Ricardo González (golfer)

Ricardo González (born 24 October 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer.

Ricardo González
González at the 2009 KLM Open
Personal information
Born (1969-10-24) 24 October 1969 (age 54)
Corrientes, Argentina
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight93 kg (205 lb; 14.6 st)
Sporting nationality Argentina
ResidenceRosario, Argentina
Career
Turned professional1986
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
European Senior Tour
TPG Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Challenge Tour
Professional wins29
Highest ranking61 (20 October 2002)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
Challenge Tour2
PGA Tour Champions1
European Senior Tour1
Other21
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipT10: 2002
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 1990, 2002
Achievements and awards
TPG Tour
Order of Merit winner
2018

Career edit

González turned professional in 1986, and has spent much of his career in Europe. He won a place on the European Tour in 1992 through qualifying school after playing on the second tier Challenge Tour in 1991. Having failed to win sufficient money to retain his tour card, he returned to the Challenge Tour in 1993.

Having moved to Africa, González returned to Europe in 1998 after winning the Challenge Tour sanctioned Tusker Kenya Open, and secured a second shot on the European Tour by finishing 5th on the Challenge Tour Rankings that season. He has successfully retained his playing privileges since then by consistently finishing inside the top 115 of the Order of Merit each year.

González has accumulated four European Tour wins, with a best year-end ranking on the European Tour Order of Merit of 25th place in 2001. He has also won many tournaments in South America, and has represented Argentina at the World Cup on four occasions, in 1996, 1998, 2005 and 2007.

He won his fourth career European Tour event in 2009 at the SAS Masters in Sweden by two strokes over Welshman Jamie Donaldson. It was his first win on the European Tour in five years.[2]

After several down years, González qualified for the European Tour through qualifying school in 2016. At age 47, he was the oldest Q school graduate in Tour history.

Professional wins (29) edit

European Tour wins (4) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 9 Sep 2001 Omega European Masters −16 (65-67-68-68=268) 3 strokes   Søren Hansen
2 26 Oct 2003 Telefónica Open de Madrid −14 (69-70-66-65=270) 1 stroke   Paul Casey,   Pádraig Harrington,
  Nick O'Hern,   Mårten Olander
3 18 Apr 2004 Open de Sevilla −14 (70-66-69-69=274) 2 strokes   Stephen Gallacher,   Jonathan Lomas
4 26 Jul 2009 SAS Masters −10 (68-68-77-69=282) 2 strokes   Jamie Donaldson

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2013 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles   Tommy Fleetwood,   Stephen Gallacher Fleetwood won with birdie on first extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (2) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 23 Sep 1990 Esab Open −9 (67-68=135)* Playoff   Ole Eskildsen
2 15 Mar 1998 Tusker Kenya Open −12 (69-65-69-69=272) Playoff   Jacob Okello

*Note: The 1990 Esab Open was shortened to 36 holes due to rain.

Challenge Tour playoff record (2–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1990 Esab Open   Ole Eskildsen Won with par on second extra hole
2 1998 Tusker Kenya Open   Jacob Okello Won with par on third extra hole

TPG Tour wins (9) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 9 Jun 2007 Abierto del Norte −19 (65-67-66-67=265) Shared title with   Andrés Romero
2 29 Nov 2009 Abierto del Litoral −3 (70-69-71-67=277) Playoff   Andrés Romero
3 3 Oct 2010 Abierto del Litoral (2) −7 (71-70-68-64=273) 3 strokes   Rafael Gómez,   Mauricio Molina
4 30 Sep 2012 Argentine PGA Championship −9 (73-72-66-68=279) 4 strokes   Francisco Bidé,   Clodomiro Carranza,
  Roberto Cóceres,   Emilio Domínguez
5 24 Nov 2013 Abierto del Litoral (3) −12 (66-69-64-69=268) 4 strokes   Sergio Acevedo
6 28 Jan 2018 Abierto del Sur −20 (68-67-60-65=260) 1 stroke   Maximiliano Godoy
7 30 Sep 2018 Abierto de Salta −15 (69-64-69-67=269) 1 stroke   Maximiliano Godoy
8 15 Mar 2020 Abierto Norpatagónico −6 (69-67=136)* Shared title with   Andrés Gallegos
9 22 Jan 2023 Abierto del Sur (2) −11 (64-71-65-69=269) 7 strokes   Exequiel López,   Jaime López Rivarola

*Note: The 2020 Abierto Norpatagónico was shortened to 36 holes due to COVID-19 concerns.

Other wins (12) edit

PGA Tour Champions wins (1) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 24 Feb 2024 Trophy Hassan II −10 (69-70-70=209) 1 stroke   Thomas Bjørn

European Senior Tour wins (1) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 23 Oct 2022 Italian Senior Open −2 (69-72-70=211) 3 strokes   James Kingston

Results in major championships edit

Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship T10 CUT CUT

Note: González never played in the Masters Tournament or the U.S. Open.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships edit

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Match Play
Championship
Invitational T28 T50
Champions T45
  Did not play

"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances edit

Equipment edit

  • Irons - Mizuno MP-62 Black Nickel, Project X 7.0
  • Wedges - Mizuno MPT-10 White Satin 52, 60/08

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Week 42 2002 Ending 20 Oct 2002" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Final flourish earns Gonzalez victory in Malmo". The Guardian. 2009-07-26. Retrieved 2009-07-27.

External links edit