In 1979, McGirt was born in Fairmont, North Carolina. He grew up playing both baseball and golf and received scholarship offers from colleges in North Carolina and South Carolina.
After being recruited by multiple colleges for both sports, McGirt decided to play college golf at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. While playing for Wofford, in 1998, he earned the Southern Conference's Freshman of the Year award. He won three collegiate events for the Terriers including the conference championship his senior year. In 2001, McGirt graduated.
Professional career
McGirt turned professional in 2004 and spent several years playing on mini-tours.[4] His first break came by reaching the final stage of the 2009 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (Q-School), allowing him to play on the Nationwide Tour in 2010. He ended 2010 at 34th on that tour's money list, then finished runner-up at Q-School to earn his PGA Tour card for 2011. McGirt qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in his rookie season, advancing as far as the Deutsche Bank Championship and finishing 83rd in the FedEx Cup standings. He finished 141st on the 2011 PGA Tour money list. Unfortunately, it was the money list that mattered at the time and McGirt had to go back to Q School to regain his Tour privileges or be relegated to the conditional category. He qualified for the tour in 2012 by finishing T13 in the 2011 Q-School.[5]
McGirt's first appearance in a major was at the PGA Championship in 2012, where he missed the cut. He had three runner-up finishes before his first win at age 36 in June 2016 at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. He won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff with Jon Curran.[6] It was McGirt's first professional win since his mini-tour victory nine years earlier in 2007. He earned $1.53 million for winning the Memorial, almost 100 times more than the $16,000 prize for his mini-tour win.[7] The win earned him a three-year PGA Tour exemption,[8] moved him to 44th in the Official World Golf Ranking, and qualified him for the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and the Masters.[7] McGirt also qualified for the 2016 Open Championship based on his FedEx Cup position. His career high world ranking is 38th, after a T10 at the 2016 PGA Championship.
McGirt's 2018 season ended at The Northern Trust. He had surgery on his left hip and did not play the 2018–19 season. He entered the 2019–20 season with 29 starts and 375.582 points to meet the terms of his medical extension, but could not meet the requirements. McGirt failed to regain his PGA Tour card for 2022, but was one of five players who were not already exempt (26-75th Korn Ferry Tour standings or 126-150th FedEx Cup) to earn a "Floor of Five" exemption and full Korn Ferry Tour privileges for 2023.
As of 2022, William has more than fifty top-25 finishes and has earned more than eleven million dollars.
Personal life
McGirt is married to Sara McGirt, a fellow Wofford alumnus. They have two children.
Awards and honors
In 1998, while playing at Wofford College, he earned the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year award.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Wofford College Athletic Hall of Fame.
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