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 Nathan Holman took the honors at the first playoff hole, leaving Varner tied in the runners-up spot.

Twelve months later he was back on the Gold Coast, shooting 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, earning $1.3million in prize money and success at Royal Pines added another $250,000, but for Varner it was all about the win.

“Winning is just different,” he said after lifting the Joe Kirkwood Cup. “Obviously top-10s you get money but it’s just hard to win.

"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 raised $32,000 to 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."

Harold Varner was in line for his best finish at a Major in the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, before a final round 81 brought him down to earth with a bang.

He looks back on the experience as part of the learning curve in the game that he loves.

“Major golf isn’t about what you accomplish, it’s about what you overcome,” Varner wrote in The Players’ Tribune in July 2020.

“I knew that. But on that Sunday, man, I just didn’t have my good stuff. It’s just going to be like that sometimes — that’s just the rub of the green.

Varner shot the joint-best round on the Saturday with a 67 which placed him T2 but on Sunday the walls caved in and his final round 81 saw him drop to T36 by lights out.

“I learned so much that day about myself,” Varner said, “the mind is a powerful thing.

“The best athletes have an incredible amount of control over their bodies, no doubt, but they have even better control over their minds.”

A T2 finish at the 2021 RBC Heritage was Varner’s PGA Tour high and in February 2022 he landed his best result on the Asian Tour by winning the PIF Saudi International in some 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 perimeter of 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.”

In April 2024, Varner recorded his best result at a Major with a T23 at the 2022 Masters.

Although he was still hunting down a first win on the PGA Tour, Varner’s consistent form had seen him reach 35th in the official golf world ranking and earn $10,618,502 in prize money on the tour.

But 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.”

It was a chance to secure the financial future of his growing family, and also to help fund some of the programs he had established with his HV3 Foundation.

A T7 in Bangkok was his best finish from the four remaining LIV events and for the following season’s LIV Golf League, he joined Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats.

In April 2023 Varner finished ninth overall in Singapore to help RangeGoats take the team title, and in May he joined the ranks of individual LIV Golf winners with victory in Washington DC.

Varner’s final round 68 at Trump National included a hole-out from the bunker on 11 for a birdie, helping him to secure a one-stroke victory over Branden Grace.

It was his first professional win on American soil and earned him the $4million prize money for being No.1.

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.

By his own standards, that year was disappointing as he ended up 43rd in the overall LIV standings though he did claim a T4 finish in August’s International Series England.

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 in The Players’ Tribune article.

“Where we come from — Gastonia, North Carolina — there’s a whole lot more that matters than getting a ball into a hole,” he wrote.

“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, but they didn’t start dating until a few years later.

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 on @hv3_golf, an account showcasing posts and videos from his latest performances on LIV as well as some family pictures.

He is a huge Cleveland Cavaliers fan and once had dreams of playing in the NBA but at 5ft 8in in height, golf became the winner.

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 okay, 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 six-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.”

The most important item in Harold Varner’s golf bag is a woolly headcover called Gerald.

Gerald Varner describes himself as “an emotional support headcover” on his own twitter account – @GV3_Golf – which has been running since 2016.

In May 2019 Harold Varner signed an endorsement contract with Callaway Golf to play the company’s woods and an Odyssey putter.

When he won the 2022 Saudi International, Titleist and Ping had taken over.

His Titleist TSi3 driver (10 degrees) had a Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 shaft while his 3 and 7-woods were Titleist TSi2 (15 and 21 degrees).

The 3-wood had a Project X HZRDUS Smoke RDX TX shaft and 7-wood a Fujikura Ventus Black shaft.

Srixon ZX7 irons were up next (4 to PW) all with TrueTemper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts.

They are an important part of Varner’s armory as he can exercise perfect draws with his swing when approaching the green with an iron.

He grips down the iron with around half an inch showing between his hands and the top of the club, effectively shortening the shaft to give more control.

With a smooth rotation, the hands aren’t pulled too far back at the top of the backswing, so that the club forms a vertical line with his ankle.

In the downswing he uses his lower body aggressively, approaching the ball more from the inside.

Close to impact, his hands swing out to the right a little more so the club face and ball are moving out to the right side and he is then able to release his hands more towards the target line.

There was a change of brand for his wedges, which were Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 54, 58) but Odyssey was still the choice of putter with an Odyssey White Hot OG 7 S.

Varner’s preferred ball was the 2021 Titleist Pro V1x.