Patton Kizzire

Kizzire was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and at age 2, moved to Tuscaloosa, where he stayed through the beginning of college. Played collegiate golf at Auburn University. He earned All-SEC first-team honors in 2006-07. Won the 2007 SEC Championship and graduated in 2008 with a business degree. Kizzire reached the semifinals of the 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur.
Played on mini-tours and tried to qualify for the PGA Tour, but didn't see success in Q-school until the end of 2014, when he finished T-21st.
2015 Notes: Joined the Korn Ferry Tour and had a breakout year. Led the tour's money list for most of the season. Recorded two runner-up finishes, at the El Bosque Mexico Championship and the Rex Hospital Open, before his first victory at the Utah Championship. His good play continued, and three weeks later he won the News Sentinel Open. Collected $99,000, pushing his season total to $512,553, the sixth-best total in the tour's history with five tournaments still on the schedule. Closed the regular season with a T-26th at the WinCo Foods Portland Open to finish No. 1 through the first 21 events, with earnings of $518,241 and a $174,592 advantage over No. 2 Martin Piller.
In the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, he opened with a T-16th at the Hotel Fitness Championship, then missed the cut at the Small Business Connection Championship. Withdrew during the second round of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship, and closed his season with a T-5th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, which wrapped up the season-long money title ($567,865 in earnings), the second-most in the tour's history (Michael Sim in 2009 pocketed $644,142). Spent the last 16 weeks of the season at No. 1, fourth-best in tour history. As No. 1, was fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2015-16 and received an invitation to The Players. He had one of the most consistent years on the Korn Ferry Tour, missing two cuts in his first 15 events. He had 14 top-25 finishes and had 10 top-10s. Kizzire was voted the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year.
2016 Notes: Two weeks after the conclusion of his stellar Korn Ferry Tour year, Kizzire got married in St. Simons, Georgia. The next week, he joined the PGA Tour in its second event of the year, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Thanks to a final-round 63, he came within one shot of winning but was edged by Smylie Kaufman, who shot 61. Was T-4th at the Sanderson Farms Championship in a weather-delayed Monday finish. Held a share of the third-round lead in Mississippi with David Toms but finished two shots off the winning score. Registered his third top-10 of the season at the Farmers Insurance Open, finishing T-8th, five shots behind eventual-winner Brandt Snedeker. Added two more top-10s: T-9th at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship and T-8th at the Zurich Classic. His appearance in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club was his first at a major championship, but he missed the cut. Made the cut at his second major, though, finishing T-68th at the British Open. Also made the cut at the PGA Championship, finishing T-49th. Placed 82nd in the FedExCup standings.
2017 Notes: Started the year with a 2nd-place finish at the Safeway Open, one shot behind Brendan Steele. After that, he struggled. In his next 21 starts, he only made it to the weekend nine times. His best finish in that stretch was T-5th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he teamed with fellow Auburn Tiger Jason Dufner. Played well at the Barracuda Championship, tallying 38 points in the Modified Stableford format to finish T-9th (his third top-10 of the season). Finished six points short of the three-man playoff (44 points), eventually won by Chris Stroud. Finished the year 99th in the FedExCup standings, but didn't qualify to play in any major championships.
2018 Notes: Played 29 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with four top-10s. Was 30th in the FedExCup standings. Going into the Sanderson Farms Championship, he was 293rd in the Official World Ranking, having dropped 211 spots in the previous 52 weeks. But this started his comeback bid, After rounds of 71-72 to just make the cut, shot 69-68 on the weekend to finish T-10th. The next week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, he shot a final-round 64 and finished T-4th, one shot short of getting into the three-man playoff won by Patrick Cantlay. In his next finish at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, shot a career-low 62 and was able to hold on for his first PGA Tour victory. Two months later, finished T-15th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and staying in Hawaii, became the first player of the year to record multiple wins by defeating James Hahn in a six-hole playoff. With that victory, he climbed to 54th in the world ranking, which helped him get into the WGC-Dell Match Play where he failed to advance out of group play. Since missing the cut at the Masters, he made only eight cuts in 16 starts, with his best finish being T-21st at the Tour Championship.
2019 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events making 13 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 122nd in the FedExCup points list. His only top-10 of the year was T-8th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. In the FedExCup Playoffs miss the cut at the Northern Trust.
2020 Notes: Played in 19 PGA Tour events making 8 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 172nd in the final FedExCup points list the first time he didn't make the playoffs. Was T-8th at the Travelers Championship 4 shots back of winner Dustin Johnson.
2021 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour events making 22 cuts with five top-ten finishes. Was 63rd in the FedExCup points list. Was T-10th at the RSM Classic and T-7th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Was T-9th at the Valero Texas Open. At the AT&T Byron Nelson shot a final round 63 to finish T-3rd, four shots back of winner K.H. Lee. Was T-3rd again at the Charles Schwab Challenge, four shots back of winner Jason Kokrak.