Samuel Saunders

Exempt status

• Korn Ferry Tour: Finishers 4-5 on 2021 Forme Tour Order of Merit or 2020-21 PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit / Finishers 76-100 in 2020-21 Regular Season Standings / Additional Qualifying Tournament Finishers (thru 2022)

JOINED TOUR

• PGA TOUR Latinoamérica: 2017
• PGA TOUR Canada: 2021
• Korn Ferry Tour: 2022

PGA Tour Canada Victories (1)

2021 Season

• L&J Golf Championship at Jennings Mill Country Club

Additional Victories (4)

• 2018 New Mexico Open
• 2019 Colorado Open
• 2019 Utah Open
• 2021 New Mexico Open

PLAYOFF RECORD

PGA TOUR CANADA (1-0)

• 2021 Defeated Trevor Werbylo, L&J Golf Championship at Jennings Mill Country Club

Personal

• Started playing golf when he was age two.
• Earliest golf memory is going to the range with his grandfather when he was five or six and getting his first golf lesson.
• Has used the same 1961 quarter to mark his ball since 2014. Due to its high silver content, it's very shiny so he can see it from across the green. The first day he used it he shot 61, so he's never used a different marker since.
• Best memory as a golf fan is at the World Golf Championships match play event in 2018. He and his dad walked inside the ropes and watched Stephen Ames and Charles Howell III play. That match ended around hole 15, so they stayed inside the ropes to see Tiger come through from behind. Tiger made a putt and had a big fist pump, and as a huge Tiger fan that was everything to him at the time.
• Aspires to one day represent the U.S. in the Ryder Cup.
• His father played college golf at New Mexico State University. Two of his uncles and older brother played at University of New Mexico before Samuel as well.
• Parents started a golf retail store in Albuquerque in 1986 and sold it in 2016.
• His brother, Steve Saunders, has played on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Special Interests

• Guitar, video games, hiking, working out

Career Highlights

2021 Season

On the Forme Tour, won the inaugural event, which was enough to earn him an eighth-place position on the final Points List and conditional membership on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.

• L&J Golf Championship at Jennings Mill Country Club: Had a wild week outside Athens, making his first career double eagle, surviving three double bogeys during the week and then prevailing in a playoff over Trevor Werbylo to capture the inaugural Forme Tour tournament. Went into the final round trailing 54-hole leaders Alexandre Fuchs and Peyton White by a shot. Made only one bogey and six birdies during his final round but missed a 55-foot birdie effort on the 72nd hole that would have kept him out of a playoff and won him the tournament in regulation. Finishing at 16-under, joined Werbylo in sudden death. Missed the green with his approach shot on the first extra hole but was able to get up and down from there for par, taking advantage of Werbylo’s lost tee shot that forced him to take a penalty stroke. Made his first career double eagle, posting a 2 on the par-5 11th in the third round. He hit a driver and an 8-iron that rattled in after landing on the green.
• Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Q-School-USA West 2: Shot a best-of-the-day, 6-under 66 in the final round at The Wigwam’s Gold Course in early April to move into a T3 with Tee-K Kelly and earn Mackenzie Tour status for the season’s first half.

2019 Season

• Utah Open: Won a two-hole sudden-death playoff against amateur Kelton Hirsch to collect the $20,000 first-place check after watching Hirsch come back from five strokes down with five to play to force the extra session at Provo’s Riverside CC.
• CoBank Colorado Open: Was 22-under through the first three rounds at Green Valley Ranch in Denver, holding a three-shot advantage with 18 holes to play. Opened 63-65-66 and shot his worst score of the week, a 2-under 70 on the final day but still outlasted Patrick Fishburn and James Love by four strokes to capture the $100,000 first prize.

2018 Season

Saw action in eight PGA TOUR Latinoamerica tournaments. Made it to the weekend in two events and finished 155th on the Order of Merit.

• New Mexico Open: Overcame a six-shot deficit during the final round at Albuquerque's Sandia GC to finish regulation tied with Jeff Burton. In sudden death, he beat Burton in the playoff with a par putt on the 18th hole—the third extra hole—to secure the win.
• CoBank Colorado Open: Flirted with a 59 only to shoot a final-round 60 that got him into a playoff with Dru Love only to lose to Love in the sudden-death playoff.

2017 Season

Played in seven Mackenzie Tour tournaments, making two cuts, good for a 137th-place finish on the final Order of Merit. Also made eight PGA TOUR Latinoamerica starts. Also made two cuts. Closed the year 182nd on the Order of Merit

• PTLA Qualifying Tournament-Colombia: Reclaimed PGA TOUR Latinoamerica status with his T14 at Club Los Lagartos in Colombia, finishing at 2-over and tied with Chris Hickman and David Denlinger.

2016 Season

Missed the cut in his only start on the Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada.

2015 Season

Made two cuts in seven starts on the Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada and finished 137th on the Order of Merit.

• PGA TOUR Canada Q-School-California: While still an amateur, earned exempt status for the first half of the Mackenzie Tour season by finishing T5 at La Purisma GC. Shot rounds of 70-71-71-75

Amateur Highlights

• Was the 5A 2009 New Mexico individual state high school champion, playing for La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. Was a member of two state championship teams at La Cueva. Was also a three-time district champion in New Mexico (2008-10).
• University of New Mexico team won the 2014 Mountain West Conference Championship.

Q SCHOOL GRADUATE

• PGA TOUR Canada: 2021
• Korn Ferry Tour: 2021