Howard Dudley Hart (born August 4, 1968) 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 ...

with two

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

wins in an injury-riddled career.

Early life

Hart was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. He attended

Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in the Buena Vista neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. It was located in and operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. On September 27, 201 ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida.

Amateur career

He accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a member of coach Lynn Blevin and coach Buddy Alexander's Florida Gators men's golf teams from 1987 to 1990.
Florida Men's Golf 2011 Media Supplement
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 29, 34, 39, 41 (2010). Retrieved July 11, 2011. He earned honors as the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) Freshman of the Year (1987), a three-time first-team All-SEC selection, and a four-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. Hart was also a member of the Gators' 1989 SEC championship team. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2003.

Professional career

Hart turned pro in 1990 and joined the PGA Tour in 1991. His first win came in 1996 at the rain-shortened Bell Canadian Open, his 160th PGA Tour start. His second win was at the 2000

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

. Hart also finished in a three-way tie for first in the 2004 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, which he and Robert Damron lost in a playoff to

Sergio García Sergio García Fernández (; born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as ...

. Although Hart has only won two PGA tournaments, he was one of the most consistent players on the Tour. From 1991 to 2009, Hart had 55 top-10 finishes, including four runner-up finishes. His best finish in a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

was sixth place tie at the 1993

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

. He was injured in 2003 and had to limit his play to twenty-two starts due to a

herniated disc A disc herniation or spinal disc herniation is an injury to the intervertebral disc between two vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, ...

in his back. In 2007, Hart had to take six months off from the Tour in order to care for his wife and children while his wife, Suzanne, had a softball-sized tumor removed from her lungs. He played on the Tour in 2008 using a major medical exemption. In what turned out to be his best year ever, Hart earned more than $2 million and was awarded the Tour's Comeback of the Year award. His career high

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 "rolling ...

is 21st, achieved in April 2000. In 2009, Hart had spinal fusion surgery, which prevented him from playing on the PGA Tour in 2010 and 2011. He attempted a comeback at the 2011

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, but was forced to withdraw after three rounds. He attempted one event in 2012, the

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on two different courses, currently Pebble Beach ...

, but missed the cut and made no PGA Tour starts in 2013 after additional back surgery. He was granted 12 more starts to earn $504,824 and satisfy a Major Medical Exemption in order to regain his Tour card. In 2013, Hart played in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(missed cut at Wildfire Invitational) and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(T13 at Personal Classic, his first professional cut since May 2009). In 2014, Hart made his first PGA Tour cut in almost five years, at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a T35 finish. Overall, Hart made four PGA Tour starts (made two cuts) and tried to use his medical extension to play on the Web.com Tour Finals, but did not make a cut. He entered the 2014–15 season with eight starts and $464,067 to retain his PGA Tour card. He was unable to satisfy his medical exemption and demoted to the Past Champions category. Hart became eligible for

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, f ...

in August 2018.

Personal life

Hart is married to Suzanne. They have four children. A set of triplets: Ryan, Rachel and Abigail who were born on 2001 and Avery, a daughter born 2010. He enjoys

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and reading, and is a fan of professional hockey. He currently lives in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

Professional wins (6)

PGA Tour wins (2)

''*Note: The 1996 Bell Canadian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.'' PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Other wins (4)

*1990

Florida Open The Florida Open is the Florida state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is now organized by the Florida State Golf Association (FSGA). It has been played annually since 1942 at a variety of courses around the ...

, Louisiana Open *1998 Subaru Sarazen World Open (unofficial event in Georgia, USA) *2002 CVS Charity Classic (with

Chris DiMarco Christian Dean DiMarco (born August 23, 1968) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. DiMarco has won eight tournaments as a pro, including three PGA Tour events. Early life Born in Huntington, New York, DiMarco ...

)

Results in major championships

WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2001 Masters – 2002 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

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

Results in senior major championships

"T" indicates a tie for a place
WD = withdrew
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Dudley American male golfers Florida Gators men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golfers from Miami Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School alumni Golfers from Rochester, New York Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York People from Clarence, New York Sportspeople from Erie County, New York 1968 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen