Hall of Fame
A native of Quincy, Ill., D.A. Weibring of Illinois State enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an Institutional Great selection, and is also the first golfer to be selected for the league’s Hall of Fame.
Weibring began his career at Illinois State as a freshman in 1972, where he earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament when his one-under-par round in the second round was one of only 10 sub-par scores at the tournament that year.
The Redbirds finished first in 13 tournaments and second in 15 tournaments while Weibring played for ISU. In 1975, he graduated from Illinois State and started touring with the PGA in 1977.
He won his first professional event at the Quad Cities Open in 1979, and subsequently has captured the Shell-Air New Zealand Open (1985), the Polaroid Cup (1985) in Japan, Beatrice Western Open (1987) and the Family House International (1989).
In 1991, he won the Hardee’s Golf Classic, and along with Andrew Magee, each established a PGA Tour scoring record for a 90-hole event, as both fired a remarkable 31-under-par 329 at the Las Vegas Invitational in that year.
In 1996, Weibring won the Canon Greater Hartford Open after bouts with walking pneumonia and Bells’ Palsy.
He had five top-10 finishes in major championships, including twice at the PGA Championship.
Weibring is currently playing on the PGA Champions Tour, after joining in 2003, and has won five times thus far, including his first major in 2008, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
In 2004, he led the Champions Tour with 15 top-10 finishes in 25 appearances, including a wire-to-wire win at the Allianz Championship.
He was inducted into the Illinois PGA Hall of Fame in 2001.
For 25 years, Weibring took time from his busy schedule of touring with the PGA to promote the D.A. Weibring Redbird Golf Classic, where he raised 1.5 million dollars over the 25 year period.
In 1994, the D.A. Weibring Endowed Scholarship was created and is given to the men’s golf student-athlete that shows growing merit within academics and athletics.
The founder and chairman of Weibring-Wolfard Golf Design, he and his design team are credited with more than 80 projects worldwide. Weibring has designed, renovated and master planned golf courses in the U.S. and internationally, from private country clubs to PGA TOUR venues, from municipal courses to resort courses.
In July of 2007, the Illinois State Board of Trustees named the University golf course the “Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University,” in recognition of Weibring’s commitment and contribution to Redbird Athletics and his achievements as a PGA member.