Harold

Varner III

There was something about Varner and Australia that just clicked.

At this stage in his career, the closest that Varner had got to his first top-tier professional win was in December 2015 at the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines, where Varner tied for runner-up.

Twelve months later he was back on the Gold Coast, making nine birdies in a final-round 65 which saw him finish the tournament 19-under, two strokes ahead of nearest challenger Andrew Dodt.

Varner had recorded four top-10 finishes the previous season, but for Varner the success at Royal Pines was a top moment.

“Winning is just different,” he said after lifting the Joe Kirkwood Cup. "I don’t care where you tee it up… this is pretty special.”

Harold Varner III established the HV3 Foundation in 2018 with the aim of providing opportunities and resources for underserved youth to give them affordable access to golf.

As a teenager, Varner had benefitted from a youth program at Gastonia Municipal that allowed him to play unlimited golf for $100 a summer. 

And he is forever grateful to a Charlotte-based stockbroker – Bill Williamson – who became his mentor and helped get his career off the ground.

“My inspiration was my dad – he got me started in golf,” says Varner. “But I had some people that invested their time and their money into my life and I’ve been super blessed to have that.

“I’m trying to create that same atmosphere in somebody else’s life."

A T2 finish at the 2021 RBC Heritage was one of Varner’s top moments on the PGA Tour. In February 2022, he had his best result on the Asian Tour by winning the PIF Saudi International in style.

Varner approached the par-5 18th at Royal Greens needing a birdie to force a playoff with leader Bubba Watson.

He almost made the green in two, but his ball lay some 92 feet from the pin and below the hole.

Opting to putt, a firm sweep sent the ball on its way up the incline, way right of the flag.

As the ball hit the plateau it veered sharply to the left and rolled steadily to its target, dropping into the cup for a winning eagle.

Varner fist-pumped the air and English caddie Chris Rice leapt into his arms as the pair celebrated.

“There’s been times where it just didn’t go my way and today it did,” Varner said.

“When I was coming down the hill, I was thinking worst-case scenario, we’ll go to a playoff and I’d get him there.

“Then it went in, and emotions came out. I love that.”

Seven months after winning the Saudi International on the Asian Tour, Varner posted on Instagram that he was joining the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series which still had four individual events to play through the rest of 2022.

“I’ve always been real, so let me tell it to you straight,” he wrote. “The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good for me to pass by.”

After joining Bubba Watson's RangeGoats in 2023, Varner finished ninth overall in Singapore to help take the team title, and in May he joined the ranks of individual LIV Golf winners with a victory in Washington D.C.

Varner’s final-round 68 at Trump National included a hole-out from the bunker on No. 11 for a birdie, helping him to secure a one-stroke victory over Branden Grace.

Varner ended the year in seventh place in the overall standings and had a switch of teams for the 2024 season, joining Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC.

Away from golf there was a much more important event to celebrate with the birth of his second son in June.

Varner was born in Akron, Ohio, but raised in North Carolina, and described a humble but happy upbringing by parents Harold Jr. and Patricia.

“Where we come from — Gastonia, North Carolina — there’s a whole lot more that matters than getting a ball into a hole,” he told The Players’ Tribune. “In my family, our values were the most important thing.

“I was taught by my parents to be humble, to be gracious and to always look on the bright side — to see opportunity where others may see disappointment.

“These values, they all started in the house that helped make me the man I am today.”

Varner attended Forestview High School then met his future wife Amanda Singleton when they were freshmen at East Carolina University.

The couple married in September 2020 and have since welcomed two young sons into the world.

Varner refers to Amanda as ‘Beth’, as can be seen in his Instagram posts and videos from his latest performances on LIV as well as his life off the course.

He is a huge Cleveland Cavaliers fan and once had dreams of playing in the NBA.

In addition to the HV3 Foundation, the Varners have also helped fund some sporting facility upgrades at their old university and last October, Harold was featured on news broadcasts donating and delivering generators, gas and chainsaws to victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

Harold Varner was using a Nike Elite account to buy all his golf shoes until he received a text from Michael Jordan in 2017 with an offer to represent his brand.

It was the perfect deal for basketball lover Varner, who is not only a fan of Michael Jordan and his Jumpman apparel, but also admires the six-time NBA champion’s attitude towards life, which can be witnessed on the golf course.

“We were on this par-4 and Mike just whips his tee shot into the woods on the right,” Varner recalled.

“I’m thinking OK, no big deal. It’s just a lost ball. He hacks it out back into play and gets it onto the green to leave himself a 6-footer for par.

“Of course he makes it. Mike didn’t come out on top that day, but he didn’t care. He literally would not stop talking about that par for the next couple of holes.

“That’s just who he is. It’s obviously hard to take stuff from the best basketball player ever and put it into your golf game, but his ability to always be true to himself… anybody can take that and use it in their own lives.”