial, almost 100 times more than the $16,000 prize for his mini-tour win. The win earned him a three-year PGA Tour exemption, moved him to 44th in the

Official World Golf Ranking 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 ...

, and qualified him for the U.S. Open,

, and the Masters. McGirt also qualified for the 2016 Open Championship based on his FedEx Cup position. His career high world ranking is 38th, after a T10 at the 2016 PGA Championship. McGirt's 2018 season ended at

The Northern Trust The FedEx St. Jude Championship, founded as the Westchester Classic in 1967, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Since 2007, it has been played as the first tournament of the playoff system for the FedEx Cup, with the field limit ...

. He had surgery on his left hip and did not play the 2018–19 season. He entered the 2019–20 season with 29 starts and 375.582 points to meet the terms of his medical extension, but could not meet the requirements. McGirt failed to regain his PGA Tour card for 2022, but was one of five players who were not already exempt (26-75th Korn Ferry Tour standings or 126-150th FedEx Cup) to earn a "Floor of Five" exemption and full Korn Ferry Tour privileges for 2023. As of 2022, William has more than 50 top 25 finishes and has earned more than eleven million dollars. McGirt is sponsored by

Cozen O'Connor Cozen O'Connor P.C. is an international law firm based in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm was ranked 74th on the AmLaw 100 Survey in 2021, 92nd on the Global 200, 1st in the nation in ''The American Lawyer'' in its Midlevel Ass ...

, Srixon, Cleveland Golf,

TaylorMade-Adidas TaylorMade Golf Company is an American sports equipment manufacturing company based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The company focuses on the golf equipment market, producing golf clubs, balls, and clothing. TaylorMade Golf is currently ...

Scotty Cameron Scotty Cameron is an American sports equipment brand established by Don T. "Scotty" Cameron (born 8 November 1962), a golf club manufacturer primarily known for making putters. Scotty Cameron is part of the Acushnet Company brand portfolio since ...

Putters, and Young Adjustment Company.http://williammcgirt.com/sponsors

Amateur wins (2)

*2003 Cardinal Amateur, North Carolina Amateur

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Tarheel Tour wins (1)

*2007 Cabarrus Classic

Results in major championships

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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2016 PGA – 2017 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

FedEx Cup final standing

References

External links

* *
Wofford College Athletics Hall of Fame
– William McGirt {{DEFAULTSORT:McGirt, William American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from North Carolina Golfers from South Carolina Wofford College alumni People from Lumberton, North Carolina Sportspeople from Spartanburg, South Carolina People from Boiling Springs, South Carolina 1979 births Living people