Archive for the ‘Golfing Biographies’ Category
Thursday, June 19th, 2008 |
Michelle Wie started golfing at a little over four years old in her home state of Hawaii. Her father, B.J. Wie, started teaching her. By the time she was 11, Michelle was regularly winning most of the amateur tournaments she played in and was even playing better than most men. She decides she wanted to become a pro-golfer after watching Tiger Woods play. Wie has pictures of Tiger all over her bedroom and also hopes to go to Stanford University, just like Tiger did. Michelle Wie loves playing against the guys on the PGA tour but that’s where her fascination for boys ends - for now.
On March 1, 2002, Wie, who is six-feet tall, played in her first LPGA tour event. She failed to make the cut at the Takefuji Classic in Hawaii but still managed to turn some heads with her 280-yard drives and her understanding of the game. “I’m not disappointed. There’s free food and free drinks and nobody bothers you on the practice greens,” said Michelle after shooting six strokes over par in the first two rounds. In June, 2003, Michelle Wie became the youngest winner in the history of the Women’s Amateur Public Links, with a 1-up victory over Virada Nirapathpongporn at Ocean Hammock.Michelle Wie became the youngest person, and just the fourth female, to play in a PGA tour event, when she teed off at the Sony Open on January 15, 2004. Wie missed the 36-hole cut by just one stroke, but finished with a higher score than 47 grown men! Michelle Wie didn’t look at all out of place at the event, with her average drive being a whopping 271 yards. However, Wie was still a bit disappointed at not making the cut. “Just one more shot, and I would have made it,” she said after finishing with birdies on two of the last three holes. “It’s killing me now.” Michelle Wie came close to making her first cut at a PGA event at the 2005 John Deere Classic - but had a late collapse in the second round to miss the cut by two strokes.
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Saturday, June 7th, 2008 |
Born on January 21, 1940, in Columbus Ohio, Jack Nicklaus held a record in professional golf that no one could ever challenge it. Even Tiger Woods still has a long way to go in challenging his record.
Nicklaus shot 51 in his first 9-hole round of golf at the age of 10. By age 12, he was winning the first of 6 straight Ohio State Junior titles. He missed the cut in his first U.S. Open in 1957 at age 17.
Jack Nicklaus turned professional at age 18.
In 1959 and 1961, Jack won the U.S. Amateur Titles while playing for Ohio State.
At age 26, Jack had completed the career grand slam. He won all the majors a second time. And finally, with his 1978 British Open victory, he’d won them all at least three times each. His final major came in 1986, at the age of 46, with his sixth Masters.
By the time he was retiring on his career on 1998, The Golden Bear as they call him played 154 consecutive majors for which he is all qualified, from the 1957 U.S. Open to the 1998 U.S. Open.
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Monday, June 2nd, 2008 |
Nicknamed “El Nino”, Sergio Garcia Fernandez is a Spanish professional golfer who started playing golf at age 3. He was taught and mentored by his father, Vitor. He won his first club championship at age 12. After 4 years, he set the record as the youngest player to be in the cut of a European Tour event. In 1995, he was also proclaimed as the youngest player to win the European Amateur. In 1998, he won the British Amateur.
Garcia turned professional in 1999, after shooting the lowest amateur score in the 1999 Masters Tournament.
In 2001, Sergio won his first PGA Tournament at the 2001 Mastercard Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. He also won the Buick Classic on the same year.
In 2002, he won the Mercedes Championships and in 2004, García won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Buick Classic for the second time. His sixth PGA Tour victory came at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic. He also plays a limited schedule on the European Tour, where he has won six times.
On May 11, 2008, García won The Players Championship on the PGA Tour in a playoff against Paul Goydos. On the first playoff hole, the 17th, Goydos hit a pitching wedge that ballooned and fell inches short of the green and into the water, while García played a pitching wedge to within four feet of the hole. Goydos made double bogey while García made par for the win.
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Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 |
The recent winner of the 2008 Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas, Adam Derek Scott, was born in Adelaide Australia. Although he resides in Switzerland and play Professional Golf at the European PGA Tour, Adam attended his college at the University of Nevada.
Adam was born on July 16, 1980. As of this moment, he is one of only three golfers born in the 1980s who have made the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings thus, being one of the most promising players in golf. Adam is also gossiped to be the natural successor of one of his golf mentors, Greg Norman. In fact, Norman’s former caddy teamed up with Scott in 2001.
Scott started his golfing career with his victories on the 1996 and 1997 Australian Junior Championship, the 1996 New Zealand Junior Championship and the 1997 Doug Sanders World Junior Championship.
In 2000, Adam turned professional.
In 2004, Adam continued his rise in rankings with a memorable and stunning win at the PLAYERS Championship picking up a lofty $1.44 million for his efforts. Adam backed up this victory with another at the Booz Allen Classic equaling the tournament record of 21 under 263 held by Billy Andrade and Jeff Sluman in 1991. He managed seven top-10 finishes in just 16 starts leading him to a season-ending world ranking of 11.
In 2005, Adam was awarded the Australasian Order of Merit.
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Thursday, May 1st, 2008 |
Photo Credit: johntrainor
Born on Feb. 22, 1963 this golfing prodigy, whose roots are from Fiji, became one of the best players in the golfing world according to Barron Williams of Player Profile.
Vijay inherited his love for golf from his father, an aircraft technician and a golf teacher. He became turned professional in 1982 and won the Malaysian open shortly after two years.
In 1985, Singh was involved with allegations of cheating over an Asian Tour Event. He allegedly altered his scorecard in an attempt to make a cut. Singh denied the accusations, yet the committee decided to suspend him for the whole Asian Tour.
In 1988, he went out to resurrect his career by winning the Nigerian Open. He also went to join the European PGA Tour for 5 years. In 1993, he joined the U.S. PGA and was named rookie of the year.
In 2003, Singh posted 4 wins, 14 top 10 finishes and led the money bag in the PGA tour. He was also named player of the year.
An explosive 2004 happened in Vijay’s golfing career. Vijay made 12 top 10s in a row, 9 wins, a record which only 6 players in the PGA Tour history in winning 9 times in a season. He reportedly made $10,000,000 in that season, the first golfer to do so.
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 |
A son of a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and a Thai, Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was born in December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California.
Tiger started to play golf at age 2. In 1978, he putted in a television appearance The Mike Douglas Show. In 1984, at the age of 8, he won the 9-10 boys’ event, the youngest age group available at the Junior World Golf Championships. He went to win the Junior World Golf Championships for another six times, including 4 consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. At the age of 15, he became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion.
Tiger Woods became professional in August of 1996. He signed endorsements for Nike and Titleist worth $40 million and $20 million correspondingly. In April of 1997, he won his first golf major, The Masters.
In 2003, Woods saw himself losing his dominating edge in his golfing career as he lost against Vijay Singh in the Official World Golf Rankings. Since then, Woods made some swing adjustments to lessen the stress to his surgically repaired left knee with hopes of having his edge again.
In 2005, Woods finally got back his edge. Winning the Buick Invitational and Ford Championship at Doral he now had the chance to get back to the Official World Golf Rankings.
Woods is also credited for popularizing golf among ethnic minorities and people of all ages. Jennifer Mills of Cable-TV explained the depth of the Tiger Woods Phenomenon. A Time review of the 25 most influential people of 1997 reported, “Woods doesn’t simply take his money and play. He conducts clinics for inner-city kids, and he … will create opportunities for youngsters who would otherwise never get a chance.”
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 |
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Lorena Ochoa became the second youngest golfer to qualify for the World Golf Hall Fame via the LPGA points system. Born on November 15, 1981, this Mexican golfing prodigy started to play golf at age 5 only to turn out to be one of the best collegiate golfers out there. At age 6, she won a state championship, and by age 7, her first national championship. She went at the University of Arizona for college and became very successful in the next 2 years. Winning the NCAA Player of the Years Awards in 2001 and 2002, Lorena proved everyone that she is someone in golf by winning 8 of the 10 tournaments she participated in her sophomore year.
Ochoa left her university to turn professional. She won 3 of the 10 2002 futures events. In 2003, Ochoa won Rookie of the Year honours with two seconds, and finished ninth on the money list.
In April 2007, Lorena overtook Annika Sorenstam to become World number one ranked golfer.
Lorena will host a new LPGA event on November of 2008, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational to be held at her home course in Guadalajara Golf Club.
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