Keith Fergus
Encyclopedia
Keith Carlton Fergus is an American
professional golfer
who has played on the PGA Tour
, the Nationwide Tour
and the Champions Tour
.
Fergus was born in Temple, Texas
. He started playing golf
at age 8. In high school, he played football and basketball but enjoyed practicing golf more than the other sports. He attended and was a member of the golf team at the University of Houston
, where he was a 3-time All American and runner-up to Jay Haas
at the 1975 NCAA Championship
. He turned pro in 1976.
Fergus had his best years on the PGA Tour in the early 1980s. During his PGA career, he had over 40 top-10 finishes and won three events. His best finish in a major was a T-3 at the 1980 U.S. Open
; he also had a T-4 at the 1981 PGA Championship
. He began using the long putter in 1988. Fergus took a break from the tour in 1988 when he accepted the head golf coaches job at his alma mater, the University of Houston, a position he held until 1994.
Fergus resumed tour play in the mid-1990s on both the Nationwide Tour and, on a limited basis, in PGA Tour events. In 1996, at the Nortel Open, he was attacked by a swarm of killer bees
and was stung 10 to 15 times; his caddie was stung more than 50 times.
After turning 50 in March 2004, he began play on the Champions Tour. His first win was the 2007 Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort
, where he became the second player to win on all the PGA Tour sponsored tours (PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, and Champions Tour), the first being Ron Streck
in 2005.
Fergus won the Cap Cana Championship
in March 2009 where on Sunday, he shot a five-under-par 67 which included a dramatic holed out eagle 2 on the par 4 17th hole to give him the one stroke victory over Mark O'Meara
and Andy Bean
. It was his second Champions Tour win.
Fergus has done some course design work and starred in some television commercials. He lives in the Houston
suburb of Sugar Land
. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing.
PGA Tour playoff record (2-0)
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional golfer
Professional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
who has played on the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
, the Nationwide Tour
Nationwide Tour
The Nationwide Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either failed to score well enough at that level's Qualifying School to earn their PGA Tour card, or who have done so but then failed to win enough money to stay at that level...
and the Champions Tour
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...
.
Fergus was born in Temple, Texas
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...
. He started playing golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
at age 8. In high school, he played football and basketball but enjoyed practicing golf more than the other sports. He attended and was a member of the golf team at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
, where he was a 3-time All American and runner-up to Jay Haas
Jay Haas
Jay Dean Haas is an American professional golfer.Haas was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Belleville, Illinois. He attended Wake Forest University and was a member of the NCAA Championship team of the middle 1970s with Curtis Strange and Bob Byman that Golf World has called "the...
at the 1975 NCAA Championship
NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships
The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, played in late May or early June, is the top annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. It is a stroke play team competition, starting in 2009 the competition changed to a stroke play/match play competition with the top 8 teams after 54 holes of...
. He turned pro in 1976.
Fergus had his best years on the PGA Tour in the early 1980s. During his PGA career, he had over 40 top-10 finishes and won three events. His best finish in a major was a T-3 at the 1980 U.S. Open
U.S. Open (golf)
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
; he also had a T-4 at the 1981 PGA Championship
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
. He began using the long putter in 1988. Fergus took a break from the tour in 1988 when he accepted the head golf coaches job at his alma mater, the University of Houston, a position he held until 1994.
Fergus resumed tour play in the mid-1990s on both the Nationwide Tour and, on a limited basis, in PGA Tour events. In 1996, at the Nortel Open, he was attacked by a swarm of killer bees
Africanized bee
Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees", are a hybrid variety of the European honeybee , generated by a man-made breeding of the African honey bee, A. m. scutellata, with various European honey bees such as the Italian bee A. m. ligustica and A. m. iberiensis. These bees are far...
and was stung 10 to 15 times; his caddie was stung more than 50 times.
After turning 50 in March 2004, he began play on the Champions Tour. His first win was the 2007 Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort
Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort
The Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour form 2007 to 2008. It was played for the first time in 2007 in Palm Coast, Florida at the Ocean Course at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort ....
, where he became the second player to win on all the PGA Tour sponsored tours (PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, and Champions Tour), the first being Ron Streck
Ron Streck
Ronald Raymond Streck is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour, and is a current player on the Champions Tour....
in 2005.
Fergus won the Cap Cana Championship
Cap Cana Championship
The Cap Cana Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played from 2008 to 2010 at the Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.The purse for the 2010 tournament was $1,600,000, with $240,000 going to the winner....
in March 2009 where on Sunday, he shot a five-under-par 67 which included a dramatic holed out eagle 2 on the par 4 17th hole to give him the one stroke victory over Mark O'Meara
Mark O'Meara
Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...
and Andy Bean
Andy Bean
Thomas Andrew Bean is an American professional golfer who previously played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour...
. It was his second Champions Tour win.
Fergus has done some course design work and starred in some television commercials. He lives in the Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
suburb of Sugar Land
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...
. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing.
PGA Tour wins (3)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 24, 1981 1981 PGA Tour The 1981 PGA Tour season was played from January 8 to October 25. The season consisted of 44 official money events. Bill Rogers won the most tournaments, four, and there were five first-time winners. The tournament results, leaders, and award winners are listed below.-Tournament results:The... |
Memorial Tournament Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Nicklaus' home town of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large neighborhood called Muirfield Village... |
1 stroke |  Jack RennerJack Renner (golfer) Jack Renner is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from 1977–1988, and on the Champions Tour from 2006–2007.... |
|
| 2 | May 23, 1982 1982 PGA Tour The 1982 PGA Tour season was played from January 7 to October 31. The season consisted of 44 official money events. Calvin Peete, Craig Stadler, and Tom Watson won the most tournaments, four, and there were five first-time winners... |
Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic | Playoff | Raymond Floyd Raymond Floyd Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.... |
|
| 3 | Jan 23, 1983 1983 PGA Tour The 1983 PGA Tour season was played from January 6 to October 30. The season consisted of 43 official money golf tournaments. Seve Ballesteros, Jim Colbert, Mark McCumber, Gil Morgan, Calvin Peete, Hal Sutton, Lanny Wadkins, and Fuzzy Zoeller won the most tournaments, two, and there were 10... |
Bob Hope Desert Classic | Playoff | Rex Caldwell Rex Caldwell Rex Allen Caldwell is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.Caldwell was born in Everett, Washington. He attended San Fernando Valley State College. He turned professional in 1972.... |
PGA Tour playoff record (2-0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1982 1982 PGA Tour The 1982 PGA Tour season was played from January 7 to October 31. The season consisted of 44 official money events. Calvin Peete, Craig Stadler, and Tom Watson won the most tournaments, four, and there were five first-time winners... |
Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic | Raymond Floyd Raymond Floyd Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.... |
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1983 1983 PGA Tour The 1983 PGA Tour season was played from January 6 to October 30. The season consisted of 43 official money golf tournaments. Seve Ballesteros, Jim Colbert, Mark McCumber, Gil Morgan, Calvin Peete, Hal Sutton, Lanny Wadkins, and Fuzzy Zoeller won the most tournaments, two, and there were 10... |
Bob Hope Desert Classic | Rex Caldwell Rex Caldwell Rex Allen Caldwell is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.Caldwell was born in Everett, Washington. He attended San Fernando Valley State College. He turned professional in 1972.... |
Won with par on first extra hole |
Nationwide Tour wins (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 17, 1994 | NIKE Panama City Beach Classic | 2 strokes | Tommy Armour III Tommy Armour III Thomas Dickson "Tommy" Armour III is an American professional golfer.Armour first joined the PGA Tour in 1981 at the age of 21. He has two career PGA Tour victories, winning the 1990 Phoenix Open and the 2003 Valero Texas Open... |
|
| 2 | Sep 18, 1994 | NIKE Boise Open | Playoff | Bill Murchison |
Champions Tour wins (3)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 1, 2007 2007 Champions Tour The 2007 Champions Tour was the 28th season since the Champions Tour officially began in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour. The season consisted of 29 official money events with purses totalling $54,100,000, including five majors. Jay Haas won the most tournaments, four... |
Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort The Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour form 2007 to 2008. It was played for the first time in 2007 in Palm Coast, Florida at the Ocean Course at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort .... |
1 stroke | Hale Irwin Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin is an American professional golfer. He is one of the few players in history to have won three U.S. Opens and was one of the world's leading golfers for much of the 1970s and 1980s. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri, but was... , Mark O'MearaMark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s... |
|
| 2 | Mar 29, 2009 2009 Champions Tour The 2009 Champions Tour was the 30th season since the Champions Tour officially began in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour. The season consisted of 25 official money events with purses totalling $48,875,000, including five majors. Bernhard Langer won the most tournaments, four... |
Cap Cana Championship Cap Cana Championship The Cap Cana Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played from 2008 to 2010 at the Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.The purse for the 2010 tournament was $1,600,000, with $240,000 going to the winner.... |
1 stroke | Andy Bean Andy Bean Thomas Andrew Bean is an American professional golfer who previously played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour... , Mark O'MearaMark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s... |
|
| 3 | May 17, 2009 2009 Champions Tour The 2009 Champions Tour was the 30th season since the Champions Tour officially began in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour. The season consisted of 25 official money events with purses totalling $48,875,000, including five majors. Bernhard Langer won the most tournaments, four... |
Regions Charity Classic Regions Charity Classic The Regions Charity Classic, formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, was an American golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was held at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, one of ten courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, located in Hoover, Alabama . The tournament was founded in... |
3 strokes | Gene Jones Gene Jones Gene Jones is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the Champions Tour.Jones was born in High Point, North Carolina. He turned professional in 1975. He had nine victories in various venues in his career through 2009.... |
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | T26 | T37 | T33 | T16 | CUT | DNP |
| U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | T9 | T3 | T43 | CUT | T39 | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| PGA Championship PGA Championship The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship... |
DNP | DNP | T38 | T60 | T50 | T4 | CUT | T14 | T20 | CUT |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.