Background and career
Jason Christopher Dufner (born March 24, 1977) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour where he is a five-time winner. He has won one major championship, the 2013 PGA Championship. He was also runner-up in the 2011 PGA Championship, losing a playoff to Keegan Bradley. Dufner was ranked in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking for 50 weeks; his career-high ranking is sixth in September 2012.
Dufner was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to the Washington, D.C. area when he was 11 years old, and then to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he was 14. It was there that he started playing golf, and played for St. Thomas Aquinas High School during his sophomore, junior, and senior years.
Dufner was a walk-on at Auburn University, where he won three times in his college career and was an Honorable Mention All-American in 1997. He graduated from Auburn in 2000 with a degree in economics. In 1998, Dufner played in the finals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Torrey Pines, falling to Trevor Immelman, 3 and 2. The 1998 U.S. Amateur was the first tournament with his long time caddie, Kevin Baile.
In his early career, Dufner struggled to hold down a place on the PGA Tour. He was a member of the PGA Tour in 2004 and the Nationwide Tour in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. Dufner won two events during his time on the Nationwide Tour, the Buy.com Wichita Open in 2001 and the LaSalle Bank Open in 2006. He finished in 8th place on the Nationwide Tour money list in 2006 to earn his PGA Tour card for 2007. He finished 127th in the FedEx Cup standings in 2007, and failed to qualify at the PGA Tour Q-School, where he finished T149. He retained conditional status for the 2008 PGA Tour season, and then finished T11 at the Q-School that year to earn his card for 2009. He has been a member of the PGA Tour every year since. In 2009, Dufner finished in the top-10 on six occasions, including a third-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open, and a runner up place at the Deutsche Bank Championship, part of the FedEx Cup playoffs. As a result, Dufner went on to finish the year 11th in the FedEx Cup standings and 33rd on the year's money list. Dufner had a less successful 2010 season, recording only two top-10 finishes. However, his best finish of the year came in a major championship, at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. He finished in a tie for fifth place, two strokes short of the playoff. He was eliminated in the third FedEx Cup playoff event and did not qualify for The Tour Championship.
Early in 2011, Dufner had a chance to win his first PGA Tour title at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale when he finished tied for the lead at 18-under-par after 72 holes, before eventually losing in a playoff to Mark Wilson. Wilson made a birdie on the second extra hole and the best Dufner could manage there was a par. He also had a good finish in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where a final-round 66 boosted him to a tie for third place. Dufner earned entry into the 2011 U.S. Open after Anders Hansen withdrew; previously during a qualifying tournament in Georgia, Dufner had lost in a playoff to Russell Henley. He also played in the 2011 Open Championship as a result of Tiger Woods pulling out due to injury. He missed the cut in both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.
At the 2011 PGA Championship in Atlanta, Dufner was in contention to win his first major and maiden PGA Tour title, when he entered the final round in the last group and tied for the lead with Brendan Steele at seven under par. Dufner completed the front nine in 33, two under par, while playing partner Steele dropped four shots early on and fell out of contention. Dufner held the lead for most of the final round and was bogey-free through 14 holes. After his nearest challenger, Keegan Bradley, made triple bogey on the 15th, Dufner had a five-stroke advantage with four holes to play. Dufner then hit his tee shot on 15 into the water hazard right of the green on the par three. He got up and down from the drop zone to make bogey, but followed this with bogeys at 16 and 17. Meanwhile, Bradley scored back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 to take the clubhouse lead at eight under, wiping out Dufner's advantage. Dufner parred the 18th and the two American players went into a three-hole aggregate playoff. On the first playoff hole, both players hit their approach shots to 16 within a few feet. Bradley made his birdie putt, while Dufner missed his birdie, allowing Bradley to take a one-stroke advantage to the 17th. Both players found the green from the tee, and while Bradley two-putted for his par, Dufner knocked his first putt well past the hole, and three-putted the green to fall two strokes behind with one to play. At the last hole, Bradley's second shot cleared the water by a few yards; Dufner then followed with a shot on the same line and made his birdie putt. Bradley only needed to two-putt for the championship, which he did. This was Dufner's best major finish, winning $865,000 of the purse, with both of his career high finishes in majors coming at the PGA Championship. With his second-place finish, he rose to 38th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
