Abraham Ancer

Ancer was born in McAllen, Texas but grew up in Reynosa, Mexico, where he lived until age 14. His parents are both natives of Mexico, and he has dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States. His father, Abraham Sr., got him started playing soon after he was born. There are pictures at the Club Campestre de Reynosa of Ancer in diapers holding a club. As soon as Ancer was walking, he was hitting golf balls. He played regularly at the Club Campestre de Reynosa, and the golf pros there taught him the basics of the game, but as he grew up, he was able to help himself and has never had a swing coach. He moved from Reynosa to Mission, Texas, for high school when he was 15. Despite going to school in the United States, he wasn't recruited for major college golf. So he played at Odessa College, a junior college, and then was recruited and went to the University of Oklahoma, from which he graduated in 2013.
During his one year at Odessa, Ancer was a first-team All-American and finished T-2nd at the Junior College National Golf Championship. At Oklahoma, he experienced his most success during his first year, winning twice while having the sixth-lowest scoring average in Oklahoma history of 72.03. He ended up second in all-time scoring average during his college years and ended up with the third-most birdies (352) in school history.
Ancer turned professional in 2013. In December 2014, he finished T-35th at the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School final stage. Unfortunately, his father passed away from a heart attack in 2014, and didn't live long enough to realize Abraham's success.
2015 Notes: He played on the Korn Ferry Tour, finishing runner-up at the Brasil Champions in March and winning the Nova Scotia Open. In 25 events, he made 11 cuts and had those two top-10s, and was 11th in the regular-season race, which got him his PGA Tour card. At the Nova Scotia Open, was able to defeat Bronson Burgoon with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
2016 Notes: Struggled on the PGA Tour, playing in 19 events. He made only six cuts, with a best finish of T-18th at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Ranked 190th in the final FedExCup race. Played in eight events on the Korn Ferry Tour and was 143rd on the money list. Best finish was T-14th at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
2017 Notes: He played on the Korn Ferry Tour and finished with a pair of top-10s in his first four events: T-5th at the Bahamas Great Exuma and 4th at the Panama Claro Championship. He also had a pair of runner-up finishes: Lost in a playoff with Lanto Griffin at the Nashville Open, then was 2nd again at the Utah Championship, one stroke behind winner Brice Garnett. He had his third runner-up finish at the WinCo Foods Portland Open, again to Brice Garnett, but this time was four strokes back. Secured his PGA Tour card for the 2017-18 season with a third-place finish on the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Money List.
2018 Notes: Played in 30 PGA Tour events, making 20 cuts with five top-10 finishes. Ranked 60th in the final FedExCup standings. His first PGA Tour career top-10 result was a T-9th at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He was T-8th at the Houston Open and had his best finish ever with a T-4th at the Quicken Loans, earning him a spot in the British Open, his first start in a major. He missed the cut, but the next week finished fifth at the RBC Canadian Open after opening with a first-round 73. Shot 66-65-67 to finish six behind winner Dustin Johnson. Played in three FedExCup playoff events. Finished T-7th at the Dell Technologies Championship, where he went into the final round with a one-shot lead but shot 73 to finish five shots behind winner Bryson DeChambeau. He ended his year by winning the Emirates Australian Open. Ancer did it with rounds of 69-69-65-69 for a five-shot victory, the biggest win of his career thus far.
2019 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 20 cuts with four top-10 finishes. Ranked 21st in the final FedExCup standings. Started the PGA Tour schedule with a T-5th at the CIMB Classic and a T-4th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. After winning the Emirates Australian Open at the end of the 2018 calendar year, he didn't have another top-10 for 31 weeks, a T-8th at the Travelers Championship. Prior to that, his best finish was T-12th at the Players Championship. Entered the FedExCup playoffs 67th but moved up with a 2nd-place result at the Northern Trust, shooting a final-round 69 to finish one stroke behind winner Patrick Reed. That performance helped him to his best PGA Tour finish, clinching a spot in the Tour Championship and earning a berth with the International Team at the Presidents Cup. He finished T-28th at the BMW Championship and T-21st at the Tour Championship. With his dual Mexican citizenship, he played on his first Presidents Cup team, won his first three-team matches, halved his last team match, and lost his singles match to Tiger Woods for a 3-1-1 record.
2020 Notes: Played in 20 PGA Tour events, making 17 cuts with 4 top-10 finishes. Ranked 18th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-4th at the WGC-HSBC Champions, four shots out of the McIlroy/Schauffele playoff. Ancer finished T-8th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Fired a final-round 63 at The American Express to finish 2nd, two shots behind winner Andrew Landry. After the break, he shot a first-round 64 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and finished T-14th. Next week at the RBC Heritage, he finished 2nd, one stroke behind winner Webb Simpson. The next week, he was T-11th at the Travelers Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs, he missed the cut at Northern Trust, finished T-33rd at the BMW Championship, and T-18th at the Tour Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events making 24 cuts with nine top-ten finishes. Was T-9th in the FedExCup standings. Finished 4th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, three strokes behind the Laird/Cook/Wolff playoff. At the Masters in November shot 68-67-69 and was the second-round co-leader and T-2nd going into the final round. But with a final-round 76 fell out into a T-13th finish. Shot a final-round 66 to finish T-5th at The American Express. Had four subpar rounds at the Valspar Championship to finish 5th, five shots back of winner Sam Burns. At the Wells Fargo Championship shot a final-round 66 to finish 2nd, a shot back of winner Rory McIlroy. The final round included birdies at holes 15, 16, and 17 as he came within a whisker of making a birdie at 18, making him the first player ever to birdie Quail Hollow's "Green Mile." Shot 65 in the final round of the PGA Championship to finish T-8th. With a final-round 65, Ancer finished 4th at the Travelers, just two shots back of the English/Hickok playoff. Represented Mexico at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing T-14th. Won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, defeating Sam Burns and Hideki Matsuyama in a playoff with a birdie on the second extra hole (No. 18). Became the fourth player from Mexico to win on the PGA Tour. Became the first player since Russell Knox at the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions to earn his first Tour victory in a World Golf Championships event. Entered the final round trailing by 4 shots shooting a 2-under 68 to get into the playoff. In the FedExCup Playoffs was T-64th at the Northern Trust, T-9th at the BMW Championship, and T-9th at the Tour Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 18 PGA Tour events, making 13 cuts with 3 top-10 finishes. Ranked 98th in the FedExCup standings. Shot a final-round 65 to finish T-7th at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Reached the quarterfinals and finished T-5th at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, defeating Collin Morikawa in the Round of 16 before losing to Corey Conners.
2023 Notes: Won the PIF Saudi International on the Asian Tour, beat Cameron Young by two shots. Was T-39th at the Masters, missed the cut at the PGA Championship and T-54th at the U.S. Open.
Ancer owns a tequila brand, Flecha Azul, and a clothing brand, Black Quail Apparel, with his business partner, Aron Marquez. Working on the business is his escape from golf, once he is done playing, he either hops on a call or flies to the distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico.