Rod Curl

Who is Rod Curl?

Rodney Curl is an American professional golfer best known for being the first full-blooded Native American to win a PGA Tour event.

Curl was born in Redding, California. He is a Wintu Indian. Before taking up golf at age 19, he was an outstanding baseball player at Central Valley High School in Shasta County, California.

Curl joined the PGA Tour in 1969 and played regularly through 1978. He had 42 top-10 finishes in official PGA Tour events including one win and a half-dozen second and third place finishes. He beat Jack Nicklaus to win the 1974 Colonial National Invitation by one stroke after Nicklaus made a bogey on the 17th hole.

Curl played in a limited number of Champions Tour events after reaching the age of 50 in 1993. He has two sons who are professional golfers. Rod Curl, Jr. is a club pro in Florida. Jeff Curl plays on the Nationwide Tour. Jeff is a veteran of the eGolf Tour and Gateway Tour and won the Tarheel Tour's 2004 and 2006 Emerald Lake Classic; he made his PGA Tour debut as a Monday qualifier at the 2012 Puerto Rico Open, finishing T71. Curl lives in Jupiter, Florida and is a corporate instructor with VIP Golf Academy.