Ryan Hunter Palmer (born September 19, 1976) is an American professional

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 ...

er 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 ...

Early life and amateur career

Born and raised in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

, Palmer graduated from Amarillo High School in 1995. He played college golf at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

(one year) and then transferred to

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

for his final three years and graduated in 2000.

Professional career

Palmer turned professional in 2000. He played on the mini-tours (Tightlies Tour and Hooters Tour) from 2000 to 2002. He played the Nationwide Tour in 2003, winning the Clearwater Classic and finishing 6th on the money list to earn his 2004

card. Palmer's first career

win came at the 2004 FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort, with a three stroke victory over

Briny Baird Michael Jancey "Briny" Baird (born May 11, 1972) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Buy.com Tour. Early life Baird was born in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of professional golfer Butch Baird. He played varsity ...

and

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

. Four years later, he earned his second career win during the

PGA Tour Fall Series The PGA Tour Fall Series was name of the events on the PGA Tour that covered the end of the calendar year from 2007 to 2012 after the Tour Championship. Beginning in 2013, these events became part of the PGA Tour season, which from that point began ...

, at the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic where wet, rainy conditions made the course play tough all week. He won by making a ten-foot putt for birdie on the final hole on Sunday to finish seven under par and win by one stroke over five players. He was 143rd on the money list entering the week, but this win secured his playing status on Tour for 2009 and 2010. In January 2010, Palmer won his third career PGA Tour title at the

Sony Open in Hawaii 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 ...

. A final round 66 secured his victory by one stroke over

Robert Allenby Robert Allenby (born 12 July 1971) is an Australian professional golfer. Early years Allenby was born on 12 July 1971 in Melbourne, Victoria. His father had emigrated to Australia from Leeds, UK as a young man. Professional career He turned p ...

. Palmer came close to winning a fourth career title at his hometown event the

HP Byron Nelson Championship The AT&T Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in May 2011. Palmer entered the final round leading by one stroke, but as the final round progressed in windy conditions he had to hole a birdie putt on the last to enter a playoff with

Keegan Bradley Keegan Hansen Bradley (born June 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won five tour events, most notably the 2011 PGA Championship. He is one of six golfers to win in his major debut, along with Ben Cu ...

. On the first playoff hole, the 18th, both players hit their tee shots out to the right amongst the trees. Bradley played his approach to just short of the green whereas Palmer hooked his approach shot into the water. Palmer pitched up close to the hole and made bogey but Bradley was able to win with a pitch and putt par. In March 2014, Palmer lost another sudden-death playoff at the

Honda Classic The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and prior to a schedule change in 2021 was frequently the first of the Florida events in late winte ...

, after missing a five footer for what would have been the win on the 18th green in regulation play. He entered the four-man playoff, having been the only one to shoot an under-par final round. However, in the playoff, after missing the green in two, he could not get up and down, leaving

Russell Henley Russell Henley (born April 12, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Born in Macon, Georgia, Henley attended Stratford Academy in Macon. He played college golf for four years at the University of Georg ...

to hole from three feet for victory. This was Palmer's second runner-up finish of the year, after finishing two shots behind

Patrick Reed Patrick Nathaniel Reed (born August 5, 1990) is an American professional golfer. He has nine tournament victories on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2018 Masters Tournament, and two World Golf Championships, the 2014 WGC-C ...

at the Humana Challenge in January 2014. Palmer started the 2017–18 season on a Major Medical Extension under the family crisis provision as his wife underwent chemotherapy treatment. He met the terms of his medical extension at the

CareerBuilder Challenge The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...

, then lost in a sudden-death playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open the following week. Trying to end an eight-year winless drought on tour, Palmer, playing in the final group, birdied the 72nd hole to join a playoff with

Jason Day Jason Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer, PGA Tour member and winner of the 2015 PGA Championship. He is a former world number one in the World Golf Ranking, having first achieved the ranking in September 2015. ...

and

Alex Norén Alexander Norén (born 12 July 1982) is a Swedish professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has won ten tournaments on the European Tour, including the BMW PGA Championship, the Aberdeen Asset Management S ...

. However, Palmer was eliminated at the first extra hole, as he could only make par to the others' birdies on the 18th. In April 2019, Palmer won the

Zurich Classic The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, currently held at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, a suburb southwest of New Orleans. Beginning in 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly play ...

with teammate

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ac ...

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–3)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
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 identi ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' ¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Ryan American male golfers North Texas Mean Green men's golfers Texas A&M Aggies men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Texas Amarillo High School alumni Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas People from Colleyville, Texas 1976 births Living people