Kenneth J. Green (born July 23, 1958) is an American professional golfer 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 ...

, the Nationwide Tour and the

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 year ...

. Green has won eleven tournaments as a pro, including five PGA Tour events and played on the U.S. team in the 1989 Ryder Cup. He is also known for returning to competition after losing his right leg in a 2009 RV accident.

Early years

Green was born in Danbury, Connecticut. He started playing

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 ...

at age 12 in Honduras, where his father, Martin "Marty" Green, was principal of the American school, and his only choices of sports were golf or soccer. He quit school at 16 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional tour player. He received his GED in Dec. 1976.

College career

He later attended Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth, Florida for a year. He then accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Buster Bishop and coach John Darr's

Florida Gators men's golf The Florida Gators men's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their home ...

team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) competition from 1977 to 1979. Green was a second-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) selection in 1979.

Professional career

Green turned pro in 1979 and joined the PGA Tour in 1980. He had five tournament victories on the PGA Tour; all five came in the mid to late 1980s. His first win came in 1985 at the

Buick Open The Buick Open was a PGA Tour golf tournament from 1958 to 2009. In 2007, the tournament was held at the end of June, a change from its traditional spot between The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Regardless, many prominent players ...

, and his last was at the Kmart Greater Greensboro Open in 1989. His best year in professional golf was 1988, when he won two events on the PGA Tour, as well as the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan. His best finish in a major was a seventh-place tie at the 1996 U.S. Open. Green also played on the U.S. team in the 1989 Ryder Cup. During his time in professional golf, Green has had a reputation for rebelliousness and a propensity to pull stunts. He has had over two dozen fines levied by the

for his bad boy antics. Some of his antics included sneaking friends into

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 ma ...

in the trunk of his car, drinking

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

on the course while playing with

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

at the 1997 Masters, and hitting golf balls through narrow openings in sliding-glass doors. Other fines were for more mundane offenses like swearing on the course, criticizing officials, and signing autographs while playing. His personal problems—divorces, gambling,

clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...

—led to near financial ruin, and affected his playing time and the quality of his play. In his 40s, Green had difficulty maintaining his PGA Tour playing privileges and was forced to play some on the Nationwide Tour. He has sometimes played tournament rounds dressed in green from head to toe, shoes included. Green had 508 career starts on the PGA Tour, the last coming in 2006. He continues to compete in a limited number of Champions Tour events. In 2022, he was one of the participants in the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open, a tournament for those with various impairments, held at Pinehurst Resort's No. 6 Course.

Personal life

Green lives in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

. He is the father of two sons, Ken Jr. and Hunter. He is an avid bowler who once rolled a 300 game. In 2003, Green was reported to have jumped into a canal in Palm Beach County, Florida to save his German Shepherd dog, Nip, from the jaws of an

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

. In June 2009, Green was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident when his motor home left the road. Green was in his recreational vehicle traveling on Interstate 20 near Meridian, Mississippi, when the right front tire blew, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and go down a deep embankment before hitting a tree. The accident killed the passengers: William Green, his brother; Jeanne Hodgin, his girlfriend; and his dog, Nip. Even though his lower right leg was amputated as a result of injuries suffered in the accident, Green vowed to return to competitive golf. Green's estranged son Hunter died of a drug overdose in Dallas, Texas on January 22, 2010. In June 2019, Green released a self-published autobiography titled "Hunter of Hope: A Life Lived Inside, Outside and On the Ropes." In it, he revisits his life as a teen in Guatemala, where, because of his alcoholic father's negligence, he was suffered years of sexual abuse by his father's friends. The golf course was a refuge from this abuse. He explains one reason for the book: "My plan has been simple: Use the adversity as my purpose and reason to live."

Amateur wins

''this list may be incomplete'' *1978

Azalea Invitational The Azalea Invitational is an annual amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1946 at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. Several past champions have subsequently gained membership to the PGA Tour, including m ...

Professional wins (11)

PGA Tour wins (5)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

''*Note: The 1990 Hong Kong Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.''

Other wins (4)

*1985

Hassan II Golf Trophy The Hassan II Golf Trophy is a golf tournament in Morocco hosted by Prince Moulay Rachid. The tournament was founded by, and is now named for, his father, Hassan II, who served as King of Morocco. The tournament was originally staged as an invita ...

, Connecticut Open *1987

Spalding Invitational The TaylorMade Golf Pebble Beach Invitational is a non-tour professional golf tournament. The event debuted in 1972. The 2019 purse was $300,000 with $60,000 going to the individual winner. There is also a team competition. Professionals from the P ...

*1992 Connecticut Open

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (1989 Masters – 1989 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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

U.S. national team appearances

* Four Tours World Championship: 1989 (winners) * Ryder Cup:

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

(tied)

References

External links

* * *
Pro golfer Ken Green trying to recover from three harrowing losses — his girlfriend, his brother and his lower right leg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Ken American male golfers Florida Gators men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Connecticut Golfers from Florida Palm Beach State College alumni American amputees Sportspeople from Danbury, Connecticut Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida 1958 births Living people