Sam Saunders

Saunders' mother Amy is Arnold and Winnie Palmer's youngest daughter. Saunders got help at an early age as Palmer positioned his hands on a golf club at age 4 and told Saunders, "This is perfect. Don't change anything." Saunders grew up playing junior golf at Bay Hill, attended Clemson University and turned pro in 2009 skipping his senior year at college.
Saunders credits his father, Roy, for most of his golf development, but Arnold was a golf and life guru to Sam.
Between 2008 and 2011, he wasn't able to make it through Q-school so he was getting by with exemptions and trying to Monday qualify on the Web.Com Tour.
2010 Notes: Played in five Nationwide Tour events, made two cuts T43rd Albertsons Boise Open and T50th at Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open.
2011 notes: Played in 8 PGA Tour events, best finish T-15th AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Played in five Web.Com Tour events, best finish T-10th Panama Championship. At the end of the year made it to finals of PGA Tour Q-school, finished T-109th but it gets him access to play on the Web.Com Tour in 2012.
2012 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 23; rounds played - 71; in money - 13; top-10 finishes - 3; scoring average - 70.97 (ranked 74th); money - $122,149 (ranked 50th); Best finish, T-2nd Utah Championship.
2013 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 19; rounds played - 51; in money - 6; top-10 finishes - 0; scoring average - 71.33 (ranked 111th); money - $27,156 (ranked 130th); Best finish, T-12th Chile Classic.
2014 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 22; rounds played - 75; in money - 16; top-10 finishes - 5; scoring average - 69.96 (ranked 25th); money - $95,341 (ranked 45th); Best finish, T-4th Hotel Fitness Championship. Was able to play well during the Web.Com Tour finals and earn his PGA Tour card for 2015.
2015 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 13 cuts with one top-10 finish. Lost in a five-hole playoff at the Puerto Rico Open. Finished 137th in the FedExCup standings and had to attend the Web.Com Tour finals. Before the start of the first finals event, Saunders fell off a scooter and spent two nights in intensive care, suffering an epidural hematoma ("a brain bleed"). Lost his sense of smell and some sense of taste as a result of the accident. First swing prior to the Finals did not come until the Friday before the opening Hotel Fitness Championship. Finished T-4th in that event and 3rd at the Web.Com Tour Championship. Saved his PGA Tour card by finishing 6th in the Finals money list and 12th in the priority rankings.
2016 Notes: Played in 24 PGA Tour events making 10 cuts with two top-10s. Was T-9th at the Barracuda Championship and in his next start T-8th at the Barbasol Championship. Ended his season at the Wyndham Championship, finishing the season at 148th in the FedExCup.
2017 Notes: Played in 24 PGA Tour events making 13 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was T-5th at the Puerto Rico Open and 8th at the Barracuda Championship. Was 129th in the FedExCup standings. Finished the Web.com Tour season with five starts, two top-10s and four cuts made. Was T-2nd at the last event, the Web.Com Tour Championship finishing 4 back of winner Jonathan Byrd. Was 13th in the final priority-ranking order. Secured his PGA Tour card for the 2018 season with a 7th place finish on the 2017 Web.com Tour Finals money list.
2018 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour events making 14 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Best was T-5th at the Greenbrier. Also finished T-7th at the Barracuda Championship, T-8th at the CareerBuilder Challenge and T-9th at the Wells Fargo Championship. Advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in his career, finished T-60th at the Northern Trust, to end his season at 120th in the FedExCup.
2019 Notes: Best finish T-26th at the Sanderson Farms Championship.