} Paul Francis Stankowski (born December 2, 1969) 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 currently plays on 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 years ...

. He previously played on the

Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental 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 that level. Th ...

, where he won one event, and 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 ...

, where he was a two-time champion. Stankowski was born in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

. He first played

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 ...

on Easter Sunday in 1978 at the age of 8. He attended the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

and turned pro in 1991. Stankowski initially played on the Nationwide Tour. His first and only victory in this venue came at the 1996

Nike Louisiana Open The Chitimacha Louisiana Open was a golf tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour from 1992 to 2022. It was played annually at Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club in Broussard, Louisiana Broussard is a city in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes in the U ...

. The following week, he played in the

BellSouth Classic The Atlanta Classic was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, a regular stop in suburban Atlanta for over four decades. It was founded in 1967, although previous events dating to 1934 are included in the PGA Tour's past winners list. AT&T was the las ...

on the PGA Tour and won, becoming the only golfer in history to win a Nationwide Tour event and a PGA Tour event back-to-back. Stankowski started the week as the sixth alternate. He had another big year in 1997, winning the

United Airlines Hawaiian Open The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian O ...

. His best finish 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 T5 at the

1997 Masters Tournament The 1997 Masters Tournament was the 61st Masters Tournament, held April 10–13 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tiger Woods won his first major championship, twelve strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Kite. The margin of victory i ...

. In 1998, however, his fortunes began to change due to a host of injury-related ailments. He injured his right shoulder at the

Bay Hill Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florida ...

that year and also had LASIK surgery. As a Callaway sponsored player in 1999, he tried to help his game by sneaking

Ping Ping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Ping, a domesticated Chinese duck in the illustrated book '' The Story about Ping'', first published in 1933 * Ping, a minor character in ''Seinfeld'', an NBC sitcom * Ping, a c ...

clubs into his bag at the Colonial. In 2004, he suffered a major injury to his left wrist and played the two following years under a Major Medical Extension. Stankowski is active in the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was found ...

(FCA) and sponsored the annual ''Paul Stankowski FCA Golf Scramble'' in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

for a time. He lives in

Flower Mound, Texas Flower Mound is an incorporated town located in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth adjacent to Grapevine Lake, the town derives its name from a prominent mound locate ...

in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Stankowski made over 400 starts on the PGA Tour. Towards the end of his PGA Tour career, his desire to be closer to his family resulted in him focusing entrepreneurship and radio broadcasting. He is the co-owner of Francis Edward, a leather goods company whose name is derived from the middle names of Stankowski and co-founder Mike Vicary. In 2018 and 2019, he took advantage of an exemption reserved for those 48 and 49 years old on the

, playing in a total of six events but not making the cut in any of them. In December 2021, Stankowski finished high enough at the PGA Tour Champions Qualifying School (Q-School) to earn eligibility to compete in open qualifiers for PGA Tour Champions events in 2022. Stankowski is married and has two children.

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (2–0)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–0)

Nike Tour wins (1)

Other wins (3)

*1992

New Mexico Open The New Mexico Open is the New Mexico state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Sun Country section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1954 at a variety of courses around ...

*1996 Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International *2001 Straight Down Fall Classic (with Brad Payne)

Results in major championships

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

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in senior major championships

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stankowski, Paul American male golfers UTEP Miners men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from California Golfers from Texas Sportspeople from Oxnard, California Sportspeople from Ventura County, California People from Flower Mound, Texas 1969 births Living people