Jonathan Andrew Kaye (born August 2, 1970) 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 ...

who played 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 ...

Biography

Kaye was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and is Jewish. He attended Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was a star in golf, graduating in 1988. He graduated from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in 1993 and turned pro that same year. He began playing on the PGA Tour in 1995 after successfully competing in

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. Kaye has won twice on the PGA Tour, at the 2003 Buick Classic and the 2004

FBR Open The Phoenix Open (branded as the WM Phoenix Open for sponsorship reasons) is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held in late January/early February at TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona. The tournament was originally the Arizona ...

, and he has over 30 top-10 finishes. He is a self-taught player who has never had a teacher. "There's nobody who could teach my swing," he has said. Kaye has featured in 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 ...

, though he has not played a PGA Tour event since 2011. Kaye briefly reappeared on the

Web.com 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. T ...

in 2014, playing in three events and making the cut once with a T65 at the Panama Claro Championship. He also played on the Web.com Tour in 2017. In July 2017, 21 years after winning his first Colorado Open, he won it again with a record-tying 23-under-par 265 in the 53rd CoBank Colorado Open, earning $100,000.

2001 incident

Kaye was the co-leader at the 2001 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill after the second round. As he was heading to the locker room, a security guard refused him entry without his player ID badge, which Kaye then found and clipped provocatively to his belt buckle or the zipper of his pants. The guard took offense, and PGA Tour commissioner

Tim Finchem Timothy W. Finchem (born April 19, 1947) is an American lawyer and retired golf administrator, who served as commissioner of golf's PGA Tour from 1994 to 2016. He served in the White House for two years during the administration of President Jim ...

reportedly suspended Kaye for two months (but the PGA Tour never divulges or even acknowledges player suspensions).

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

Other wins (2)

*1996 Colorado Open *2017 Colorado Open

Results in major championships

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

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Jonathan American male golfers Colorado Buffaloes men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Jewish golfers Golfers from Denver Golfers from Phoenix, Arizona Jewish American sportspeople 1970 births Living people 21st-century American Jews