Dudley Hart

Hart was born in Rochester, New York, but went to high school at Archbishop Curley in Miami and played at the University of Florida alongside Chris DiMarco. He accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Florida, where he was a member of coach Lynn Blevins and coach Buddy Alexander's Florida Gators men's golf teams from 1987 to 1990. He earned honors as the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Year (1987), a three-time first-team All-SEC selection, and a four-time All-American. Hart was also a member of the Gators' 1989 SEC championship team. Hart turned pro in 1990 and won the Florida and Louisiana Open. Later in the year, he finished 21st at the PGA Tour Q-School earning a card for 1991.
This started a quest in which he played full-time on the PGA Tour between 1991 and 2009. In his career, he played in 486 events making 285 cuts with 55 top-ten finishes. Along the way, he won twice, first at the 1996 RBC Canadian Open and then the 2000 Honda Classic. He had four runner-up finishes, and his best finish in a major was 6th in the 1993 PGA Championship.
But along the way, he faced problems and adversity. The first came in June of 1995 when his career almost ended when his iron struck a tree root at the Travelers Championship in Harford, CT. He suffered torn ligaments and tried to play which led to three torn ligaments. After two months in a cast and another two in rehab, Hart finally underwent surgery to repair torn ligaments prior to 1996 season. He didn't come back until June of 1996. But it ended great as three months after his return he won the 1996 RBC Canadian Open.
The next major problem came in 2007. While Dudley was away playing on the PGA Tour his wife Suzanne got sick. At the time they thought it was pneumonia, but it turned into something worst. In a scan, they found a softball-sized tumor in one of her lungs and they got very lucky it wasn't as bad as it could have been, Dudley put a halt to his career and came home to help his wife and care for the couples five-year-old triplets. They were pretty lucky that cancer and tumor were self-contained. Doctors removed two-thirds of one of her lungs and over the course of the rest of the year, Suzanne got better, and she's been in perfect health since.
Hart's next problem was something that grew over time and just got worst. Living in Weston, Fl, the hometown favorite came through with a dramatic victory at the 2000 Honda Classic at Heron Bay Golf Club by birdieing his final four holes for a 7-under-par 65 to overcome a three-shot deficit. But later in the year, Hart started having problems with his back. It started slowly but by 2003 the pain got worst. It was determined that he had a herniated disc in the back and tried to control it with exercises. By 2009 the back was so bad that in the summer of 2009 had surgery. A magnetic resonance imaging test revealed his L5-S1 disk in his lower back was bone on bone, in the same area where he suffered a herniated disk nine years earlier. Surgery fused the L5 and S1 disks together and removed problematic bone spurs, leading doctors to believe the successful procedure would lead to a minimum of 15 additional years of competitive golf. The only problem the surgery didn't work. He continued rehab after the surgery and was not able to play in 2010, '11, and '12. He tried to play at Pebble Beah in 2012 but the back was still a problem. When an exam revealed that the first surgery wasn't done properly, that the bone had not properly fused so he had the second surgery in April of 2012. In that surgery, the second surgeon discovered that two screws were not attached. The second surgery was a success, after recuperating, he played four events in 2014 and eight in 2015. At that time he was 47 and looking forward to playing with his friends on the Champions Tour. He played in 13 Web.Com Tour events in 2017 and had the second-round lead at the LECOM Health Challenge outside of his home two of Buffalo. He finished T-34th, the good news was the pain was gone and he got his game together. In August of 2018, he turned 50 and was able to make his debut in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in upstate New York. He finished T-57th. He played in seven PGA Tour Champions events and his best finish was T-19th at the Boeing Classic.
2019 Notes: Played in 15 PGA Tour Champions events with one top-25 finish Best finish T-17th at the Japan Championship.
2020 & 2021 Notes: Best finish T-10th at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Hart is a season-ticket holder and huge fan of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. Is a close friend of former Sabres' head coach and current Dallas Stars' coach Lindy Ruff. With his father, Chuck, and Jeff Sluman purchased Lake Shore GC on Lake Ontario in Rochester, N.Y.