Son of a chicken farmer shoots 61, erases 7-shot deficit in Kentucky to become a PGA Tour winner

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[PHOTO: Andy Lyons]

Those who pay close attention to American college golf and the amateur ranks are probably familiar with William Mouw’s story. Still, it’s worth repeating, especially now that the 24-year-old from California is a PGA Tour winner in just his 20th start, shooting a final-round 61 to overcome a seven-shot deficit and win the ISCO Championship in his rookie season.

Mouw was a standout at Pepperdine University during his college days when he was teammates with PGA Tour winners Sahith Theegala and Joe Highsmith at different times. He made his way to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 via the PGA Tour University rankings and earned a PGA Tour card last year when he tied for second place in the Albertsons Boise Open.

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But that’s not the story. Or, at least, it’s not the most interesting part.

Mouw’s father, Bill, owns and operates Billy’s Egg Farm in Chino, California, a three-acre facility that collects eggs from roughly 35,000 cage-free chickens that live on the premises. Part of the business is its drive-thru service, which often serves up to 300 customers a day.

Bill Mouw was an aspiring golfer and played in college and some as a professional. He introduced his son to the game at an early age and has been his only instructor.

“The egg farm has been my foundation, for sure,” Mouw said proudly at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky. “My parents have owned and operated Billy’s Egg Farm in southern California for 30 years. To be born and raised on a farm taught me work ethic and hard work and [how] nothing is earned – you’ve got to work for everything. So coming from a farm, it was amazing. It was – it definitely led me to see what it takes to make it in this world, watching my dad wake up early mornings and work hard on the farm, deliver eggs, and it just solidified in me that hard work does pay off in the end, just you need a lot of it.”

It produced the most recent PGA Tour champion.

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Photo: Dylan Buell

Mouw ended the week at 10-under-par 270, one ahead of 37-year-old PGA Tour rookie Paul Peterson. But a second-round 73 and third-round 69 saw Mouw’s name well down the leaderboard. Yet he went out well before the leaders on the final day – a result of being seven behind – birdied five of the first eight holes and he started to think he had a chance.

Birdies at the 10th and 11th holes got him to seven-under for the round and in the hunt. More birdies at the 13th and 17th, ultimately the one that won the tournament for him, had him sign for a nine-under 61, which tied the course record. It also was the lowest score of the final round by four shots.

Then Mouw played the waiting game. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He waited, and waited and waited, went to the practice range to get in a few swings and, nearly two hours after finishing, Peterson missed a long birdie attempt on the last hole to finish one behind Mouw. The son of a chicken farmer from California was a PGA Tour winner, moving up 24 spots on the final day. The last player to come from so far back to win on the final day was Jon Rahm at the 2023 Sentry in Kapalua.

“I’m thrilled to be a PGA Tour champion, first one,” he said. “Yeah, it was quite the long wait. We finished early. My caddie, Steve, and my wife [Hannah] were able to go to the range and kind of just do our own thing, joke around a little bit. But I was mentally ready for a playoff, and if it came to that, I was ready. But that wasn’t the case and I’m just blessed to be the winner.”

Mouw wasn’t exactly lighting the tour on fire during his rookie season before he arrived in Kentucky. In 17 previous starts he missed nine cuts, including last week at the John Deere Classic. His best finish was a tie for sixth place in Puerto Rico. He was 153rd in FedEx Cup standings.

But none of that matters now. Mouw’s life changed today – he earned $US720,000, moved up to 78th on the season-long FedEx Cup list, and it’s is about to change even more drastically in the next two months. He and Hannah are expecting their first child, a daughter, in September.

“I’m beyond excited for my baby to come and share the memories that we get to have with her,” Mouw said. “And yeah, this will be cool, she’ll get to see her dad won [while she was] in the belly of her mum, so it’s pretty cool.”

Peterson turned pro in 2012 and played college golf at Oregon State University. His best finish of the season came in his first event, a T-10 at the Sony Open, but he’s missed 10 cuts since, including last week. He birdied three holes on the back nine at Hurstbourne and had two other attempts just burn edges, but ended one short.

“The guy was a freight train, right?” Peterson said of Mouw. “Nine-under, this late in the day with how firm these greens are is quite impressive. This is my best finish on tour. I’m going to take confidence from that and move on. Coming up one short is tough, but you have to look at the positive.”

Chan Kim was the 36-hole leader but struggled to 75-73 over the last two rounds and tied for 14th place. Amateur Jackson Koivun, a 20-year-old junior at Auburn University, shot consecutive 68s on the weekend to tie for sixth place. He tied for 11th last week at the John Deere Classic.