- Christy O'Connor Snr
-
Christy O'Connor Snr Personal information Born 21 December 1924
Knocknacarra, GalwayHeight 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Weight 203 lb (92 kg; 14.5 st) Nationality 
IrelandResidence Clontarf, Dublin Career Turned professional 1946 Former tour(s) European Tour
European Seniors TourProfessional wins 43 Number of wins by tour European Tour 1 Best results in Major Championships Masters Tournament DNP U.S. Open DNP The Open Championship T2: 1965 PGA Championship DNP Achievements and awards World Golf Hall of Fame 2009 (member page) Christy O'Connor (born 21 December 1924) is a former Irish professional golfer
O'Connor was born in Knocknacarra, Galway. He turned professional in 1946. Throughout the 1960s he won at least one professional event during each year on the British Tour, a level of consistent success matched by very few other players. During his early career he was known simply as Christy O'Connor, but his nephew of the same name also became a prominent golfer, and since that time they have been referred to as Christy O'Connor Senior and Christy O'Connor Junior, respectively. He was affectionately known as "Himself" among his golfing peers.
O'Connor won the first £1,000 prize to be offered in British golf at the Swallow-Penfold Tournament held in 1955. O'Connor's numerous tournament wins included the 1956 and 1959 British Masters. He also helped Ireland to win the Canada Cup in 1958 playing with Harry Bradshaw. He played in every Ryder Cup from 1955 to 1973, setting a record of ten appearances in the event which stood until it was surpassed by Nick Faldo in 1997. He was Irish professional champion on ten occasions, including in 1978 (when he was 53), and was twice (1961 and 1962) recipient of the Vardon Trophy for leading the British Tour's Order of Merit. He tied for second place with Brian Huggett in the 1965 Open Championship, behind winner Peter Thomson.[1] In 1970 he won the John Player Classic, at that time its £25,000 first prize was the richest offered in golf (in those days, even the British Open champion received just a little over £5,000), it made him that season's leading money-winner, although not Order of Merit leader, which was decided by a points system not directly related to prize money.
Later in his career, O'Connor became the leading "senior" player of his day, just before the lucrative U.S.-based Senior PGA Tour, now known as the Champions Tour, took off. He won the PGA Seniors Championship six times and the World Senior Championship in 1976 and 1977.
O'Connor was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009 in the Veterans category.[2]
Contents
Regular career wins
- 1955 Swallow-Penfold Tournament
- 1956 British Masters, Spalding Tournament
- 1957 News of the World Match Play
- 1958 Canada Cup (with Harry Bradshaw)
- 1959 Daks Tournament, British Masters
- 1960 Ballantine Tournament, Irish Hospitals Tournament
- 1961 Carling Caledonian Tournament
- 1962 Irish Hospitals Tournament
- 1963 Martini International (tie with Neil Coles)
- 1964 Carroll's International, Martini International, Jeyes Tournament
- 1965 Senior Service Tournament
- 1966 Carroll's International, Gallaher Ulster Open
- 1967 Carroll's International
- 1968 Gallaher Ulster Open, Alcan International
- 1969 Gallaher Ulster Open
- 1970 Bowmaker Pro-Am, John Player Classic
- 1972 Carroll's International
(this list only includes victories in tournaments that made up the British Order of Merit; O'Connor won numerous other professional events in Ireland, including the Irish PGA Championship 10 times, as well as a number of invitational and "pro-am" events including one hosted by Sean Connery in 1970)
Senior wins
this list is probably incomplete
- 1976 PGA Seniors Championship, World Senior Championship
- 1977 PGA Seniors Championship, World Senior Championship
- 1979 PGA Seniors Championship
- 1981 PGA Seniors Championship
- 1982 PGA Seniors Championship
- 1983 PGA Seniors Championship
Results in major championships
Of the four majors, O'Connor only played The Open Championship.
1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 T19 DNP T24 T20 T10 T10 T19 T3 T5 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 T36 T4 T16 6 T6 T2 T13 21 CUT 5 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 T17 T35 T23 T7 T56 DNP CUT CUT DNP T36 DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10See also
References
- ^ Birkdale — 1965, The Open web page. Retrieved 11 July 2011
- ^ O'Connor joins Wadkins in 2009 class
External links
- Christy O'Connor Snr at the European Tour official site
Categories:- Irish golfers
- European Tour golfers
- European Seniors Tour golfers
- World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
- People from County Galway
- 1924 births
- Living people
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
