Life and career

Pavin was born in Oxnard, California, the son of Barbara and Jack Pavin. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He won two gold medals at the 1981 Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics in Israel, and turned professional the following year. He quickly established himself in the sport, with three international victories in 1983, and his first PGA Tour victory at the 1984 Houston Coca-Cola Open.

He won at least one event on either the PGA Tour or the international tour nearly every year for the next decade, and topped the PGA Tour's money list in 1991, when he was the last man to achieve this without winning at least one million dollars in prize money. Pavin's success culminated in his only major victory, the 1995 U.S. Open. Rather than marking a move to a new level of achievement, however, this was soon followed by a long slide down the world rankings from a high ranking of 5th. After Pavin won the Bank of America Colonial in 1996, he did not win another PGA Tour tournament for ten years. His 89th-place finish on the 2004 money list was the first time he had made the top one hundred since 1998. Pavin finally won his 15th career title in 2006 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, ending a streak of 242 consecutive tournaments without a win.

Pavin played on three Ryder Cup teams: 1991, 1993, and 1995.

In 2002 he was named to the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame.

On July 27, 2006, during the first round of what would become his 15th tour title, Pavin broke the record for the fewest number of strokes needed to complete nine holes at a PGA Tour event, with an 8-under par score of 26. The previous record of 27 strokes was held by Mike Souchak, Andy North, Billy Mayfair and Robert Gamez, with Mayfair and Gamez' scores being 9-under par. His 36-hole total of 125 also tied the record for fewest shots taken in the first 36 holes of a PGA Tour event held by Tom Lehman, Mark Calcavecchia, and Tiger Woods.

Pavin was the only top Jewish player on the tour until 1991. In that year, he converted to Christianity. He was named the 117th-greatest Jewish athlete in the 2007 book The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes, by Peter S. Horvitz.

In December 2008, Pavin was named captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup U.S. team by the PGA of America. In October 2010, the U.S. Ryder Cup team lost 13½ to 14½, against the European side.

Pavin began playing on the Champions Tour in 2010. In June 2010, he lost in a sudden death playoff to Bubba Watson at the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour. In his 35th start, Pavin won his maiden Champions Tour event in February 2012 at the Allianz Championship. He defeated Peter Senior at the first sudden death playoff hole with a birdie to take the title, after having finished regulation play at 11 under.

Pavin made a cameo appearance playing himself in the 1996 movie Tin Cup starring Kevin Costner. In the movie, Pavin tells Fred Couples, "I can't believe that the name below mine on the U.S. Open trophy might be Tin Cup." Pavin was married to Shannon Healy, with whom he has two children. He married Lisa Nguyen in 2003.

Amateur wins (1)

• 1981 North and South Amateur

Professional wins (28)

PGA Tour wins (15)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Apr 29, 1984	Houston Coca-Cola Open	−10 (70-68-68-68=274)	1 stroke	Buddy Gardner
2	May 19, 1985	Colonial National Invitation	−14 (66-64-68-68=266)	4 strokes	Bob Murphy
3	Feb 16, 1986	Hawaiian Open	−16 (67-67-72-66=272)	2 strokes	Paul Azinger
4	Sep 21, 1986	Greater Milwaukee Open	−16 (66-72-67-67=272)	Playoff	Dave Barr
5	Jan 18, 1987	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	−19 (72-71-65-66-67=341)	1 stroke	Bernhard Langer
6	Feb 8, 1987	Hawaiian Open (2)	−18 (65-75-66-64=270)	Playoff	Craig Stadler
7	Oct 16, 1988	Texas Open	−21 (64-63-66-66=259)	8 strokes	Robert Wrenn
8	Feb 10, 1991	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (2)	−29 (65-69-66-66-65=331)	Playoff	Mark O'Meara
9	May 12, 1991	BellSouth Atlanta Golf Classic	−16 (68-67-67-70=272)	Playoff	Steve Pate
10	Mar 15, 1992	Honda Classic	−15 (68-67-70-68=273)	Playoff	Fred Couples
11	Feb 13, 1994	Nissan Los Angeles Open	−13 (67-64-72-68=271)	2 strokes	Fred Couples
12	Feb 26, 1995	Nissan Open (2)	−16 (67-66-68-67=268)	3 strokes	Jay Don Blake, Kenny Perry
13	Jun 18, 1995	U.S. Open	E (72-69-71-68=280)	2 strokes	Greg Norman
14	May 19, 1996	MasterCard Colonial (2)	−8 (69-67-67-69=272)	2 strokes	Jeff Sluman
15	Jul 30, 2006	U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (2)	−20 (61-64-68-67=260)	2 strokes	Jerry Kelly

PGA Tour playoff record (5-4)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1986	Greater Milwaukee Open	Dave Barr	Won with birdie on fourth extra hole
2	1987	Hawaiian Open	Craig Stadler	Won with birdie on second extra hole
3	1991	Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	Mark O'Meara	Won with birdie on first extra hole
4	1991	BellSouth Atlanta Golf Classic	Steve Pate	Won with par on second extra hole
5	1991	Canon Greater Hartford Open	Billy Ray Brown, Rick Fehr	Brown won with birdie on first extra hole
6	1992	Honda Classic	Fred Couples	Won with birdie on second extra hole
7	1992	Southwestern Bell Colonial	Bruce Lietzke	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
8	1995	Kemper Open	Lee Janzen	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
9	2010	Travelers Championship	Scott Verplank, Bubba Watson	Watson won with par on second extra hole Pavin eliminated with par on first hole

European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Jul 31, 1983	Lufthansa German Open	−13 (67-71-68-69=275)	3 strokes	Seve Ballesteros, Tony Johnstone

Japan Golf Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Nov 3, 1985	ABC Cup	−12 (70-68-67-71=276)	Tie	Jet Ozaki
2	Oct 9, 1994	Tokai Classic	−11 (68-69-68-72=277)	1 stroke	Chin-Sheng Hsieh

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)

• 1984 New Zealand Open
• 1985 New Zealand Open

Other wins (7)

• 1983 South African PGA Championship, Calberson Classic (Europe - not a European Tour event)
• 1993 Toyota World Match Play Championship (Europe - then an unofficial event).
• 1995 Asian Masters, Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
• 1996 Ssang Yong International Challenge (South Korea)
• 1999 Martel Skins Game (Taiwan)

Champions Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Feb 12, 2012	Allianz Championship	−11 (64-70-71=205)	Playoff	Peter Senior

Champions Tour playoff record (1-1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2012	Allianz Championship	Peter Senior	Won with par on first extra hole
2	2013	Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship	Mark Wiebe	Lost to par on second extra hole

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1995	U.S. Open	3 shot deficit	E (72-69-71-68=280)	2 strokes	Greg Norman

Results timeline

Tournament	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	T25	T11	T27	T42	50
U.S. Open	CUT	T60	CUT	DNP	T9	CUT	DNP	CUT	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T22	T39	CUT	CUT	T38	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T20	T6	T21	CUT	T17	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	DNP	T22	3	T11	T8	T17	T7	T43	T41	CUT
U.S. Open	T24	T8	CUT	T19	CUT	1	T40	CUT	CUT	T34
The Open Championship	T8	CUT	T34	T4	CUT	T8	T27	T51	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship	T14	T32	T12	CUT	2	CUT	T26	DNP	CUT	T10

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Masters Tournament	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	T19	T54	CUT	T17	T11	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	CUT	CUT	T22	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T49	T62	T63	T19	CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	1	1	3	8	16	13
U.S. Open	1	0	0	1	3	8	23	12
The Open Championship	0	0	0	1	3	5	19	10
PGA Championship	0	1	0	1	3	9	21	14
Totals	1	1	1	4	12	30	79	49

• Most consecutive cuts made - 7 (1984 Open Championship - 1986 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 2 (1995 U.S. Open - 1995 Open Championship)

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1981 (winners)

Professional

• USA vs. Japan: 1982
• Nissan Cup: 1985
• Ryder Cup: 1991 (winners), 1993 (winners), 1995, 2010 (captain)
• Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]