Billy Hurley III

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Billy Hurley III
— Golfer —
File:Former U.S. Navy lieutenant turned PGA professional Billy Hurley III visits the USS Chung-Hoon 120109-F-MQ656-170 (cropped).jpg
Hurley aboard the USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93)
Personal information
Born (1982-06-09) June 9, 1982 (age 42)
Leesburg, Virginia
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Annapolis, Maryland
Career
College United States Naval Academy
Turned professional 2006
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
Former tour(s) Web.com Tour
Professional wins 2
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament DNP
U.S. Open T48: 2014
The Open Championship T64: 2014
PGA Championship DNP

Billy Hurley III (born June 9, 1982) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.[1]

Early life

Hurley grew up in Leesburg, Virginia, the oldest of four children of Billy and Cheryl Hurley.[2] He attended Loudoun County High School.[3] During his senior year in 2000, he was one of 17 golfers named honorable mention All-Met (Washington, D.C. metro area)[4] He was named all-state in Virginia.[2]

Naval career

Hurley is a 2004 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Quantitative Economics.[5] He also was named Academic All-American.[2]

He was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy in 2004, rising to the rank of Lieutenant and serving until July 2009.[6] After his graduation from the academy, he was assigned to the USS Gettysburg, a guided-missile cruiser based in Mayport, Florida, where he was a combat electronic division officer.[3] He then taught economics for two years at the Naval Academy. From 2007 to 2009, he served a tour of duty in the Persian Gulf aboard the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon.[7]

College and amateur career

As an amateur, Hurley was a member of the victorious American team in the 2005 Walker Cup, held at the Chicago Golf Club. The Walker Cup is a competition held biennially that matches the top American amateurs against the best of Great Britain and Ireland.[8][9] He was also captain of the 2004 Palmer Cup team, an annual competition named for Arnold Palmer that matches American collegiate golfers against European college/university players.[3]

Hurley won seven collegiate golf titles at Navy, was named 2004 Patriot League Player of the Year,[8] and earned the award for the top college golfer and sportsman (the Byron Nelson Award). He was ranked the sixth-best amateur in the world.[10]

Professional career

2011 season

On the 2011 Nationwide Tour, Hurley's best finish was second place at the Chiquita Classic while having four top-10 finishes.[11] He entered the 2011 Nationwide Tour Championship in the 25th money list position and his T18 position earned him his PGA Tour card.[12]

2012 season

Hurley played 27 events on the 2012 PGA Tour, with his best finish a tie for fourth at the AT&T National.[11] He finished 150th in the FedEx Cup, earning a $32,000 bonus.[13] However, Hurley finished 151st on the money list and therefore he missed conditional status on the 2013 PGA Tour by $165.[14]

2013 season

At 2012 Q School, Hurley finished tied for 73rd place. Since at Q School, the top 25 players and ties earn PGA Tour cards and the next 50 players earn Web.com Tour cards, Hurley earned a Web.com Tour card for the 2013 Web.com Tour season.[15] He made 15 cuts in 24 events on the Web.com Tour in 2013 with his best finish a playoff loss at the United Leasing Championship. He played in the Web.com Tour Finals and finished 26th to earn his PGA Tour card for 2014.

2014 season

Hurley began the 2013–14 season with a tie for ninth place at the October 2013 Frys.com Open in San Martin, California.[11]

On March 2, 2014 Hurley recorded the fourth top-10 of his PGA Tour career with a fifth-place finish at The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, just one shot out of the four-man playoff won by Russell Henley.[16] He earned $240,000, moving him to 65th on the 2014 money list with $440,551.[17] After a stretch of several mediocre tournaments and missed cuts, on May 18 he finished T-16 in the HP Byron Nelson Championship, earning $100,050.[11] He continued his strong play with a T-30 to earn $37,200 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on May 25[11] followed by a T-37 to earn $25,420 at the Memorial Tournament on June 1.[11]

On the following day, June 2, Hurley qualified to play in his first-ever U.S. Open (and first major) as he birdied three of his last four holes to finish in the top four of the 36-hole Monday qualifying tournament held in Rockville, Maryland.[18][19] At the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, out of 156 golfers entered, Hurley was one of only 67 to make the cut and play through the weekend. He finished the tournament T-48.[11]

Hurley posted another top 10 on June 29, finishing T-8 at the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club to earn $188,500.[11]

On July 6, 2014, Hurley, on the strength of a second-round 63 and a third-round 67, took a two-shot lead into the final round of the Greenbrier Classic held at The Old White TPC course in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.[20] He shot a final-round 73 to finish T-4 and earn $227,036, which put him over the $1 million mark in 2014 earnings at $1,105,659.[21] The T-4 finish combined with his world ranking also qualified him to play in his second major, The Open Championship July 17-20 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake. At The Open, he again made the cut in a major and finished the tournament T-64.[11]

Taking three weeks off following The Open Championship, Hurley missed the cut in his next two tournaments, then his 2014 season ended with a T-57 finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He finished the season with career-high winnings of $1,145,299 with 17 cuts made in 26 starts.[11]

2015 season

Hurley missed the cut by one shot in each of his first two tournaments of the 2014–15 season. In his third tournament, he held a two-stroke lead after 36 holes in the CIMB Classic after consecutive rounds of five-under-par.[22] He finished T-8 to win $189,000.[23] After missing four cuts in his first six events of calendar year 2015, he had his best tournament of the calendar year March 15 at the Valspar Championship, finishing T-17 and winning $77,206.[24]

After his strong finish at the Valspar Championship, Hurley struggled, missing the cut at four of his next five tournaments. In June he finished at T-18 in the FedEx St. Jude Classic and tallied his only other top-25 finish on August 9 at the Barracuda Championship.[25] For the 2015 season, through August 23, he had played in 28 events, making the cut in 14 and earning $591,450.[26]

Because Hurley did not finish the season ranked in the top 125 players (he was ranked 136th)[27] on the PGA Tour after the Wyndham Championship, in which he missed the cut, he lost his PGA Tour playing card for the 2015–16 season. He announced via Twitter on August 21 that he would play in the Web.com Tour Finals,[28] which begins with the Hotel Fitness Championship September 10.[29]

Personal life

Hurley is active in several charities and religious organizations including: Birdies for the Brave, a military outreach initiative sponsored by the PGA Tour;[30] World Gospel Outreach, a children's camp in Honduras; Ark Children's House, an orphanage in Ecuador; and Adoption Advocates International, which operates an orphanage in Ethiopia (Layla House) where he adopted his son, Jacob.[5]

Hurley resides in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Heather, sons Will and Jacob, and his daughter Madison.[8][31]

Sponsors and equipment

Hurley's sponsors are AUR apparel, Sovereign Insurance Group, the non-profit SEAL Legacy Foundation, Charter Financial Group, Secor Group, Dynasplint Systems and Valspar.[32] His equipment includes: driver, Taylor Made Jet Speed TP; 3-wood, TaylorMade SLDR TP 15; hybrid, Adams Golf A12 Tour; irons, Bridgestone Golf J40 Cavity Back 4-PW; wedges, Cleveland Golf 588 Forged (52, 56, 60); putter, Odyssey White Hot #5; balls, Bridgestone Golf Tour B330-S; gloves, Bridgestone Golf Tour Glove; and shoes, Adidas Tour 360.[33]

Professional wins

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

See also

References

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External links

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