The 10 Best Golfers from Oregon

Oregon has quietly built one of the richest golf histories in the country. From a two-time U.S. Amateur champion who helped define the region's courses, to a Portland native who became one of the most beloved figures in the game, the Beaver State has produced elite golfers across every era.

Here's our take on the 10 best golfers ever from Oregon, ranked from 10 to 1. Pro success is the primary criterion, with recency used as a tiebreaker when careers are close.

10. Bob Duden (Portland)

Bob Duden was one of the most recognizable figures in Pacific Northwest professional golf for three decades. A Portland-area pro who played the PGA Tour periodically through the 1950s and 1960s, Duden was a constant presence on the regional scene — competing, teaching, and promoting the game long after most contemporaries had stepped away. He never broke through as a winner on Tour, but his longevity and deep contribution to Oregon's golf culture — recognized by his induction into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame — earn him the final spot on this list.

9. Pat Fitzsimons (Coos Bay)

Pat Fitzsimons is one of Oregon's proudest professional exports from the 1970s. A Coos Bay native who played college golf at the University of Oregon, Fitzsimons won the 1975 Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open — one of the Tour's marquee events — and posted 11 top-10 finishes in official PGA Tour events. His career year in 1975 earned him Golf Digest's Most Improved Golfer award and Oregon's Pro Athlete of the Year. He later became a decorated teacher and club professional in the Pacific Northwest, winning the Northwest Open three times and earning induction into the Pacific Northwest PGA Hall of Fame. One Tour win keeps him near the bottom of this ranking, but it was a genuine, high-profile victory.

8. Chandler Egan (Medford)

Chandler Egan may be the most historically important golfer ever associated with Oregon — but strict pro-success criteria place him near the bottom because he never competed professionally at all. Born in Chicago, Egan won back-to-back U.S. Amateur Championships in 1904 and 1905 — only the second player in history to win in consecutive years — and claimed four Western Amateur titles. At his peak, he was arguably the best golfer in the country. In 1911, Egan relocated to Medford, Oregon, where he spent the rest of his life farming and designing golf courses — more than 20 of them, including Eastmoreland Golf Course in Portland, Waverley Country Club, and Tualatin Country Club. He won the Pacific Northwest Amateur five times, played in the Walker Cup at age 50, and was personally invited to the inaugural Masters by Bobby Jones. He belongs on any Oregon golf list; the era and the amateur-only career land him here.

7. Carole Jo Kabler (Eugene)

Carole Jo Kabler is the most accomplished professional women's golfer born in Oregon. A Eugene native, she claimed four LPGA Tour titles — three in a dominant 1974 season — and made 13 U.S. Women's Open starts over a career that spanned three decades. She was the first woman to win the Oregon Amateur and Oregon Junior Amateur in the same year, and was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2009. Four professional wins and a long career earns her a well-deserved spot on this list.

6. Mark Wiebe (Seaside)

Mark Wiebe is one of Oregon's most overlooked Tour success stories. Born in Seaside on the Oregon Coast, Wiebe won twice on the PGA Tour — the 1985 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic and 1986 Hardee's Golf Classic — and posted nearly four dozen top-10 finishes over a career spanning two decades. He was even more accomplished on the Champions Tour, winning five times after turning 50, including the prestigious 2013 Senior Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where he defeated Bernhard Langer in a five-hole playoff — the first Senior Open Championship to finish on a Monday. Two PGA Tour wins, a senior major, and five senior victories give Wiebe one of the deeper professional records on this list.

5. John Fought (Portland)

John Fought combined one of the finest amateur careers of his generation with a brief but legitimate professional run. A Portland native who played college golf at BYU, Fought won the 1977 U.S. Amateur at Aronimink by a 9 and 8 margin — the largest winning margin since 1955 — and represented the U.S. in both the Walker Cup and Eisenhower Trophy. He earned PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors in 1979 after winning the Buick Goodwrench Open and Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic in consecutive weeks. He played in 12 majors and posted 12 career top-10 finishes before injuries forced him off Tour at 33. His second career as a golf course architect — designing Pumpkin Ridge, Crosswater, and The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Oregon — only deepens the legacy.

4. Casey Martin (Eugene)

Casey Martin's place in Oregon golf history is unlike any other on this list. Born and raised in Eugene, he was a three-time All-Pac-10 player at Stanford who was briefly a teammate of Tiger Woods and helped the Cardinal win the 1994 NCAA Championship. His professional record was modest — limited by a serious vascular condition in his right leg — but the 2001 Supreme Court case PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, which established his right to ride a cart on Tour, permanently changed the legal landscape for disabled athletes in professional sports. Martin later returned to Eugene as head coach of the Oregon Ducks men's program, guiding the team to the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. His impact on the game — as a player, a pioneer, and a coach — is uniquely Oregon's.

3. Ben Crane (Portland)

Ben Crane is the most prolific PGA Tour winner born in Oregon in the modern era. A Beaverton product who grew up playing Portland Golf Club — the course where Ben Hogan won the 1945 Portland Open — and played college golf at the University of Oregon, Crane won five times on Tour: the 2003 BellSouth Classic as a Monday qualifier, the 2005 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, the 2010 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, the 2011 McGladrey Classic after coming from five strokes back in the final round to force a playoff, and the 2014 FedEx St. Jude Classic in his 300th career start. He's now active on the PGA Tour Champions. Five wins — all after 2000 — makes Crane the most accomplished recent-era Oregon-born golfer on this list.

2. Bob Gilder (Corvallis)

Bob Gilder is the most decorated PGA Tour professional ever born in Oregon. A Corvallis native and lifelong resident, Gilder won six times on the PGA Tour — including three wins in 1982 alone — and earned a spot on the 1983 U.S. Ryder Cup team. His most legendary moment came at the 1982 Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic, where he holed a 251-yard three-wood for a double eagle on the par-5 18th hole, tying the 54-hole Tour scoring record. A plaque on that fairway still marks the spot. He also won one of the longest sudden-death playoffs in Tour history at the 1983 Phoenix Open, outlasting Rex Caldwell, Johnny Miller, and Mark O'Meara over eight extra holes. After turning 50, Gilder joined the Champions Tour and won ten more times, earning Rookie of the Year honors his first season. Inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, Gilder's combined record — six Tour wins, a Ryder Cup, ten senior wins — is the deepest of any Oregon-born golfer outside of Jacobsen.

1. Peter Jacobsen (Portland)

No golfer in Oregon history has been more visible, more beloved, or more consistently excellent than Peter Jacobsen. Born and raised in Portland — a Lincoln High School standout who played college golf at the University of Oregon — Jacobsen qualified for his PGA Tour card on his very first attempt in 1976 and went on to win seven times on Tour over a career spanning nearly three decades. He finished third at the PGA Championship twice, played in two Ryder Cups in 1985 and 1995, and in 2003 won the Greater Hartford Open at age 49 — earning Comeback Player of the Year and becoming one of the oldest Tour winners of the modern era. In his first year of Champions Tour eligibility, he won the 2004 U.S. Senior Open and then the 2005 Senior Players Championship, making him one of only three golfers — alongside Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus — whose first two senior wins were both majors. Off the course, Jacobsen spent decades as the face of Oregon golf: organizing the Fred Meyer Challenge, broadcasting on NBC and Golf Channel, and earning the Payne Stewart Award in 2013 for charity and sportsmanship. In Oregon, golf means Peter Jacobsen.