James Hahn

Hahn was born in Seoul, South Korea. When his family moved to America and settled in Alameda, California, he played the local course for a dollar a round as a junior to learn the game. He played college golf at the University of California, Berkeley, and turned professional after graduating in 2003. He played on the Canadian Tour, Korean Tour, and Gateway Tour before he joined the Web.com Tour in 2010, followed by the PGA Tour in 2013.
When he first started his professional quest in 2003, he played mini-tour events. After a couple of unsuccessful years, he ran out of money and came home to Alameda, looking for work. He tried selling real estate, wearing a suit, but it didn't work out, so he took a job stocking the shelves at Safeway for a while. For much of 2006, he sold shoes at Nordstrom's, but that wasn't his dream job. He earned enough money to find his way onto the Canadian Tour in 2008, and after his first seven starts, he had only made three cuts. He was in Edmonton, Canada, getting ready to play the Telus Edmonton Open, when he realized the $200 in his pocket wasn't enough to pay his expenses and caddie fee. He was forced to borrow money just to get through the week and even went online to look for jobs. He shot 68-70-67-69 to finish T-8th and win $3,000 to carry him through. He said the money seemed like a million dollars to him.
The following year, he traveled to Edmonton for the same event, and this time, he won. Eight weeks later, he went on a roll, finishing 2nd, T-3rd and then as the winner of the Riviera Nayarit Classic. By the end of the year, he ranked 3rd on the 2009 Canadian order of merit and played well at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament. At the final hole, he hit his second shot 65 feet from the hole. Two putts and he would have earned a spot on the PGA Tour. He four-putted, though, missing his second from 10 feet and then a two-footer, but still earned a spot on the Web.com Tour.
2010 Web.com Summary: Tournaments Entered - 28; In Money - 18; Top-10 Finishes - 5; Scoring Average - 70.07 (Rank 32nd); Money - $196,475 (Rank 29th); Best Finish, T-3rd at Cox Classic. After the season was over, tried his luck at PGA Tour Q-School again, but finished T-41st for a return trip to the Web.com Tour.
2011 Web.com Summary: Tournaments Entered - 25; In Money - 16; Top-10 Finishes - 3; Scoring Average - 70.14 (Rank 41st); Money - $88,186 (Rank 67th); Best Finish, T-4th, Utah Championship.
Things would be different for him in 2012.
2012 Web.com Summary: Tournaments Entered - 24; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 5; Scoring Average - 70.18 (Rank 26th); Money - $337,530 (Rank 5th); Best Finish, 1st, The Rex Hospital Open. The key moment was getting up-and-down for birdie at the second playoff hole to defeat Scott Parel. With this win and a solo 2nd at the Web.com Tour Championship, he moved up to 5th on the money list, which got him a PGA Tour card for 2013. One other good thing happened to him: The day after winning the Rex Hospital Open, he was able to qualify for the U.S. Open played down the road from his home at Olympic Golf Club. He missed the cut, but that was his first PGA Tour event and first major start.
2013 Notes: In his second start of the year, finished T-4th at the Humana Challenge, thanks to a final-round 62. He was just one shot out of the playoff. Two weeks later, he became a star, but not for his play. At the 16th hole on Saturday at the famous Waste Management Phoenix Open, he made a birdie and punctuated it with a Gangnam Style dance that has been immortalized on YouTube with over 350,000 hits. Finished Phoenix T-16th, but the next week had his career-best finish, T-3rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. That would be his last top-20 finish for the year. In 21 starts after that, he only made eight cuts but was able to finish 110th in the FedExCup rankings to secure his card for 2014.
2014 Notes: In his second year on PGA Tour, he made 14 of 27 cuts, with two top-10s, at the HP Byron Nelson (T-5th) and FedEx St. Jude Classic (T-6th). Missed the cut at The Barclays to end his season at 123rd in the FedExCup standings and money list.
2015 Notes: Didn't have a very good start to his year, but at the Northern Trust, Hahn was able to hold on during tough weekend scoring conditions with a pair of 69s. That got him into a three-way playoff with Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey. After Casey was eliminated at the second hole, Hahn made a birdie at the third to claim the victory. His wife, Stephanie, had an important role, even though she was home in Arizona pregnant with their first child. In a phone call Saturday night, Hahn told how well he was playing despite being in the negative in strokes gained-putting. Her response: "That just means you're striping it." Hahn began thinking about how well he was hitting the ball. When Hahn won, he called Stephanie, who didn't watch the final round on TV. He said he was going to buy her a new car since her old car had 130,000 miles on it and was giving them problems. Hahn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s dream of becoming a big-time star in golf finally came true. A week later, Hahn got another big present when his daughter Kailee was born.
Hahn says he uses a car-wash ball marker and San Francisco Club divot repair tool for superstitious reasons. Before his final round at the Northern Trust, he wrote inside his golf glove, "Be Great." It was an idea he got from the Golden State Warriors point guard, Steph Curry. Hahn was involved with the Oakland Children's Hospital in 2010 and wore the hospital logo on his shirt during the 2010 season. Donated money to the hospital for every birdie he made (350) during the year. He is a big fan of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's. Got married on Feb. 4, 2012, but still has not gone on a honeymoon. Was T-6th at the Greenbrier Classic, his first top-25 win since his Northern Trust victory. Also, T-11th at the RBC Canadian Open. Finished the year 51st in the FedExCup Playoffs and 42nd on the money list.
2016 Notes: Following a T-41st in the season-opening Frys.com Open, finished 6th at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia. Had a successful start to his West Coast swing. His best finish was T-17th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. But that would be the start of a fall. At Phoenix, he opened with rounds of 67-65 and led by a shot going into the weekend. His home was only 10 minutes away and he found it nice to go home after he played. On Saturday, he got off to a great start, shooting a one-under on the front. He birdied 10 and was in the lead, but then something went wrong. He bogeyed 12 and followed that with double bogeys at 13 and 14, en route to shoot ing 40 on the back nine and a 74. Next day wasn't any better: He double-bogeyed the second hole, and with bogeys at six and nine, shot 39. He saved the round with three birdies on the back for 72 and finished T-17th. At Pebble Beach, he shot 74-72-72 to miss the cut. The next week in defending his Northern Trust title, he shot 71-76 to miss the cut. He also missed the cut at the Valspar, Arnold Palmer, Shell Houston Open, RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open. When he missed his eighth straight cut at the Zurich Classic, he sat down with his caddie, Mark Urbanek, and talked about how to right the ship. Hahn shot 70-71 to make his first cut and even with a bogey-bogey finish went to the driving range. Suddenly, he felt he could win. On Saturday, Hahn fired a 68, the low round of the day. His final-round 70 was enough to get into a playoff with Roberto Castro and when Castro made bogey at the first playoff hole, Hahn had his second PGA Tour victory. Going back to 1990, there has never been a winner that missed eight straight cuts and then won. He had a T-5th place finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship. For the year, he played 26 times on the PGA Tour and finished 39th in the FedExCup rankings and 40th on the money list.
2017 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 20 cuts with 4, top-ten finish. Was 3rd at the AT&T Byron Nelson, T-6th at the Memorial, 9th at the CIMB Classic and T-10th at the RBC Canadian Open. Finished 68th in the FedExCup rankings.
2018 Notes: Was 2nd at the Sony Open in Hawaii, lost a 6 hole playoff to Patton Kizzire.