Brian Peter Watts (born March 18, 1966) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

Early life and amateur career

Watts was born in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, Canada to European parents, but is now a U.S. citizen who lives 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 ...

. He played college golf at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and won the NCAA Division I Championship in 1987 and was a member of the team that won the 1987 NCAA Division I Team Championship. He also won the 1986 Big 8 Conference Championship and the 1985 and 1987 Morris Williams Intercollegiate (tied Ben Crenshaw's scoring record in '85) as part of his 7 collegiate wins. Only Lindy Miller, Scott Verplank and Willie Wood have more college wins in OSU's long successful golf history. Watts was a four-time All-American (two-time first team and two-time second team) and a 1987 runner-up for the Fred Haskins award. Only Watts and Tom Jones are credited for never shooting a score in the 80s while at OSU. Watts won the 1984 Texas State 5A High School Championship and added the prestigious A.J.G.A. Player of the Year honors later that year. After being honored as the 1984 AJGA Player of the Year, Watts won the AJGA Polo Golf Junior Classic the same week. Watts partnered with John Daly to win the 1984 AJGA Future Legends of Golf as well. In 1983, Watts added two more AJGA championships to his record by winning the AJGA Oklahoma Junior Classic & AJGA Holiday Junior Classic. As a 15 year old, once shot a 59 (−13) at his home course Brookhaven C.C. Presidents Course.

Professional career

Watts turned professional in 1988. During the 1990s, he played mainly on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after ...

, having gained his card via the

Asia Golf Circuit The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 ...

, where he topped the Order of Merit in 1993. During his six seasons on the Japan Golf Tour from 1993 to 1998 he had 12 tournament victories and 12 runner-up finishes, amassing 63 top-10s in 124 events. When he left the tour he was the second all-time foreign money leader (593 million yen) to David Ishii. Only foreign players to have won more events were Ishii and

Graham Marsh Graham Vivian Marsh MBE (born 14 January 1944) is a retired professional golfer who was one of the leading Australian players of his generation. During his career he won more than 70 tournaments around the world, including 10 on the European ...

when Watts left for the PGA Tour in late 1998. His biggest victories in Japan were the 1994 Bridgestone Open where he defeated then World Number 1

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean retired professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-19 ...

on the final day and the 1998 Casio World Open where then World Number 1

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

was making his Japan Golf Tour debut. His first professional win was at the 1993 Hong Kong Open. However, he is best known for his performance at

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

at Royal Birkdale in 1998, where he lost in the playoff to

Mark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American professional golfer. He was a tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World ...

. He had a two stroke lead entering the final round and shot 70. On the 72nd hole Watts faced a bunker shot where his right leg was out of the bunker and he nearly holed it from 45 feet. After making the 1 foot par putt on the final hole Watts failed to make two short birdie putts on the first two playoff holes and ended up losing by two shots in the four hole playoff. This performance helped earn Watts a

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 ...

card and by the end of the year he reached the top 20 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

. In a successful 1999 season on the PGA Tour he finished 57th on the money list, including 26th in scoring average. He was one of a handful of players to make the cut in all four major championships and the Players Championship but his career was ended soon afterwards due to injuries. Following a number of poor seasons, Watts has played little competitive golf since 2005 while rehabilitating from hip, knee, foot, and back injuries.

Amateur wins

''this list may be incomplete'' *1986

Trans-Mississippi Amateur The Trans-Mississippi Amateur or Trans-Miss Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and was first played in 1901. It is played at a different course each year that are located near o ...

, LaJet National Amateur *1987 NCAA Division I Championship

Professional wins (13)

Japan Golf Tour wins (12)

''*Note: The 1998 Yomiuri Open was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.'' Japan Golf Tour playoff record (3–2)

Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (1998 Open Championship – 1999 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Brian Canadian male golfers American male golfers Oklahoma State Cowboys golfers PGA Tour golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers Golfing people from Quebec Golfers from Oklahoma Sportspeople from Montreal Golfers from Dallas 1966 births Living people