The best golfer from every U.S. state

Alaska: Danny Edwards

As you might expect, there’s not exactly a long list of golfers that haul from Alaska, even throughout the history of the sport. Shockingly enough, most youngsters who grow up in the snowy terrain of the state don’t seem to pick up golf. Having said that, there’s not no one from The Last Frontier that has made it in the golfing world, which is something that Danny Edwards can surely attest to as the state’s greatest golfer.

Born in Ketchikan, Edwards turned pro in 1973 after attending Oklahoma State and only took two years after that to make it onto the PGA Tour. Two years later, he would win his first event with the 1977 Greater Greensboro Open. Throughout his career, Edwards would go on to win five more times on the PGA Tour, including another victory in the tournament where he won his first. Meanwhile, Edwards also won three Oklahoma Opens (1975, 1977, 1979) and the Taiheiyo Japanese Masters on the Japan Golf Tour in 1981.

While he was never able to capture a major victory, Edwards did have relative success in the four biggest tournaments in the sport. His best finish in a major came in the 1974 British Open, when he ended up tied for fifth. Meanwhile, he never broke the top 10 at any of the other three majors, but did finish in the top 20 at least once in each of the others. That’s a solid career for Edwards to hang his hat on and more than enough for him to be Alaska’s best.