Dean Wilson PGA Tour Biography - "Life and Times Line"
By Matt Larson on Sep 3, 2007 in PGA Tour
Dean Wilson, won The International, 2006 (PGA Tour) CASTLE ROCK, Colorado with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff at The INTERNATIONAL at Castle Pines, to beat Tom Lehman and take the $990,000 winner’s check. The unique Stableford scoring system, which rewards birdies and eagles far more than bogeys made the difference for Dean Wilson, who would have lost to Tom Lehman by 4 strokes (-13 to -9) if the standard stroke play scoring method were used.
This tournament win allows the 36 year-old first-time winner to escape the shadow of his previous distinction as being a golfer paired with Sorenstam when she became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA TOUR at the 2003 Bank of America Colonial.
As we learned though, there is much more to the life of Dean Wilson than those two weeks of his career. Read on to explore the timeline of the life of PGA Tour star Dean Wilson and learn some interesting facts about him concerning college stunts, bull riding, and “turning Japanese.”
| 1969 | Born Dean Wilson on December 17th in Kaneohe (Kane’ohe), HI on the island of Oahu |
| 1982 | Learned golf from his mother, Grace, a 15-handicap schoolteacher. She would take him to Pali Golf Course, a scrappy municipal course near their home. Dean had difficulty with golf, though we was a natural athlete in other sports. He latched onto the challenge of golf and gave up playing all other sports. |
Random Fact - Advice to young golfers - Work hard, don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t achieve what you want to achieve, and have fun. Even though Dean is well established on the PGA Tour with his win and the subsequent 2 year exemption, he still practices golf every day
| 1987 | Wilson never ventured to the mainland as a junior golfer. Dean said, “There is an internal battle that you have with trying to compete with everyone else on the mainland. When I said I wanted to (play on TOUR) and that was my goal, it seems like I heard a lot of people saying it can’t be done. You can’t beat those guys, they’re so good.” |
Random Fact: Believes David Ishii to be the best Hawaiian golfer ever.
| 1988 | Wilson wasn’t good enough at Castle high school to get a college scholarship began his college career on a partial scholarship at BYU’s Hawaii campus. |
| 1989 | Transferred to the main campus in Provo, Utah, where he was teammates with Mike Weir. Dean sat out most of his sophomore year. Dean was a range-hound on the order of Vijay Singh and a devotee of Ben Hogan, Wilson worked hard to keep up with his teammates, and it paid off as he finally earned a starting spot. Dean always felt like the underdog. Dean said, “Whether it was high school or college, there was always someone better than me and it really motivated me.” |
Random Fact - Wilson was a bit of a prankster as an undergraduate: Once, on a dare, he ate an entire bunch of bananas while waiting in an all-you-can-eat buffet line.
| 1990 | Won the Western Athletic Conference individual title. |
Random Fact - Was obsessed with the feat of doing a back-flip in college. He began hanging out with the Brigham Young University gymnastics team between golf practices and earned the nickname “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” (His current nickname is “Dean the machine”). Mike Weir recalls, “One day we’re out practicing on the range and [Dean] comes out and does a complete back flip, wearing golf shoes, and lands on his feet.”
| 1992 |
|
| 1993-1995 | played in Australia in the winter and on the Canadian Tour in the summer for the next few years. Dean did not make much impact on either circuit. |
| 1996 | Played Nationwide tour with limited success |
| 1997 |
|
Random Fact - Best round ever playing golf was a 58, 14-under par
| 1998 |
|
| 1999 |
|
Random Fact – Dean likes all extreme sports, including surfing, cliff skiing, and sky diving.
| 2000 |
|
Random Fact - What is in Dean’s Bag Today?
- Callaway VFT 8° Driver
- Callaway 3+ & 5 Wood
- Callaway X-14 PRO Series (S400 DYN. Gold) Irons
- Odyssey #5 Putter
- Callaway Red Ball
| 2001 |
|
Random Fact - He won six events, earned more than $2 million, and rose to 56th in the World Rankings by the end of 2002. Dean Wilson was the richest and most accomplished PGA Tour rookie you’ve never heard of… until Todd Hamilton.
| 2002 |
|
Random Fact – Dean attributes his successes in golf to his shot-making ability inside of 100 yards.
| 2003 |
|
Random Fact – Dean’s goal now is that when he retires, he wants to “Count money and stack trophies”
| 2004 |
|
Random Fact – Now lives in Las Vegas, NV
| 2005 |
|
Random Fact - Dean loves any sport involving bulls - Bull riding both real and mechanical bulls or just running with the bulls (in Pamplona)
| 2006 |
|
Subscribe to Golf Gear Reviews RSS
No comments yet.