Michael Wright

Started playing golf at the age of 15. His father was a pro and taught him how to swing on a school oval, the only place he hit balls until he was taken to a real golf course 6 months later.

The consummate travel pro, Wright toiled for 25 years on the Australian Golf Tour, winning a handful of second-tier tournaments, supplemented by a series of less-than-lucrative top-10 finishes comprising the bulk of his modest career earnings. Even in the "good times," Wright barely broke even, avoiding the cost of hotel rooms.

Wright set off to play professionally in 1999 without expectations but with the hope he could reach his potential. In his first year playing in Australia, he entered 13 Monday qualifiers and made it through 11. In those 11 starts, however, he made only a single cut. While he showed potential during his introduction to the professional game, it was also an introduction to the financial hardship of chasing a dream.

Wright estimates he has been to a dozen Q schools around Asia and Australia, but never earned full status. His most successful bids left him with partial or conditional status.

He played some of the best golf of his career in 2009, winning the PGA of Australia's two major tournaments in consecutive weeks in Papua New Guinea in April and May. In one of the finest performances in Australian golf history, Wright shot 31 under par for the two 72-hole events. He won the $80,000 Coca-Cola Moroba Open in Lae with rounds of 65, 67, 67, 66. And over the weekend, he won the $100,000 South Pacific Export Lager Papua New Guinea Open at Port Moresby Golf Club with a 72-hole total of 12-under par. He shot 67, 70, 69, 70 to win by two shots. Wright collected more than $32,000 for his two outstanding efforts. 2009: April: Won the 2009 Coca-Cola Morobe Open in Papua New Guinea. Led from start to finish and never looked like catching up on the final day. After carding rounds of 65, 67, and 67 over the first three days, Wright began the final round with a two-stroke lead and extended it to a comfortable 6-stroke victory by the end of the day.

According to the Official World Golf Rankings, he has played in 308 events worldwide. He won twice, had 28 top tens, and made 120 cuts. His best ranking in that span was 468 at the end of the 2006 season.

Between tournaments and pro-ams, intermittent work as a substitute teacher was necessary for Wright to make ends meet and support his family, wife Jo, and two teenage sons, Noah and Charlie.

For the past decade, Wright has anticipated his 50th birthday in February 2024. He figured he'd have a good shot at qualifying for the U.S. Champions Tour and all the riches that have eluded him for decades. He has played in America twice on the PGA Tour, via missing the cut at the 2006 & '09 British Open. He also played in 16 events on the Korn Ferry Tour between 2003 and 2010, his best finish being T-13th at the 2009 New Zealand Open. He prepared for the first stage of the Champions Q-School by playing six out of seven weeks in Australia. He played well, which gave him confidence, and he was the medalist in the first stage at Soboba Springs, shooting 10 under par. In the final, he found himself in trouble on the final hole, 122 yards out in the desert with his third shot on a par 4. But he hits a pitching wedge that gets the right bounce and goes into the hole for an improbable birdie. The shot gave him a share of second place and a Champions Tour card for 2024. Had he made bogey, it would have been a different story, as he would have been in a playoff for the final spot. "Maybe it was just meant to be, who knows," an ebullient Wright told a Queensland newspaper when he returned home a week later. "Call it luck if you want, but this shot has been 25 years in the making. I can tell you there's been a hell of a lot of dirt dug for that ball to end up in the hole!"

2024 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour Champions events with two top-ten finishes. Was 51st on the Schwab money list with earnings of $484,108. His first start was T-38th in the Trophy Hassan II. He was the 36th-hole leader at the Sanford International and shot 72 in the final round for a T-5 finish, his best of the year.

2025 Notes: Played in 21 PGA Tour Champions events with six top-ten finishes. Was 30th on the Schwab point list and 30th on the Schwab money list with earnings of $745,105. Best finish, T-5th at the DICK'S Open.

2026 Notes: Best finish T-2nd at the Chubb Classic, lost by a shot to winner David Toms.