Will MacKenzie

William Ruggles MacKenzie was born and raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He was a golfing prodigy growing up but burned out on golf at age 14 and completely quit the game after high school. While in high school, MacKenzie was an all-state kicker as well as a standout soccer player but grades and test scores prevented him from receiving any scholarship offers.
After a semester at a local college, Will took the money he earned washing dishes and selling grilled-cheese sandwiches at Grateful Dead concerts and moved out west. After a while working for Taco Bell in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he spent the next five winters snowboarding while living out of a van in Big Sky, Montana. At one point, he spent 30 days living in a snow cave near Valdez, Alaska without showering, and snowboarding the Chugach Mountains, before ending up with frostbite.
During the warmer months, he climbed rocks, and became a class V kayaker before working as a rafting guide in Montana and its Gallatin River, West Virginia and its Gauley River, and rivers around North Carolina. He returned to Greenville, North Carolina in 1999, making enough money selling Christmas trees to embark on a three month surfing trip to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, when he returned home and tried to make a living selling hammocks, he ended up in huge debt.
However, a glimpse on television of his boyhood idol, Payne Stewart, winning the 1999 U.S. Open rekindled his love affair with the game, and he decided to play professionally. He turned pro in 2000.
MacKenzie played on several mini-tours shortly after turning pro. He played on the Golden Bear Tour in 2003 and finished ninth on the money list. The next year (2004), he played the Hooters Tour and finished third on the money list with three wins. He also played on the Web.Com Tour and Canadian Tours.
2005 was his rookie season on the PGA Tour. His first win came in 2006 at the Reno-Tahoe Open in his 47th career start on the PGA Tour. He won the 2008 Viking Classic in a three-way playoff on the second hole over Marc Turnesa and Brian Gay. Since then struggled on the PGA Tour, didn't finish higher than 140th in the FedExCup race or in the top-125 of the money list. After a tough 2010 in which he finished T-41st on the money list had to play on the Buy.Com Tour.
2011 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 10; in money - 6; top-10 finishes - 1; scoring average 70.71 (ranked N/A); money $34,869 (ranked 115th); Best finish, T-4th BMW Charity Pro-Am.
2012 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 18; in money - 7; top-10 finishes - 2; scoring average 70.80 (ranked 64th); money $55,108 (ranked 99th); Best finish, T-7th South Georgia Classic & Mylan Classic.
2013 Web.com Summary: Tournaments entered - 21; in money - 14; top-10 finishes - 2; scoring average 69.59 (ranked 8th); money $236,211 (ranked 15th); Best finish, 2nd Chiquita Classic.
He finished the year 40th on the money list, and regained his PGA Tour privileges through the Web.com Tour Finals, mostly on his runner-up finish at the Chiquita Classic.
In the 2014 PGA Tour, he resulted second at the Valero Texas Open and fourth at the Valspar Championship.
In 2014 has a great start to his year recording five top-tens in his first 13 starts. Best finish was T2nd Valero Texas Open, also T-4th Valspar Championship and T-6th at Honda Classic. Since his runner-up at the end of March has missed the cut in eight of his nine starts going into the PGA Championship.