José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal Manterola (born 5 February 1966) is a Spanish professional golferwho has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won twomajor championships.

Career outline

Olazábal was born in Hondarribia, a town in the Basque Autonomous Region of Spain. He burst onto the golf scene in as a junior, winning The (British) Amateur Championship aged eighteen. Then, in his rookie professional season of 1986, he finished second on the European Tour Order of Merit aged just twenty. In his first nine seasons, he finished in the top 10 every year except two, including another second place in 1989, and he was a regular member of the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 300 weeks).^[1] Had Olazábal beaten Ian Woosnam at The Masters in 1991 (he finished second) he would have become the World number one. He was unable to play in 1996 due to a foot injury but he recovered and recorded further top ten placings in the Order of Merit in 1997, 1999 and 2000. He has more than twenty career titles on this tour.

Both of Olazábal's majors have come in the United States, namely The Masters in 1994 and 1999. These wins make him the only winner of The Amateur Championship since World War II to have gone on to win a professional major. He has been highly placed in The Masters on a number of other occasions. Olazábal shares the record for the lowest round in the PGA Championship (63), which he accomplished in the third round at Valhalla Golf Club in 2000.^[2]

In 2001 Olazábal began to play on the PGA Tour, while also retaining his membership of the European Tour. He had a solid year on the PGA Tour in 2002, when he won nearly two million dollars and came twenty-fourth on the money list, but has not duplicated the success he enjoyed in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. He has six career PGA Tour titles, five of them won before he became a full member of the Tour. In 2006 he made a return to the top fifteen of the world rankings.

Olazábal was a member of the European Ryder Cup team in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2006. He formed a famous partnership with fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros that spanned many years,^[3] and formed a similarly successful partnership with Sergio García in 2006.

Olazábal will captain the 2012 European Ryder Cup team for the defence of the trophy at Medinah.^[4]

Olazábal also holds the world record distance for a completed putt. During the 1999 European Ryder Cup team's Concorde flight to the United States, he holed a putt which travelled the full length of the cabin. The ball was in motion for 26.17s, during which time the Concorde, at 1,270 mph, travelled 9.232 miles, beating U.S. golfer Brad Faxon's previous record of 8.5 miles, set in 1997.^[5]

Olazábal was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009 with 56% of the vote on the international ballot.^[6]

[edit]Amateur wins (7)

• 1983 Italian Open Amateur Championship, Spanish Open Amateur Championship, British Boys Amateur Championship
• 1984 The Amateur Championship, Belgian International Youths Championship, Spanish Open Amateur Championship
• 1985 British Youths Amateur Championship

[edit]Professional wins (31)

[edit]European Tour wins (23)

Legend Major Championships (2) Other European Tour (21)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner-up
1	7 Sep 1986	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	-26 (64-66-66-66=262)	3 strokes	Anders Forsbrand
2	12 Oct 1986	Sanyo Open	-15 (69-68-69-67=273)	3 strokes	Howard Clark
3	19 Jun 1988	Volvo Belgian Open	-15 (67-69-64-68=269)	4 strokes	Mike Smith
4	25 Sep 1988	German Masters	-9 (69-72-70-68=279)	2 strokes	Anders Forsbrand,  Des Smyth
5	26 Feb 1989	Tenerife Open	-13 (69-68-68-70=275)	3 strokes	José Maria Cañizares
6	30 Jul 1989	KLM Dutch Open	-11 (67-66-68-76=277)	Playoff	Roger Chapman,  Ronan Rafferty
7	7 May 1990	Benson & Hedges International Open	-9 (69-68-69-73=279)	1 stroke	Ian Woosnam
8	24 Jun 1990	Carroll's Irish Open	-6 (67-72-71-72=282)	3 strokes	Mark Calcavecchia,  Frank Nobilo
9	16 Sep 1990	Lancome Trophy	-11 (68-66-70-65=269)	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie
10	17 Mar 1991	Open Catalonia	-17 (66-68-64-73=271)	6 strokes	David Feherty
11	22 Sep 1991	Epson Grand Prix of Europe	-19 (64-68-67-66=265)	9 strokes	Mark James
12	23 Feb 1992	Turespana Open de Tenerife	-20 (71-68-66-63=268)	5 strokes	Miguel Ángel Martín
13	1 Mar 1992	Open Mediterrania	-12 (68-71-69-68=276)	2 strokes	José Rivero
14	6 Mar 1994	Turespana Open Mediterrania	-12 (70-65-71-70=276)	Playoff	Paul McGinley
15	10 Apr 1994	Masters Tournament	-9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
16	30 May 1994	Volvo PGA Championship	-17 (67-68-71-65=271)	1 stroke	Ernie Els
17	23 Mar 1997	Turespana Masters Open de Canarias	-20 (70-67-68-67=272)	2 strokes	Lee Westwood
18	1 Mar 1998	Dubai Desert Classic	-19 (69-67-65-68=269)	3 strokes	Stephen Allan
19	11 Apr 1999	Masters Tournament	-8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III
20	14 May 2000	Benson & Hedges International Open	-13 (75-68-66-66=275)	3 strokes	Phillip Price
21	6 May 2001	Open de France	-12 (66-69-66-67=268)	2 strokes	Paul Eales,  Costantino Rocca,  Greg Turner
22	2 Dec 2001	Omega Hong Kong Open	-22 (65-69-64-64=262)	1 stroke	Henrik Bjørnstad
23	23 Oct 2005	Mallorca Classic	-10 (69-65-70-66=270)	5 strokes	Paul Broadhurst,  Sergio García,  José Manuel Lara

[edit]PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend Major Championships (2) Other PGA Tour (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	26 Aug 1990	NEC World Series of Golf	-26 (61-67-67-67=262)	12 strokes	Lanny Wadkins
2	18 Aug 1991	The International	10 points (5-6-8-10)	3 points	Ian Baker-Finch,  Scott Gump,  Bob Lohr
3	10 Apr 1994	The Masters	-9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
4	28 Aug 1994	NEC World Series of Golf	-19 (66-67-69-67=269)	1 stroke	Scott Hoch
5	11 Apr 1999	The Masters	-8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III
6	10 Feb 2002	Buick Invitational	-13 (71-72-67-65=275)	1 stroke	J. L. Lewis,  Mark O'Meara

[edit]Japan Golf Tour wins (2)

• 1989 Visa Taiheiyo Masters
• 1990 Visa Taiheiyo Masters

[edit]Other wins (2)

• 1985 European Tour Qualifying School
• 1995 Tournoi Perrier de Paris (with Severiano Ballesteros)

[edit]Major championships

[edit]Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner-up
1994	Masters Tournament	1 shot deficit	-9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
1999	Masters Tournament (2)	1 shot lead	-8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III

[edit]Results timeline

Tournament	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	DNP	CUT	DNP	CUT	DNP	T8
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	T68	DNP	T9
The Open Championship	CUT	T25 LA	T16	T11	T36	T23
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	13	2	T42	T7	1	T14	DNP	T12	T12	1
U.S. Open	T8	T8	CUT	CUT	CUT	T28	DNP	T16	T18	WD
The Open Championship	T16	T80	3	CUT	T38	T31	DNP	T20	T15	CUT
PGA Championship	T14	CUT	CUT	T56	T7	T31	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
The Masters	CUT	T15	4	T8	30	CUT	T3	T44	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	T12	CUT	T50	CUT	DNP	DNP	T21	T45	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T31	T54	CUT	CUT	DNP	T3	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T4	T37	69	T51	CUT	T47	T55	CUT	DNP	DNP

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

[edit]Team appearances

[edit]Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Spain): 1982, 1984
• St Andrews Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 1984
• Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 1982, 1984

[edit]Professional

• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied; retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1997 (winners), 1999, 2006 (winners), 2010(non-playing vice-captain)
• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Spain): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999 (winners), 2000 (winners)
• World Cup (representing Spain): 1989, 2000
• Four Tours World Championship: 1987, 1989
• Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2000 (winners), 2002, 2003, 2005 (playing captain)

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