Daniel Berger (golfer)

Early years

Berger was born in Plantation, Florida, and is Jewish. His parents are Nadia and Jay Berger, a former tennis pro (ranked seventh in the world in 1990), coach, and head of men's tennis for the United States Tennis Association. His paternal grandmother, Roslyn "Cookie" Swift Berger, was an accomplished amateur golfer who was inducted into the Greater Buffalo, New York Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He has two brothers and a sister.

Berger lived in Miami for about ten years before moving with his family to Jupiter, Florida, where he began taking golf seriously. He began to play golf at age 11 or 12, and had his first hole-in-one at age 13. He graduated from William T. Dwyer High School in 2011, though he did not play high school golf.

He played college golf at Florida State University in Tallahassee. There, in the spring of 2013 he won both the SunTrust Gator Invitational and the Seminole Intercollegiate, and that season he led the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with a 69.36 stroke average. He tied for second at the 2013 NCAA Golf Championships as a sophomore, and was named a two-time first-team All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America and Golfweek, and named to the All-Nicklaus team, All-ACC team, and PING All-Region team. He turned pro after his sophomore year, at age 20.

Professional career

In late 2013, Berger qualified for the Web.com Tour and played four events. The following year, he finished T2 at the TPC Stonebrae Championship and ranked 15th in the season-long Web.com Tour standings, which earned him a promotion to the PGA Tour for the 2014–15 season.

In March 2015, Berger shot a 6-under-par 64 in the final round of the Honda Classic to get into a sudden-death playoff, which he lost to Pádraig Harrington. Had Berger won, it would have been the second-largest final round comeback in PGA Tour history; he began the final round nine strokes behind 54-hole leader Ian Poulter. Three weeks later at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Berger made a double eagle at the par-5 sixth hole during the third round. During the 2015 season, Berger made the cut in 17 of 31 events, had six top-10 finishes, including two seconds, and was the only rookie to make the Tour Championship field in late September. He finished 11th in the FedEx Cup rankings, 25th on the money list (earning over $3 million), and was the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

Berger gained his first PGA Tour win in June 2016 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic near Memphis, which moved him to 29th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He earned $1.1 million.

At the beginning of the 2017 PGA Tour Season, Berger began using Callaway clubs and balls after switching over from TaylorMade, which he used in his first two seasons on tour. Later that season, Berger successfully defended his FedEx St. Jude Classic title and moved to 24th in the world. By July, he was ranked 20th in the world.

Personal life

Berger currently resides in Jupiter, Florida.

Amateur wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

Results in major championships

Summary

Results in World Golf Championships

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
WD = Withdrew
"T" = Tied
Yellow background for top-10

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional