John Fought III (born January 28, 1954) is an American

golf course architect A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". T ...

and

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 ...

who has played on the

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 ...

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental 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 that level. ...

and

Champions Tour 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 ...

Amateur career

Fought (rhymes with "boat") was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. His grandmother started him playing golf at age 7. Fought attended

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

, where he was a distinguished member of the

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

team for four years; he helped the Cougars win four titles at the Cougar Classic, four WAC Championships, and 29 tournament titles overall during his college career. At the end of 1976 Fought was ranked the #6 amateur in the country by ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. The magazine started by John F. ...

''. Fought was eventually ranked number one by ''Golf Digest'' and won the 1977

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

. He played on the

1976 Eisenhower Trophy The 1976 Eisenhower Trophy took place from 13 to 16 October at the Penina Hotel & Golf Resort in Portimão, Algarve, Portugal. It was the tenth World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team ...

and

1977 Walker Cup The 1977 Walker Cup, the 26th Walker Cup Match, was played on August 26 and 27, 1977, at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton, New York. The event was won by the United States 16 to 8. The United States led 9–3 after the first day and 11– ...

teams.

Professional career

He turned professional in 1977 and joined the PGA Tour in 1978. Fought played on the

full-time from 1979–1985. He has a dozen top-10 finishes including two back-to-back wins in September 1979. He received the PGA Tour ''Rookie of the Year'' award in 1979. 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 a solo 5th at the 1983

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 ...

. Injuries to his back and neck in the mid-1980s forced him to retire from full-time tour play. Since then, he has played in a limited number of

and

events. Fought established a second career as a golf course architect beginning in the late 1980s, founding John Fought Design in

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

. Early in this phase of his career, he worked with Bob Cupp Design before starting his own firm in the 1990s. His award-winning designs have included Pumpkin Ridge in

North Plains, Oregon North Plains is a city in Washington County, Oregon, Washington County, Oregon, United States, off U.S. Route 26 in Oregon, U.S. 26 on the northwest Rural-urban fringe, outskirts of the Portland metropolitan area. The population was 3,441 at the ...

Centennial Golf Course
Oregon, The Reserve Vineyards & Golf Club also in Oregon, and a restoration of an original Donald Ross design at Pine Needles Golf Club in

Southern Pines, North Carolina Southern Pines is a town in Moore County, North Carolina, Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,545 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 12,334 in 2010 United States census, 2010. History Founde ...

. Other John Fought designs or collaborations include

The Gallery Golf Club The Gallery Golf Club is located east of Marana, Arizona, northwest of Tucson at Dove Mountain. The two 18-hole courses are approximately seven miles east of Interstate 10 at an average elevation of 2875 feet (850 m) above sea level. The Ritz-Car ...

North and South courses in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

(the North course hosted the 2000

Tucson Open The Tucson Open was a golf tournament in Arizona on the PGA Tour from 1945 to 2006 PGA Tour, 2006, played annually in the winter in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. It was last held at the Omni Hotels & Resorts, Omni Tucson National Golf Resort in late F ...

and the South course hosted the

WGC Match Play The WGC Match Play, titled in later years as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's golf tournament that had been held since 1999. It was the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been co ...

in 2007 and 2008). Fought also is responsible for the 2008 redesign of the Dogwood and Azalea courses at The Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi which has hosted the

Sanderson Farms Championship The Sanderson Farms Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually in Mississippi. It moved to the Country Club of Jackson in Jackson in autumn 2014, early in the 2015 season. The tournament has been part of the P ...

on the PGA Tour since 2014. Fought and his wife Mary have three children.

Amateur wins

*1975

Pacific Coast Amateur The Pacific Coast Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1967 and is organized by the Pacific Coast Golf Association. It is held in various locations in the United States and Canada. In December 2021, the Pacific Coa ...

*1977

, Trans-Mississippi Amateur, Broadmoor Invitational * Sun Devil Classic * LDS All-Church Championships * British Universities Amateur Federation

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (2)

*1976 Northwest Open (as an amateur) * Provo Open

Results in major championships

''Note: Fought never played in

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 th ...

.''
LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

(winners) *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

References

External links

* *
American Society of Golf Course Architects profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fought, John American male golfers BYU Cougars men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers American golf course architects Golfers from Portland, Oregon Golfers from Scottsdale, Arizona 1954 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen