The best golfer from every U.S. state

Kansas: Bruce Lietzke

Admittedly, Gary Woodland has a better claim to Kansas than Bruce Lietzke does solely based on time spent. After all, Woodland is from Topeka and spent a good portion of his life in the land of the Jayhawks. However, we’re giving Lietzke, born in Kansas City, the nod here simply because he had a substantially more successful professional golf career than Woodland, even if he spent half of his upbringing and his college career in the state of Texas.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Lietzke, and something that speaks to his tremendous amount of talent, is that he was relatively famous for his practice habits, or lack thereof. What’s more, he often chose spending time with his family rather than playing a full tour schedule, never playing in more than 25 events in a single season while on the PGA Tour. That’s certainly admirable in its own right, but even more impressive when you consider the success that he was still able to have throughout his career.

Lietzke was still able to earn 13 victories on the PGA Tour throughout his career, including winning thrice in 1981, two of those victories in playoffs against stiff competition. While he never won a major championship on the PGA Tour, he did post strong showings, coming in the top 20 in each of the four, including finishing second in the 1991 PGA Championship. He did, however, get a major on the Champions Tour as he topped the field at the 2003 U.S. Senior Open.