Paul Azinger

Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1988 and 1994.

Early life Azinger was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts; He started in golf at age five. After Ralph retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1972, he opened a marina, and Paul spent his summer pumping gas and painting boats. During his early years, Azinger collected meager earnings. He and his wife, Toni, bought a used motor home, a 1983 Vogue, and drove from tournament to tournament. Azinger had a breakout year in 1987, when he won three times on the PGA Tour and had a second-place finish in the Open Championship. and said that he was "heartbroken" to leave Muirfield without the Claret Jug trophy.

At the 1991 Ryder Cup, Azinger was involved in a controversial episode with Seve Ballesteros, with whom he had a fierce rivalry. Azinger and American teammate Chip Beck were using balls of different compressions off the tee on multiple holes, in violation of an agreement between the Cup captains. Azinger initially denied that the Americans had engaged in this practice, but admitted to it once he realized that there would be no penalty assessed.

In December 1993, Azinger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his right shoulder. His treatment included six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation in California. He wrote a book called Zinger about his battle with the disease He led the team to its first victory over the European squad since 1999. The team's victory was largely credited to his innovative strategy. This strategy is outlined in his book, Cracking the Code: The Winning Ryder Cup Strategy: Make it Work for You, which was released in May 2010. The book was co-authored with Ron Braund, a corporate team builder and psychologist, who consulted Azinger throughout the Ryder Cup.

Azinger made his Champions Tour debut at The ACE Group Classic in February 2010. He played four events that year and none since.

Broadcasting career Azinger first worked in television in 1995 while recovering from chemotherapy. Azinger was recruited by lead NBC analyst Johnny Miller to join the broadcast team as an on-course reporter, a stint which included reporting on the singles match at the 1995 Ryder Cup between Tom Lehman and Azinger's former Ryder Cup rival Seve Ballesteros, who was playing in his final Ryder Cup.

After returning to the PGA Tour for several more successful playing years, Azinger returned to broadcasting on a full-time basis.

From 2005 to 2015, Azinger worked as lead analyst for ESPN and ABC Sports' golf coverage. He initially shared analyst duties with his former Ryder Cup and Open Championship rival Nick Faldo. Azinger and Faldo, along with host Mike Tirico, formed a broadcast team that was met with positive critical acclaim. Faldo left for rival CBS after the 2006 season; since then, Azinger worked alone with Tirico. However, when Faldo and Azinger were opposing captains at the 2008 Ryder Cup, Azinger's colleague Andy North filled in for him. Faldo and Azinger have also reunited as analysts on two occasions. The first reunion was at the 2007 Open Championship (for ABC) and the second was at the 2009 Presidents Cup (for the Golf Channel).

After ESPN/ABC lost its rights to both the U.S. Open and Open Championship to Fox and NBC, Azinger joined Fox Sports as its head golf analyst in 2016, replacing Greg Norman.

In October 2018, NBC Sports and Golf Channel named Azinger their lead golf analyst, succeeding the retiring Johnny Miller – who had originally helped give Azinger his start in broadcasting during his recovery from cancer in 1995. After Miller ended his NBC career at the 2019 Phoenix Open, Azinger became NBC’s lead analyst during the Southern Swing in March 2019. He remained with Fox for the U.S. Open, U.S Women's Open, and U.S. Amateur for the 2019 season alongside his NBC duties, until those championships returned to NBC, where Azinger had also ended up at, in 2020.

Personal life Azinger is a Christian. He and his wife Toni met at FSU and have been married since 1982. They have two daughters, Sarah Jean Collins and Josie Azinger Mark, Azinger refused an invitation to the White House for the winning 1993 Ryder Cup team due to what he saw as draft dodging on the part of President Bill Clinton. He was however persuaded to attend and said that the visit "was just wonderful".

Azinger is an avid poker player and competed in the main event at both the 2006 World Series of Poker and the 2008 World Series of Poker. He is an avid foosball player, and often seeks places to play foosball while traveling.

Azinger threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Tampa Bay Rays' second ever playoff game on October 3, 2008. He recently launched a new application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch called Golfplan.

Azinger was awarded the Payne Stewart Award in 2025.

Professional wins (16) PGA Tour wins (12) Legend Major championships (1) Tour Championships (1) Other PGA Tour (10)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

European Tour wins (3) Legend Major championships (1) Other European Tour (2)

European Tour playoff record (3–0)

Other wins (2)

Other playoff record (1–3)

Major championships

Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up 1993 PGA Championship 1 shot deficit −12 (69-66-69-68=272) Playoff Greg Norman

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half way cut WD = Withdrew "T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1999 U.S. Open – 2001 PGA) Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1989 U.S. Open – 1989 Open Championship)

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

U.S. national team appearances Ryder Cup: Player: 1989 (tie), 1991 (winners), 1993 (winners), 2002 Captain: 2008 (winners) World Cup: 1989 Presidents Cup: 2000 (winners) UBS Warburg Cup: 2002 (winners) Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (representing PGA Tour): 1993, 1994 (winners)