Howard Twitty

American professional golfer (born 1949)
title: "Howard Twitty" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-male-golfers", "arizona-state-sun-devils-men's-golfers", "pga-tour-golfers", "pga-tour-champions-golfers", "golfers-from-phoenix,-arizona", "1949-births", "living-people", "20th-century-american-sportsmen"] description: "American professional golfer (born 1949)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Twitty" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American professional golfer (born 1949) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox golfer"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Howard Twitty |
| image | Howard Twitty during the 1980 Memorial Tournament - DPLA - 0c5763864d70330625b77cb70962216e.jpg |
| imagesize | 200px |
| caption | Twitty in 1980 |
| fullname | Howard Allen Twitty |
| nickname | Tweety Bird |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| height | |
| weight | 210 lb |
| nationality | |
| college | Arizona State University |
| yearpro | 1974 |
| retired | |
| extour | PGA Tour |
| Champions Tour | |
| prowins | 4 |
| pgawins | 3 |
| asiawins | |
| champwins | |
| seneurowins | |
| otherwins | |
| majorwins | |
| masters | T17: 1993 |
| usopen | T32: 1979 |
| open | T34: 1993 |
| pga | T5: 1980 |
| wghofid | |
| wghofyear | |
| award1 | [PGA Tour |
| Comeback Player of the Year](pga-tour-comeback-player-of-the-year) | |
| year1 | 1993 |
| awardssection | |
| :: |
| name = Howard Twitty | image = Howard Twitty during the 1980 Memorial Tournament - DPLA - 0c5763864d70330625b77cb70962216e.jpg | imagesize = 200px | caption = Twitty in 1980 | fullname = Howard Allen Twitty | nickname = Tweety Bird | birth_date = | birth_place = Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | height = | weight = 210 lb | nationality = | residence = | spouse = | partner = | children = | college = Arizona State University | yearpro = 1974 | retired = | tour = | extour = PGA Tour Champions Tour | prowins = 4 | pgawins = 3 | asiawins = | champwins = | seneurowins = | otherwins = | majorwins = | masters = T17: 1993 | usopen = T32: 1979 | open = T34: 1993 | pga = T5: 1980 | wghofid = | wghofyear = | award1 = PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year | year1 = 1993 | award2 = | year2 = | awardssection = Howard Allen Twitty (born January 15, 1949) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour.
Early life and amateur career
In 1949, Twitty was born in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1972, he graduated from Arizona State University.
Professional career
In 1974, Twitty turned pro. Twitty won three tournaments on the PGA Tour during his career. His best finish in a major tournament was a T-5 at the 1980 PGA Championship. Twitty missed part of the 1996 season due to foot surgery, and now wears sandals with golf spikes while he plays. Twitty played some on the Nationwide Tour in his late forties to prepare for the Senior PGA TOUR. After reaching the age of 50 in 1999, he began play on the senior tour where his best finish was a T-2 at the 2000 Toshiba Senior Classic.
Twitty has done some consulting on golf course design. He collaborated with Roger Maltbie on the well-received redesign of the TPC at River Highlands course in Connecticut, site of the Travelers Championship. He also collaborated with Tom Weiskopf on the TPC Scottsdale redesign, site of the FBR Open.
Personal life
Twitty resides in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona. He has seven children.
Awards and honors
In 1993, Twitty was honored with PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year
Amateur wins (2)
- 1970 Porter Cup, Sunnehanna Amateur
Professional wins (4)
PGA Tour wins (3)
::data[format=table] | No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Sep 2, 1979 | B.C. Open | −14 (69-70-64-67=270) | 1 stroke | USA Tom Purtzer | | 2 | Jul 27, 1980 | Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open | −18 (68-66-63-69=266) | Playoff | USA Jim Simons | | 3 | Jan 17, 1993 | United Airlines Hawaiian Open | −19 (63-68-70-68=269) | 4 strokes | USA Joey Sindelar | ::
PGA Tour playoff record (1–0) ::data[format=table]
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1980 | Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open | USA Jim Simons | Won with birdie on sixth extra hole |
| :: |
Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)
::data[format=table] | No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Mar 2, 1975 | Thailand Open | −3 (72-74-70-69=285) | 2 strokes | USA Tom Purtzer | ::
Results in major championships
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | |||||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | T32 | |||||||
| The Open Championship | |||||||||
| PGA Championship | T38 | T64 | T7 | ||||||
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T38 | T40 | ||||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | 66 | |||||
| The Open Championship | ||||||||||
| PGA Championship | T5 | T43 | CUT | T51 | CUT | CUT | T27 | |||
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T17 | T48 | |||||||
| U.S. Open | 65 | CUT | CUT | CUT | |||||
| The Open Championship | T34 | T47 | |||||||
| PGA Championship | T16 | CUT | CUT | ||||||
| :: |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
References
References
- Desmith, David. "Golf's Animal Kingdom of Player Nicknames".
- "Golf Major Championships".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::