Eldrick to Ernie and Bubba to Boo: A guide to golfers who don’t use their real name

There are several PGA Tour and LPGA golfers who don't use their real name.

Some golfers who don’t use their real first name are more surprising than others…

Before you start scrolling, how many golfers who don’t use their real first name do you reckon you could name? (And you can’t just say the ones in the picture above.)

Let’s get into it – in absolutely no particular order other than starting with the most famous example…

Tiger Woods

Real name: Eldrick Woods

Eldrick, the son of Earl and Kultida Woods, was chosen by his mother because it started with an E and ended with a K.

But he was known as Tiger from birth in honor of Vuong Dang Phong – a Vietnamese soldier with whom Earl, a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army by this point, had become close friends and handed the same nickname.

Bud Cauley

Real name: William Carl Cauley III

While I’m sure it’s just a nickname to prevent any confusion with the two Williams that preceded the PGA Tour pro in his family tree, there’s a tiny part of me that hopes it’s from the line in Sheryl Crow’s All I Wanna Do where she sings: “He says his name is William, but I’m sure he’s Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy.”

Mickey Wright

Real name: Mary Kathryn Wright

I genuinely can’t find anything on this. My best guess is that it’s a play on her initials, MK, but that isn’t nearly exciting enough.

Eighty-two LPGA titles and 13 major championships in 20 years and no one asked her?

Boo Weekley

Real name: Thomas Brent Weekley

You didn’t think it was actually ‘Boo’, did you?

The three-time PGA Tour champion got his nickname from his dad, and it’s a very sweet story.

“There was no cable where I grew up, and we usually got only four channels,” he said in a 2007 interview with Golf Digest. “Yogi Bear came on at 6am, and starting at age 3 I never missed it. I ate lots of jelly sandwiches because of that show. My dad would imitate Yogi Bear. He’d come in while I was watching and say, “Hey, Boo Boo,” and I’d giggle. He thought that was cute, I guess, so he just started calling me Boo.”

Ernie Els

Real name: Theodore Earnest Els

And you all thought The Big Easy was his nickname.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, the four-time major champ’s middle name is Earnest.

Bubba Watson

Real name: Gerry Lester Watson Jr

If ever a name didn’t suit someone’s personality, it’s the two-time Masters champion and ‘Gerry’.

Watson’s dad, Gerry Sr, handed him the nickname Bubba after NFL star Bubba Smith (real name: Charles) who had that nickname because his sister couldn’t pronounce the word ‘brother’.

And you didn’t think you’d learn anything when you opened this.

Tony Finau

Real name: Milton Pouha Finau

Big Tone prefers Tony to Milton, which – a quick Google search tells us – is of English origin meaning ‘mill’ (as in somewhere that grounds grain into flour for baking) and ‘tun’ (town). Which makes sense given how much dough he’s made on the PGA Tour. (No, we’re not sorry.)

Max Homa

Real name: John Maxwell Homa

You just can’t imagine him as a John, can you?

Webb Simpson

Real name: James Frederick Webb Simpson

The 2012 US Open champ is another who uses his middle name, which also happens to be the middle name of his mother, Debbie. His dad, Evander Samuel Simpson III, was also known by his middle name. Checking in at airports must have been fun for the Simpsons.

Jeeno Thitikul

Real name: Atthaya Thitikul

The Thai sensation was nicknamed “Jeen” by her mother. It translates to “Chinese people” in her native tongue, and her father has Chinese ancestry. It was then extended to “Jeeno” by her coach.

As for why she wanted to be known by it full time, she explained that “it’s just easier for pronouncers, for podcasts, and for everyone to remember”. Which is nice.

Louis Oosthuizen

Real name: Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen

This is cheating a little bit, as Louis is a derivative of Lodewicus – and it’s not like we’re including Alexander Schauffele or Thomas Fleetwood – but it gives us an opportunity to tell a great story we once heard about the 2010 Champion Golfer.

On the tee at a PGA Tour event many years ago, Oosthuizen was beaming from ear to ear when the announcer pronounced his surname correctly, only for her to then see the “RSA” next to his name and confidently declare the South African as “from Russia”.

(It’s “west-haze-en”, if you’re wondering.)

Ben Hogan

Real name: William Ben Hogan

This one was news to us when researching this piece. Hogan used his middle name, Ben (annoyingly not Benjamin), instead of his given forename, William, which was presumably a nod to his mother’s maiden name, Williams.

Erik van Rooyen

Real name: Frederik Wilhelm van Rooyen

OK, you don’t need a degree to work this one out, but we’re including him on the basis that most people called Frederik would go by Fred rather than Erik.

And the fact that his nickname is Fred.

Tom Kim

Real name: Joo-hyung Kim

This might be the best one on the list. The South Korean adopted the name thanks to a childhood obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine.

JJ Spaun

Real name: John Michael Spaun Jr

The reason this article exists.

After watching the exploits that almost saw him win The Players in 2025, we got to thinking as to why he goes by “JJ”. The best we’ve got is it’s short for ‘John Jr’.

JB Holmes

Real name: John Bradley Holmes

JJ isn’t the only player who goes by their initials.

See also: James Tyree “JT” Poston, Yong-eun “YE” Yang, Kyung-ju “KJ” Choi, and Cheng-tsung “CT” Pan.

But JB Holmes also needs pulling out separately.

And for good reason.

The five-time PGA Tour winner doesn’t want to be confused with another famous John Holmes, who is best known as being a rather – ahem – well-endowed adult film star.

Fair enough…

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