Paul Azinger

Lore & Background

Azinger's path to the Tour was the kind that felt inevitable to those who watched him in Tucson. A local kid with a ferocious competitive streak, he turned professional in the mid-1980s and quickly established himself as a player who thrived under pressure, particularly with the putter. His early Tour years in the late 1980s and early 1990s saw him accumulate a string of top finishes and a reputation as a player who could win on any surface, no matter how fast or treacherous the greens.

His rivalry with Nick Price became one of the defining player-versus-player storylines of the 1990s. The two men matched up repeatedly in majors and signature events, and their head-to-head encounters carried the intensity of a boxing rivalry. Price's methodical, controlled game was the perfect foil to Azinger's bold, instinctive style, and fans eagerly followed every meeting between them.

Then came April 1997. Augusta National in the Masters, and Azinger delivered a performance that etched his name into the permanent record of the tournament. His putting on those fast, undulating greens was surgical and fearless, and by the time he hoisted the green jacket, he had become a household name far beyond the golf audience. That single week at Augusta elevated a career already respected into one that is instantly, universally recognized.

In Their Own Story

The April sun hung low over the 12th green at Augusta, and the gallery was silent in that particular, electric way that only a Masters final round produces. Azinger stood over a putt that was less a putt and more a dare. The green was a sheet of glass, the break subtle, the crowd holding its breath as one. He didn't look at the gallery. He didn't look at the scoreboard. He looked at the flagstick, read the slope with that quiet, cat-like stillness, and struck. The ball rolled, kissed the edge of the cup, and dropped. The roar that followed was not just applause; it was recognition. The Big Cat had pounced, and Augusta would never forget.

Reader's Guide

The Big Cat. That was the name that preceded him into every clubhouse, every interview, every head-to-head. Azinger's defining trait was never his drive distance or his iron precision; it was the putter. He read greens the way a street musician reads a crowd, instinctively, and he struck the ball with a commitment that made other players wince.

His rise came in the late 1980s, a steady accumulation of top-10s and a growing reputation as the player to fear on any fast surface. By the early 1990s, he was a regular contender in majors, and his rivalry with Nick Price gave the Tour one of its most compelling storylines of the decade. His caddie was a quiet, steady presence, a co-pilot who let Azinger's instincts lead while managing the logistics of a full week of tournament golf. Equipment-wise, Azinger was a loyalist, sticking with Titleist clubs and ball through the bulk of his career, a consistency that suited his feel-based game.

The moment that made him a household name arrived in April 1997 at Augusta. The green jacket, the 1997 Masters, and a putting round that still gets replayed in golf lore. His legacy stat is simple and permanent: one major, ten Tour wins, and a putting style that defined an era. The Big Cat didn't need more.

Did You Know?

• Azinger's 1997 Masters victory is remembered as one of the tournament's great putting performances, with his short game doing the heavy lifting on Augusta's notoriously fast greens.
• His nickname, "The Big Cat," stuck throughout his career and became inseparable from his identity in golf media and fan culture.
• The Azinger–Price rivalry of the 1990s was considered one of the Tour's most compelling head-to-head matchups, pitting instinctive aggression against methodical control.
• Azinger is a Tucson, Arizona native, and his roots in the Sonoran Desert golf culture shaped his laid-back yet fiercely competitive persona.