Robert Garrigus

Robert Ira Garrigus (born November 11, 1977) is an American professional golfer who is currently a member of the PGA Tour.

In 1995, Garrigus finished first at the Valley League District Championships and later helped Crescent Valley High School to a 4A state championship by finishing T-9.

Garrigus attended Scottsdale Community College later in 1995.

Garrigus turned professional in 1997.

He played on the NGA Hooters Tour and the Gateway Tour from 1997–1999.

He played on the Buy.com Tour (now Web.com Tour) for the first time in 2000, and was also a member of the Nationwide Tour in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

In 2003, he entered a rehabilitation center near San Diego for a 45-day program.

His newfound sobriety was almost immediately tested.

Before entering rehab, he had left money for his roommate to keep the house and pay bills.

He finished tied for 9th in Q-School in 2005 to earn his PGA Tour card for the first time.

Garrigus is one of the longest drivers in the golfing world, with an average drive of 310.5 yards in 2007.

He is one of the few players who can hit a ball over 350 yards.

He led the PGA Tour in driving distance in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons with average distances of 312 and 315 yards, respectively.

He is also noted for using a putter only 28.5 inches in length, about six inches shorter than a standard putter.

He won the 2010 Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last event of the PGA Tour season, to guarantee exempt status on the PGA Tour through the end of the 2012 season.

At the 2010 St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee, Garrigus, playing in the final group, had a three-shot lead going into the 72nd hole, a long par four.

He pulled his tee shot into the water hazard which flanks the hole's left side.

After taking a penalty drop a long way back, he hit his third shot straight left, caught a tree left of the hazard and fell straight down.

He punched out to the fairway and hit his fifth shot onto the green, within 35 feet of the hole.

He two-putted from there, resulting in a triple bogey 7.

A three-way sudden-death playoff with Lee Westwood and Robert Karlsson then began.

Needing a high finish to earn his tour card for 2011, he entered the final day 13 under par and five shots behind the leader Roland Thatcher and one behind first-round leader Chris Stroud at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in suburban Orlando, Florida.

Thatcher had reached 21-under in his third round, before a double bogey, bogey finish.

After five birdies in his first seven holes, Garrigus caught Thatcher, who had parred his first seven holes..

Thatcher extended his lead with three birdies around the turn, before a bogey on twelve, as Garrigus in the group in front birdied thirteen, moving the pair level again.

After Thatcher bogeyed sixteen, Garrigus held the solo lead in a tournament for the first time since Memphis.

In an article that appeared in Golf Digest in July 2011, Garrigus admitted that during the 2002 season, he and several other golfers on the Web.com Tour (then the Buy.com Tour) smoked marijuana during events: "'Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round. We always talked about it. You could go in the Porta John and take your drags.'"

However, in 2012, at the Humana Challenge, he gave up the shorter putter for a 46" putter.

Garrigus was born in Nampa, Idaho, and spent most of his childhood in Banks, Oregon.

He attended Forest Grove High School, Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, Oregon, and Centennial High School in Gresham, Oregon.

With the victory, Garrigus earned an exemption on the PGA Tour through the end of the 2012 season.

A further two-shot swing on the 17th, where Garrigus made birdie-3 to Thatcher's bogey-5, followed by a final-hole par, sealed his first professional win, by three strokes.

Prior to the tournament, Garrigus was 179th on the Tour, which would have meant a loss of his Tour card.

Thatcher finished second.

Immediately after finishing his final round in Orlando, Garrigus spoke openly in a television interview on the Golf Channel, about his triumph over substance abuse, his subsequent improved play, and his joy at closing out the season with a tournament victory, which made up for his struggles at the Memphis tournament earlier in the season.

On the first hole they played, the 18th, Garrigus's drive carried too far and came to rest against the trunk of a tree, right of the fairway.

He chipped out and hit his third shot to 12 feet.

His par putt lipped out and he made bogey.

Karlsson and Westwood both made par, eliminating Garrigus, who finished tied for second place.

The playoff was eventually won by Westwood, who birdied the fourth sudden-death hole.