Brian Watts


Brian Peter Watts is an American professional golfer
Watts was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to European parents, but is now a U.S. citizen who lives in Texas. He played college golf at Oklahoma State and won the NCAA Division I Championship in 1987 and was a member of the team that won the 1987 NCAA Division I Team Championship. He also won the 1986 Big 8 Conference Championship and the 1985 and 1987 Morris Williams Intercollegiate as part of his 7 collegiate wins. Only Lindy Miller, Scott Verplank and Willie Wood have more college wins in OSU's long successful golf history. Watts was a four-time All-American and a 1987 runner-up for the Fred Haskins award. Only Watts and Tom Jones are credited for never shooting a score in the 80s while at OSU. Watts won the 1984 Texas State 5A High School Championship and added the prestigious A.J.G.A. Player of the Year honors later that year. As a 15 year old, once shot a 59 at his home course Brookhaven C.C. Presidents Course.
Watts turned professional in 1988. During the 1990s, he played mainly on the Japan Golf Tour, having gained his card via the Asia Golf Circuit, where he topped the Order of Merit in 1993. During his six seasons on the Japan Golf Tour from 1993–1998 he had 12 tournament victories and 12 runner-up finishes, amassing 63 top-10s in 124 events. When he left the tour he was the second all-time foreign money leader to David Ishii. Only foreign players to have won more events were Ishii and Graham Marsh when Watts left for the PGA Tour in late 1998. His biggest victories in Japan were the 1994 Bridgestone Open where he defeated then World Number 1 Nick Price on the final day and the 1998 Casio World Open where then World Number 1 Tiger Woods was making his Japan Golf Tour debut. His first professional win was at the 1993 Hong Kong Open. However, he is best known for his performance at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 1998, where he lost in the playoff to Mark O'Meara. He had a two stroke lead entering the final round and shot 70. On the 72nd hole Watts faced a bunker shot where his right leg was out of the bunker and he nearly holed it from 45 feet. After making the 1 foot par putt on the final hole Watts failed to make two short birdie putts on the first two playoff holes and ended up losing by two shots in the four hole playoff. This performance helped earn Watts a PGA Tour card and by the end of the year he reached the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
In a successful 1999 season on the PGA Tour he finished 57th on the money list, including 26th in scoring average. He was one of a handful of players to make the cut in all four major championships and the Players Championship but his career was ended soon afterwards due to injuries.
Following a number of poor seasons, Watts has played little competitive golf since 2005 while rehabilitating from hip, knee, foot, and back injuries.

Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

Japan Golf Tour wins (12)

*Note: The 1998 Yomiuri Open was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.
Japan Golf Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11994Mizuno Open Eduardo Herrera, Yoshinori Kaneko,
Koichi Suzuki		Won with birdie on first extra hole
21995PGA Philanthropy Tournament Katsunari Takahashi, Kazuhiro TakamiTakami won with birdie on first extra hole
31996Fujisankei Classic Todd HamiltonWon with par on second extra hole
41997Tokai Classic Brandt JobeLost to birdie on first extra hole
51998Casio World Open Toshimitsu IzawaWon with birdie on second extra hole

Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11998The Open Championship Mark O'MearaLost four-hole aggregate playoff;
O'Meara: −1,
Watts: +1

Results in major championships

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

Summary

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

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied