All About Sports: Hunter Mahan

Hunter Myles Mahan (born May 17, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Mahan was born in Orange, California. He had a successful amateur career, winning the 1999 5A Texas State High School Golf Championship while attending McKinney High School and the 1999 U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship. After high school, Mahan enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he was named Pacific-10 Conference Freshman of the Year. Mahan only played one year at USC before he transferred to Oklahoma State University, where he was a two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and a two-time first-team All American. Mahan was the runner-up at the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2002, in which he was defeated by Ricky Barnes 2 & 1. He won the Haskins Award in 2003 for outstanding collegiate golfer. Mahan turned professional in 2003 and made it through qualifying school to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2004 season. His first PGA Tour victory, which came at the 2007 Travelers Championship, lifted Mahan into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. In August 2007 Mahan entered the top 50 and by March 2008 he had reached the top 30. His performances in 2007 saw U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jack Nicklaus choose Mahan as one of two captain's picks for the U.S. team. On February 28, 2010, Mahan won his second PGA Tour event, beating Rickie Fowler by one stroke at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. On August 8, 2010, Mahan won his third PGA Tour title at a much bigger event at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by shooting -6 on Sunday, -10 on the weekend, and -13 excluding Thursday. He beat Ryan Palmer by 2 strokes.