In celebration of Arizona's centennial, the Star will feature our picks for the 100 best athletes, moments and teams.
Throughout the summer, we will showcase our list - with the first 90 in no particular order. In August, Greg Hansen will choose his top 10, with a column on each.
Billy Mayfair
Achievement
Before he was winning tournaments on the PGA Tour, Billy Mayfair was the definition of a golf prodigy.
At 15, Mayfair, born in Phoenix, was on the cover of a magazine and was labeled "golf's junior hotshot." He went to Arizona State and was a four-time All-American for the Sun Devils and the Pac-10 Player of the Year. The Phoenix Camelback High School graduate also won the 1986 U.S. Amateur Public Links, the 1987 and 1988 Pacific Coast Amateur and the 1987 U.S. Amateur Championship.
People are also reading…
If that wasn't enough, he won the 1987 Haskins Award as the nation's top college golfer.
The prodigy turned professional in 1988 as one of the most successful amateur golfers in Arizona history.
Mayfair, who is still playing on the PGA Tour, has won five PGA tournaments. His first one came in 1993 when he outlasted Mark Calcavecchia and Ted Schulz in a playoff to win the Greater Milwaukee Open.
His biggest win on tour came in 1995 when he won The Tour Championship by three strokes over Steve Elkington and Corey Pavin.
He is one of two golfers in PGA Tour history to beat Tiger Woods in a playoff. Mayfair held off Woods in the 1998 Nissan Open.
The golfer was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2006, but in 2010 said he is cancer-free. He hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 1998 and had to go to Qualifying School in 2010 to stay on tour in 2011.
He has six top-10 finishes in major championships in his career.
Hometown; age
Scottsdale; 44
By the numbers
271
Mayfair's four-day score at the 1998 Buick Open, his last win on the PGA Tour.
Daniel Berk
