The 12 best golfers from the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest isn’t known as a golf factory, but Washington, Oregon and Idaho have produced a Masters champion, a world No. 1, Ryder Cup players and dozens of PGA Tour winners. Here's our rank of the 12 best male golfers to come out of the region.

2. Joel Dahmen (Clarkston, WA)

The former Washington Husky won the 2021 Corales Puntacana Championship and has piled up 28 top-10s and more than $14 million on tour. A testicular cancer survivor and a breakout star of Netflix’s Full Swing, Dahmen has become one of the most popular players in the game.

11. Andrew Putnam (Tacoma, WA)

Putnam won the 2018 Barracuda Championship and has since built one of the steadiest careers of any Washington pro, with 27 top-10s and more than $18 million in earnings. At 37 he’s still contending: at the 2026 American Express he shot a 60 on his way to a runner-up finish.

10. Kyle Stanley (Gig Harbor, WA)

Stanley’s first win is one of golf’s great bounce-back stories. A week after blowing a big lead at Torrey Pines in 2012, he came from eight shots back on Sunday to win the Phoenix Open. He added the 2017 Quicken Loans National in a playoff over Charles Howell III, and has earned more than $17 million in his career.

9. Kermit Zarley (Seattle, WA)

The Seattle native won the 1962 NCAA championship at Houston, then claimed three PGA Tour titles: the 1968 Kaiser International, the 1970 Canadian Open and the 1972 National Team Championship, partnered with Idaho’s Babe Hiskey. He posted 59 career top-10s, including a solo sixth at the 1972 U.S. Open, and co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study, which still meets today.

8. Ken Still (Tacoma, WA)

A former caddie at Fircrest Golf Club, Still became Tacoma’s first PGA Tour winner in 1969 and won three times in 18 months. He finished fifth at the 1970 U.S. Open, tied for sixth at the 1971 Masters and played on the 1969 Ryder Cup team, the one remembered for Jack Nicklaus’s famous concession to Tony Jacklin.

7. Rod Funseth (Spokane, WA)

Funseth learned the game at Esmeralda, a municipal course in east Spokane, and won three PGA Tour events: the 1965 Phoenix Open, the 1973 Los Angeles Open and the 1978 Greater Hartford Open. His best moment came at the 1978 Masters, where at 45 he finished tied for second, one shot behind Gary Player. He won his very first senior tour start in 1983 before cancer cut his career short.

6. Kirk Triplett (Moses Lake, WA)

Triplett won three PGA Tour events and then found a second gear after turning 50, winning eight times on PGA Tour Champions. His first senior win, at Pebble Beach in 2012, made him just the sixth player to win on the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and the Champions Tour.

5. Ben Crane (Portland, OR)

The Beaverton-raised Duck won five PGA Tour titles between 2003 and 2014, with a top-10 at the 2004 PGA Championship along the way. He’s still winning, too. In 2026, his rookie year on PGA Tour Champions, Crane teamed with Darren Clarke to win the American Family Insurance Championship and finished second at the Senior PGA Championship.

4. Ryan Moore (Tacoma, WA)

Moore, who grew up in Puyallup, had one of the greatest amateur summers ever in 2004, winning the NCAA title and the U.S. Amateur. As a pro he won five PGA Tour events, earned more than $34 million and lost the 2016 Tour Championship to Rory McIlroy only in a playoff. That same year he made the U.S. Ryder Cup team and won the clinching point with a singles victory over Lee Westwood.

3. Bob Gilder (Corvallis, OR)

Gilder may be the most underrated golfer in Northwest history. The lifelong Corvallis resident won six PGA Tour events, including the 1980 Canadian Open and two Phoenix Opens, and played on the 1983 Ryder Cup team. He also made one of the tour’s rarest shots, a double eagle at the 1982 Westchester Classic, then went on to win 10 times on the Champions Tour.

2. Peter Jacobsen (Portland, OR)

The Lincoln High and Oregon Ducks star won seven times on the PGA Tour, the last at the 2003 Greater Hartford Open at age 49. He played on two Ryder Cup teams and finished third twice at the PGA Championship. As a senior, he won the 2004 U.S. Senior Open just months after hip surgery and added the 2005 Senior Players Championship. Few golfers anywhere have been more popular, on or off the course.

1. Fred Couples (Seattle, WA)

There’s no debate at the top. The Beacon Hill kid with the effortless swing won 15 PGA Tour events, including the 1992 Masters and two Players Championships. In 1992 he became the first American to reach No. 1 in the world rankings, and he was PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. Add five Ryder Cups, two senior majors and a 2013 induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and “Boom Boom” is the Northwest’s greatest golfer, period.

Honorable mentions

• Don Bies (Seattle, WA): Born in Cottonwood, Idaho, and raised in Seattle, Bies won the 1975 Greater Hartford Open and seven senior events, including the 1989 Tradition, a senior major.

• Rick Fehr (Seattle, WA): Two PGA Tour wins and 41 top-10s, plus four playoff losses that kept his total from being even higher.

• John Fought (Portland, OR): Won the 1977 U.S. Amateur, then took back-to-back PGA Tour events as the 1979 Rookie of the Year before becoming a top course architect.

• Babe Hiskey (Burley, ID): Idaho’s best, with three PGA Tour wins, including the 1970 Sahara Invitational.

• Mark Wiebe (Seaside, OR): Two PGA Tour wins and the 2013 Senior Open Championship, but he grew up in California.