Ryan Hietala (born November 8, 1973) 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 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 ...

and the

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. ...

. Hietala was born in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

. He played college golf at the

University of Texas-El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas System ...

, graduating in 1998 with a degree in criminal justice. He turned professional in 1997. Hietala has played on several mini-tours and third-tier tours: Tight Lies Tour (1997–2001),

Canadian Tour PGA Tour Canada, commonly referred to as the Canadian Tour, was a men's professional golf tour headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The United States–based PGA Tour took over operation of the tour on November 1, 2012, at which time it was renamed ...

(1998), and

Golden Bear Tour The Golden Bear Tour was an American third-tier professional golf tour based in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1996 by Jack Nicklaus, nicknamed the ''Golden Bear'', through his company ''Golden Bear International'' a ...

(2002). He played on the Nationwide Tour in 1999, 2003–2005, 2007–2009. He played on the

in 2006 after finishing T18 in the 2005

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 ...

. He made only seven cuts in 23 starts with his best finish at the FedEx St. Jude Classic - T38. Hietala has two wins on the Nationwide Tour.

Professional wins (2)

Nationwide Tour wins (2)

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hietala, Ryan American male golfers UTEP Miners men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from Washington (state) Golfers from Idaho Sportspeople from Bellingham, Washington Sportspeople from Boise, Idaho 1973 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen

Professional wins (2)

Nationwide Tour wins (2)

See also

External links