Kyle Berkshire

Last updated

Kyle Berkshire (born November 1, 1996) is an American golfer who competes as a professional long drive athlete. He has won the World Long Drive Championship on three occasions, in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Contents

Personal life

Originally from Crofton, Maryland, Berkshire resides in Orlando, Florida. He attended Archbishop Spalding High School in Maryland where he helped the Spalding golf team win two match play and two stroke play MIAA state championships. The team went 31-2-1 in match play during Berkshire's four years including undefeated seasons in 2014 and 2015. [1] He went to the University of North Texas for two years, [2] [3] before transferring to the University of Central Florida. [4]

Long drive career

After reaching the semifinals at the Volvik World Long Drive Championship in 2017, Berkshire in 2018 earned his first World Long Drive victory, winning at the WinStar Midwest Slam in Oklahoma. On September 4, 2019 Berkshire won the 44th World Long Drive Championship in Thackerville, Oklahoma, defeating Tim Burke in the final. [5]

During the pandemic, Comcast shut down the World Long Drive Association in 2020. Players and coach Bobby Peterson formed a new sanctioning body, the Professional Long Drivers Association, where Berkshire won the inaugural PLDA season-ending championship in 2020 at 383 yards. [6] He defended the PLDA Championship (now the PLDA World Championship) in 2021, now having won three consecutive season-ending long drive tour championships.

In December 2021, Berkshire set a new world record for indoor ball speed with 233.4 miles per hour (375.6 km/h). [7]

In October 2023, shortly before the World Long Drive Championship, Berkshire had set a new record for ball speed at 241.6 mph, as well as the longest golf drive ever fully verified at 579.63 yards. [8] On October 22, Berkshire defeated Sean Johnson in the final to claim his fourth season-ending championship match. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio García</span> Spanish professional golfer

Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as a professional, most notably the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters Tournament. García was also the Chairman of Spanish football team CF Borriol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long drive</span> Golf sport

Long drive is a sport where players compete to hit or drive a golf ball the farthest. Top long drivers compete professionally in events and exhibitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Creamer</span> American golfer

Paula Creamer is an American professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. As a professional, she has won 12 tournaments, including 10 LPGA Tour events. Creamer has been as high as number 2 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She was the 2010 U.S. Women's Open champion. As of the end of the 2023 season, Creamer was 19th on the all-time LPGA career money list with earnings of $12,161,187.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bubba Watson</span> American professional golfer (born 1978)

Gerry Lester "Bubba" Watson Jr. is an American professional golfer. He has two major championships, with victories at the Masters Tournament in 2012 and 2014, and a total of 12 PGA Tour wins. In February 2015, Watson reached a career-high 2nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking. Watson has played in the LIV Golf League since 2022.

Archbishop Spalding High School is a private, Catholic co-educational high school located in Severn, Maryland, USA. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. Most of its students live in Annapolis, Crownsville, Arnold, Pasadena, Severna Park, Crofton, Millersville, Glen Burnie, or Davidsonville in Anne Arundel County. Some also travel from southern Baltimore County, east Prince George's County and parts of Howard County. Spalding has numerous clubs for student involvement and/or academic competition, including Academic Bowl, Mock Trial, Strategic Gaming, HOPE and a NAIMUN award-winning Model United Nations team. It also has many competitive sports teams, such as rugby, soccer, cheerleading, dance, basketball, softball, american football, ice hockey, baseball, lacrosse, track and cross country. These athletic teams compete in the MIAA and the IAAM Conferences. The school sponsors a highly competitive music program, in which students participate in interstate competitions each year. Archbishop Spalding's mascot is the Cavalier.

The Mark H. McCormack Medal is presented annually by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the last 'elite' event of the season. The award is named after World Golf Hall of Famer Mark McCormack, who was a supporter of golf and the founder of IMG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Oklahoma Bronchos</span> Athletic teams representing University of Central Oklahoma

The Central Oklahoma Bronchos, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing University of Central Oklahoma, located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The five men's and nine women's varsity teams are called the "Bronchos". The school's identification as Bronchos dates back to 1922, when the wife of football coach Charles W. Wantland suggested it for the school's mascot. The official colors of the teams are bronze and blue, which the institution adopted in 1895. The Bronchos compete in the NCAA's Division II and in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in all sports except women's rowing, which competes in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Bronchos have won 22 national championships, with the most recent coming in 2024 as the wrestling program won the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. The university's current athletic director is Stan Wagnon, who has served in the position since 2020.

The Volvik World Long Drive Championship is an annual long drive competition in the sport of golf. It was first held in 1974, and since 2000 has comprised Open, Masters (over-45s) and Women's events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooks Koepka</span> American professional golfer (born 1990)

Brooks Koepka is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the LIV Golf league, where he leads with the most wins (4). Prior to joining LIV, Kopeka won several times on the PGA Tour. He has won 5 major championships; the 2017 and 2018 US Open, and the 2018, 2019 and 2023 PGA Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Homa</span> American professional golfer (born 1990)

John Maxwell Homa is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. In college, he won the individual 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. As a professional, he has won six times on the PGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ko Jin-young</span> South Korean golfer

Ko Jin-young, also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women's British Open, and had won the 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryson DeChambeau</span> American professional golfer (born 1993)

Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau is an American professional golfer who plays on the LIV Golf League. He formerly played on the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships, the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Rahm</span> Spanish professional golfer (born 1994)

Jon Rahm Rodríguez is a Spanish professional golfer from the Basque Country. He was number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a then record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first achieving that rank after winning the Memorial Tournament in July 2020. In June 2021, Rahm became the first Spanish golfer to win the U.S. Open. In 2023, he won the Masters Tournament, his second major championship. On 7 December 2023, Rahm announced that he was joining LIV Golf. In 2024, he was ranked the world's second highest-paid athlete by Forbes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collin Morikawa</span> American professional golfer (born 1997)

Collin Morikawa is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He began his PGA Tour career with 22 consecutive made cuts, second only to Tiger Woods' 25-cut streak. Morikawa has six PGA Tour wins – including two major championships, the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship, winning both in his debut. In May 2018, Morikawa spent three weeks as the top-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He also became the first American to win the Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xander Schauffele</span> American professional golfer (born 1993)

Alexander Victor Schauffele is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the Tour Championship in 2017 and the gold medal at the men's individual golf event of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He has won two major championships, both in the same year, the 2024 PGA Championship and the 2024 Open Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Wallace (golfer)</span> English professional golfer

Matthew Wallace is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottie Scheffler</span> American professional golfer (born 1996)

Scott Alexander Scheffler is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is currently ranked world number one, first reaching the position in the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2022, and has held that ranking for over 90 weeks. He has won two major championships, both the 2022 and 2024 Masters Tournament. He became the first player to win The Players Championship in back-to-back years in 2023 and 2024. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Scheffler won gold medal in the men's individual tournament.

Cameron Mackray Champ is an American professional golfer from Sacramento, California.

Maurice Allen is a World Long Drive Competitor, former two time number one ranked in the world. Allen competes in events that are sanctioned by the World Long Drive Association, which is owned by Golf Channel, part of the NBC Sports Group, and a division of Comcast. The season-long schedule features events airing live on Golf Channel, culminating in the Volvik World Long Drive Championship in September.

The 2021–22 PGA Tour was the 107th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 54th season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 16th edition of the FedEx Cup.

References

  1. ↑ "Golf: Spalding golfers win MIAA A Conference". Capital Gazette. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Kyle Berkshire hoping long drives, Bryson DeChambeau's help result in tour stints". ESPN. Associated Press. October 21, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Kyle Berkshire - Men's Golf". University of North Texas Athletics. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  4. ↑ Dovsek, Averee (January 1, 2021). "World Long Drive champ Kyle Berkshire admits his long hair is a handicap, but he has 'an emotional attachment'". Golfweek. USA Today. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  5. ↑ Myers, Alex (September 5, 2019). "In least-shocking news ever, Kyle Berkshire wins the World Long Drive Championship". Golf Digest. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  6. ↑ PLDA 2020 Final
  7. ↑ Chivers, Matt (December 23, 2021). "Long drive champion Kyle Berkshire shatters record for ball speed. In June 2022 he set a new outdoor ball speed of 232.6 mph at Mickelson National golf club in Calgary, Alberta". GolfMagic. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  8. ↑ Dolch, Craig (November 13, 2023). "579 yards: World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire sets world record, screaming 'That's it!'". Aol. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  9. ↑ Dovsel, Averee (October 22, 2023). "Three winners crowned at 2023 World Long Drive Championships, including Kyle Berkshire". USA Today: Golfweek. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.