Mario Tiziani

Tiziani was born in Ironwood, Michigan. Playing golf for the Wisconsin Badgers, he was Big Ten Conference freshman of the year. He is brother-in-law to pro golfer Steve Stricker and son of Dennis Tiziani. After he turned pro in 1993, he spent 12 years playing mini-tour events. Though he was the Big Ten's freshman of the year in 1989 at Wisconsin, where his dad coached the team, Tiziani flunked the Tour's Q school 11 times. In 2004 he made the decision that he would try one more time at PGA Tour Q-School, and after 11 tries, the 12th was golf. He finished T-21st to get his card for 2005 by a shot. But Tiziani's year on the PGA Tour wasn't good, in 23 PGA Tour starts he only made 11 cuts, and his best finish was T-12th at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He earned $181,618, and that was 200th on the money list. He played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2006 and '07 and in 50 events had three top-tens, the best being a 5th at the 2006 Albertsons Boise Open. But he didn't play good enough to hold his playing privileges. He tried Q-school a couple more times.
He stepped away and was a sports agent at MPC Sports and in recent years, caddie for brother-in-law Steve. When he got close to his 50th birthday, he started getting ready for a possible run on the PGA Tour Champions Tour. But with COVID, July of 2020 wasn't a good time to try and play senior golf. He had to wait a year to get his first PGA Tour Champions start at the American Family Insurance in Wisconsin. A couple of weeks before, he won the 2021 Minnesota Senior Open. At the American Family, he was T-71st. Three months later, he was able to get a sponsor invite to the Sanford International and was T-5th going into the final round after shooting 65-67, but a final round 71 dropped him into a T-11th. After that, it was back to the Q-Tournament, and his T-10th didn't get him a card for 2022.
2022 Notes: He played in 12 PGA Tour Champions events with one top-ten. Was 63rd in the Schwab rankings and 62nd on the money list with earnings of $245,937. He got a sponsor exemption into the Cologuard and finished T-54th. He Monday qualified for the Rapiscan Systems Classic and finished T-34th. After that was T-7th at the Pure Insurance Championship, three shots back of the winner Steve Flesch. Returned to the Q-Tournament and finished T-14th.
2023 Notes: Was T-5th at The Galleri Classic, six shots back of winner David Toms.