# Billy Mayfair

William Fred Mayfair (born August 6, 1966) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he won five times, including at the 1995 Tour Championship.

## Early years and amateur career

Mayfair was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Before his fifteenth birthday, he won numerous junior golf tournaments. In 1981, he was on the cover of Boys' Life magazine as "golf's junior hotshot". He attended Arizona State University and was a member of the golf team. He won the 1986 U.S. Amateur Public Links and the 1987 U.S. Amateur, defeating University of Tennessee graduate Eric Rebmann 4&3. He won the 1987 Haskins Award for the nation's top collegiate golfer.

## Professional career

Mayfair turned professional in 1988 and has won five events on the PGA Tour, including the 1995 Tour Championship. He has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings, going as high as 26th in 1996. He holds the distinction of being the only player to ever beat Tiger Woods in a playoff on the PGA Tour (1998 Nissan Open).
Mayfair was the medalist at the 2010 PGA Tour's Qualifying School. He finished 142nd on the Tour money list that year, which granted him conditional status for 2011. He finished the 2011 season 109th on the money list and retained his tour card for 2012. In 2013 and 2014 Mayfair split his playing time between the PGA Tour and the Web.com Tour, playing mostly on the Web.com Tour in 2014.
During his PGA Tour career, Mayfair made 761 starts and earned over $20.3 million.
In 2016, he joined PGA Tour Champions.

## Personal life

Mayfair lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he plays out of Estrella Mountain Ranch Golf Club. On July 31, 2006, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had surgery on August 3 of that year and it has been reported that the cancer was contained. In April 2021 he announced that he had been diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in November 2019.

## Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete
* 1982 Junior PGA Championship
* 1986 U.S. Amateur Public Links
* 1987 Pacific Coast Amateur, U.S. Amateur
* 1988 Pacific Coast Amateur

## Professional wins (5)
### PGA Tour wins (5)

* Legend
* Tour Championships (1)
* Other PGA Tour (4)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
| 1 | Sep 5, 1993 | Greater Milwaukee Open | −18 (67-66-69-68=270) | Playoff | Mark Calcavecchia, Ted Schulz |
| 2 | Jul 9, 1995 | Motorola Western Open | −9 (73-70-69-67=279) | 1 stroke | Jay Haas, Justin Leonard, Jeff Maggert, Scott Simpson |
| 3 | Oct 29, 1995 | The Tour Championship | E (68-70-69-73=280) | 3 strokes | Steve Elkington, Corey Pavin |
| 4 | Mar 1, 1998 | Nissan Open | −12 (65-71-69-67=272) | Playoff | Tiger Woods |
| 5 | Aug 9, 1998 | Buick Open | −17 (70-69-65-67=271) | 2 strokes | Scott Verplank |
PGA Tour playoff record (2–5)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
| 1 | 1990 | Greater Milwaukee Open | Ed Dougherty, Jim Gallagher Jr. | Gallagher won with par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1990 | Nabisco Championship | Jodie Mudd | Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
| 3 | 1993 | Greater Milwaukee Open | Mark Calcavecchia, Ted Schulz | Won with birdie on fourth extra hole Schulz eliminated by par on first hole |
| 4 | 1995 | Phoenix Open | Vijay Singh | Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 5 | 1995 | NEC World Series of Golf | Greg Norman, Nick Price | Norman won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 6 | 1998 | Nissan Open | Tiger Woods | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 7 | 2001 | WorldCom Classic - The Heritage of Golf | José Cóceres | Lost to par on fifth extra hole |

## Results in major championships

| Tournament | 1988 | 1989 |
| Masters Tournament | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | T25LA | T33 |
| The Open Championship | | |
| PGA Championship | | |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| Masters Tournament | | T12 | T42 | | CUT | | CUT | | CUT | CUT |
| U.S. Open | CUT | T37 | T23 | | CUT | | T32 | | | T10 |
| The Open Championship | | | | | | | T45 | | T52 | CUT |
| PGA Championship | T5 | CUT | CUT | T28 | T39 | T23 | T52 | T53 | T7 | T34 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| Masters Tournament | | | T32 | T37 | | | T14 | 59 | | CUT |
| U.S. Open | CUT | | T5 | T10 | 66 | | CUT | | | T40 |
| The Open Championship | | T3 | CUT | | | | | | | T52 |
| PGA Championship | T74 | CUT | CUT | T61 | | CUT | T37 | T60 | T47 | |
LA = Low Amateur CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied

### Summary

| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 6 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 10 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 13 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 50 | 33 |
* Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (three times)
* Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

## Results in The Players Championship

| Tournament | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| The Players Championship | CUT | CUT | T73 | T67 | T52 | CUT | T18 | CUT | CUT | T42 | CUT |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| The Players Championship | T17 | T5 | CUT | CUT | T58 | | CUT | CUT | 72 | T32 |
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| The Players Championship | | | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place

## Results in World Golf Championships

| Tournament | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2005 | 2009 |
| Match Play | R64 | R32 | | R64 | | |
| Championship | | | NT$^1$ | | T25 | T77 |
| Invitational | | | | | | |
| Champions | | | | | | |
$^1$Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = Tied NT = No tournament Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

## U.S. national team appearances

Amateur
* Walker Cup: 1987 (winners)
Professional
* Four Tours World Championship: 1991