Ryan Hunter Palmer (born September 19, 1976) is an American professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Early life and amateur career

Born and raised in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Co ...

, Palmer graduated from

Amarillo High School Amarillo High School is a school located in the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States and is one of four high schools in the Amarillo Independent School District and classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). In 201 ...

in 1995. He played college golf at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal Schoo ...

(one year) and then transferred to

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

for his final three years and graduated in 2000.

Professional career

Palmer turned professional in 2000. He played on the mini-tours (Tightlies Tour and Hooters Tour) from 2000 to 2002. He played the

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental golf tour, tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at tha ...

in 2003, winning the

Clearwater Classic The New Zealand PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is currently known for sponsorship reasons as the SEC NZ PGA Championship. History The tournament been played since 1909, with some gap periods. It was ori ...

and finishing 6th on the money list to earn his 2004

card. Palmer's first career

win came at the 2004

FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Golf Classic was an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The tournament was played on the Palm and Magnolia courses at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was played under several names, reflecting sponsorship changes. The ...

, with a three stroke victory over Briny Baird and Vijay Singh. Four years later, he earned his second career win during the

PGA Tour Fall Series The PGA Tour Fall Series was name of the events on the PGA Tour that covered the end of the calendar year from 2007 to 2012 after the Tour Championship. Beginning in 2013, these events became part of the PGA Tour season, which from that point began ...

, at the 2008

Ginn sur Mer Classic Ginn or GINN may refer to: *Ginn, a character appearing in the television series ''Stargate Universe'' * Ginn & Co., an imprint of Pearson Education *Ginn & Co Solicitors, a UK law firm *Ginn and Company, a UK publisher, part of the Penguin Group ...

where wet, rainy conditions made the course play tough all week. He won by making a ten-foot putt for birdie on the final hole on Sunday to finish seven under par and win by one stroke over five players. He was 143rd on the money list entering the week, but this win secured his playing status on Tour for 2009 and 2010. In January 2010, Palmer won his third career PGA Tour title at the

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian ...

. A final round 66 secured his victory by one stroke over Robert Allenby. Palmer came close to winning a fourth career title at his hometown event the HP Byron Nelson Championship in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in May 2011. Palmer entered the final round leading by one stroke, but as the final round progressed in windy conditions he had to hole a birdie putt on the last to enter a playoff with

Keegan Bradley Keegan Hansen Bradley (born June 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won five tour events, most notably the 2011 PGA Championship. He is one of six golfers to win in his major debut, along with Ben Cu ...

. On the first playoff hole, the 18th, both players hit their tee shots out to the right amongst the trees. Bradley played his approach to just short of the green whereas Palmer hooked his approach shot into the water. Palmer pitched up close to the hole and made bogey but Bradley was able to win with a pitch and putt par. In March 2014, Palmer lost another sudden-death playoff at the

Honda Classic The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and prior to a schedule change in 2021 was frequently the first of the Florida events in late winte ...

, after missing a five footer for what would have been the win on the 18th green in regulation play. He entered the four-man playoff, having been the only one to shoot an under-par final round. However, in the playoff, after missing the green in two, he could not get up and down, leaving

Russell Henley Russell Henley (born April 12, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Born in Macon, Georgia, Henley attended Stratford Academy in Macon. He played college golf for four years at the University of Geor ...

to hole from three feet for victory. This was Palmer's second runner-up finish of the year, after finishing two shots behind Patrick Reed at the Humana Challenge in January 2014. Palmer started the 2017–18 season on a Major Medical Extension under the family crisis provision as his wife underwent chemotherapy treatment. He met the terms of his medical extension at the CareerBuilder Challenge, then lost in a sudden-death playoff at the

Farmers Insurance Open The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the San Diego, California, area in the early part of the season known as the "West Coast Swing". The tournament was noted for having singer-actor Andy William ...

the following week. Trying to end an eight-year winless drought on tour, Palmer, playing in the final group, birdied the 72nd hole to join a playoff with Jason Day and Alex Norén. However, Palmer was eliminated at the first extra hole, as he could only make par to the others' birdies on the 18th. In April 2019, Palmer won the Zurich Classic with teammate

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first a ...

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–3)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for Official World ...

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to

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Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' ¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Ryan American male golfers North Texas Mean Green men's golfers Texas A&M Aggies men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Texas Amarillo High School alumni Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas People from Colleyville, Texas 1976 births Living people