Brendon Todd

Todd got his start in golf at age 5 when he tagged along with his father and brothers. Moved from Pittsburgh to North Carolina at age 11. He played junior golf at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C., and Green Hope High School. He won the North Carolina High School 4A classification individual championship in his freshman, junior, and senior seasons at Green Hope, including winning the title as a freshman in 2000, the first year of the school's existence. Todd attended the University of Georgia and was part of the 2005 team that won the national championship. He was a four-time All-American. Todd turned professional after college and later, in 2007, finished T-141st at PGA Tour Q-School. That helped get him on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2008, where he won the Utah Championship and finished 19th on the money list to secure a spot on the PGA Tour for 2009.
2008 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 23; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 7; Scoring Average - 69.80 (rank 4th); Money - $244,224 (rank 19th); Best Finish - winner, Utah Championship.
At the 2009 Athens Regional Foundation Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour, Todd became the first player on the tour to ace the same hole twice in the same tournament. On April 16, during the first round, he used a 7-iron to ace the 157-yard, par-3 17th hole. The next day, he made another ace at 17 with an 8-iron from 147 yards. In his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2009, he made only five of 21 cuts and did not earn a Tour card for 2010. Todd rejoined the Korn Ferry Tour in 2010.
2010 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 13; In Money - 0; Top-10 Finishes - 0; Scoring Average - 75.19 (rank N/A); Money - $0 (rank N/A); Best Finish - Did not make a cut.
2011 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 24; In Money - 10; Top-10 Finishes - 2; Scoring Average - 70.79 (rank 85th); Money - $60,035 (rank 84th); Best Finish - T-10th, BMW Charity Pro-Am and WNB Golf Classic. In 2011, he was a medalist at the season-ending qualifying school to return to the PGA Tour.
2012 Notes: He was the final player to retain any status on the PGA Tour. His finish of 150th on the PGA Tour's money list meant that he maintained conditional status and avoided the second round of Q School. As a 126-150 category member on tour, Todd also had full Korn Ferry Tour status.
2013 Notes: Best finishes in 10 PGA Tour starts were T-13th at the AT&T National and the Reno-Tahoe Open.
2013 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 10; In Money - 9; Top-10 Finishes - 3; Scoring Average - 69.84 (rank 12th); Money - $247,948 (rank 11th); Best Finish - Winner, Stadion Classic at UGA. He finished 11th on the 2013 Korn Ferry Tour regular-season money list, earning him a 2014 PGA Tour card.
2014 Notes: Todd finished T-6th at the Humana Challenge and Valero Texas Open. On May 18, he won his first PGA Tour event in his 77th start at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Shot a bogey-free round of 66 on the final day to finish two strokes ahead of Mike Weir. The victory earned Todd a two-year tour exemption and ensured a first visit to the 2015 Masters. He followed up his win with a T-5th at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial to move inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking and earn entry into his first major, the U.S. Open. He then finished T-8th at The Memorial and T-17th at the U.S. Open, which put him in the top 20 of the FedExCup points list to gain entry into the British Open. After that, he finished T-5th at the Quicken Loans National and T-4th at the Greenbrier Classic, which helped seal an invitation to the PGA Championship, where he finished 72nd. He closed the season by advancing to the FedExCup playoffs, where he finished T-46th at The Barclays, missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship, T-36th at the BMW Championship, and T-17th at the Tour Championship. It placed 27th in the FedExCup rankings and 18th on the money list for the year.
2015 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 21 cuts with four top-10 finishes: T-8th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, T-10th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and his best finish of the year, 4th at the RBC Heritage, just two shots out of the playoff. At the Greenbrier Classic, he was again just two out of reaching the playoff, finishing T-6th. He was T-12th at the British Open. He played in three FedExCup playoff events and finished 46th in the standings. At the BMW Championship, he hit a 4-iron 50-yard right, and it started a terrible time in which he got into what he called the "ball-striking yips."
2016 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour events, making just four cuts. His best finish was T-26th in the season-opening Fry 'sCom Open. For the year, he was 184th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, 184th in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, and 184th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. In his last 21 starts, he made just one cut at the Barracuda Championship and finished T-78th.
2017 Notes: Todd's "ball-striking yips" continued to bother him as he played in nine PGA Tour events and made just one cut at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
2018 Notes: Played at six PGA Tour events and missed the cut in all of them; also missed the cut in two Korn Ferry Tour starts. After he missed the cut in his last event of the season at the Barracuda Championship at the start of August, Todd hit the low of his career, ranking 2,043 in the Official World Ranking. He hit rock bottom when he tried to Monday-qualify for the Wyndham Championship, shot 41 on his first nine, and knew he had no chance of getting into the field. At the turn, he withdrew and started to drive home to Georgia, knowing he had nothing left. At this point, his confidence was shaken, his swing was a mess, and his career had flatlined. It was time for serious decisions: either forgetting about golf, getting a job, or opening a pizza franchise. He decided to try golf one last time to take three months off to prepare for the second stage of Korn Ferry Q-School. During that break, Todd started reading Bradley Hughes's book on his website called "The Golf Swing, The Great Ball Strikers." Todd loved the book and did some of its featured drills. He visited Hughes at his home in Charlotte and, with an abundance of drill work, saw results. Things didn't work out initially at the second qualifying stage in November in Mobile, Alabama. Todd finished T-34th and didn't move on, but he was encouraged that he improved each day with rounds of 74-71-68-63. He was also able to take the negative of missing out on qualifying and turn it into a positive because the following week, he showed up for Monday qualifying in Brunswick, Georgia, for the RSM Classic and shot 61 to make the field for the RSM Classic.
2019 Notes: Played in 11 PGA Tour events, making seven cuts with four top-25 finishes to finish 183rd in the FedExCup standings. In his first start of the year at the RSM Classic, Todd shot 68-69-69-68 - 274, his best score since The Greenbrier Classic in 2015, and finished T-54th. He missed the cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am but finished T-25th at Puerto Rico and T-39th at Corales Puntacana. He felt his game was back with his T-18th finish at the Wells Fargo, including a third-round 73. Since working with Hughes, he had begun to draw the ball more, could hit more shots with his irons, and felt his scoring ability returning. From where Todd had been, confidence didn't return instantly, as his nerves reminded him while finishing the second round at Wells Fargo. Giving Todd another needed boost of confidence was his rounds of 65-66 in U.S. Open qualifying to share medalist honors and earn his first major start since the 2015 PGA Championship. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open. Played in the Korn Ferry Finals and, in the first event, the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship, finished T-2nd, two strokes behind winner Scottie Scheffler. He was T-20th at the Albertsons Boise Open and T-67th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. With his 7th-place finish in the Finals points list, he earned one of 25 PGA Tour cards for 2020.
2020 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with four top-10 finishes. They finished 20th in the FedExCup standings. After missing the cut in his first four starts, he was T-28th at the Houston Open. He then won back-to-back tournaments at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Bryson DeChambeau in 2018. He recorded 12 consecutive rounds of 68 or better (R4/Houston Open through R3/The RSM Classic), becoming the second player on record (since 1983) with a streak of at least 12 such rounds (first: Tiger Woods did 14 straight between Rd 2/2007 Deutsche Bank and Rd 3/2008 Farmers). He was on track to win three events in a row. Led going into the final round of The RSM Classic but shot a final-round 72 to finish 4th, three strokes out of the Tyler Duncan/Webb Simpson playoff. Didn't have a top-15 finish until a T-11th at the Travelers Championship. At the FedExCup playoffs, he finished 64th at the Northern Trust and T-8th at the BMW Championship. He closed his season with a T-20th at the Tour Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with three top-ten finishes. It was 101st in the FedExCup rankings. He was T-8th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, five shots back of winner Viktor Hovland. Finished T-8th at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T-10th at the Wyndham Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs missed the cut at the Northern Trust.
2022 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Finished 78th in the FedExCup rankings. He was T-8th at the Valero Texas Open. Finished 3rd at the Charles Schwab Challenge, his first top-three finish on the PGA Tour since winning back-to-back starts in 2019. They went into the final round just two shots off the lead but shot 71 in the final round to finish a shot back of the Sam Burns/Scottie Scheffler playoff. In the FedExCup playoffs was 67th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
2023 Notes: Played in 31 PGA Tour events, making 23 cuts with seven top-ten finishes. Finished 47th in the FedExCup rankings. Started the year with a T-9 finish at the Fortinet Championship. He was T-7th at the CJ Cup in South Carolina. Finished T-2nd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, three shots back of winner Justin Rose. It was his first career runner-up on the PGA Tour. Marked his third top-10 in 10 starts at the event. He was T-8th at the Wells Fargo Championship, the finish earned him a spot in the 151st Open. Had the lead after the third round of the John Deere Classic and shot a final round 68 but finished 2nd, two shots back of winner Sepp Straka who shot a final round 62. Was T-7th at the Wyndham Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs, was T-43rd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-41st in the BMW Championship. Played in three events in the fall, was 6th at the Fortinet Championship.
2024 Notes: Was T-6th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-5th at the Valero Texas Open.