Chris Wood (golfer)

{{Short description|English professional golfer}}

{{other uses|Chris Wood (disambiguation)}}

{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}

{{Infobox golfer

| name = Chris Wood

| image = Chris Wood golfprofessional.JPG

| imagesize =

| caption =

| fullname = Christopher James Wood

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1987|11|26}}

| birth_place = Bristol, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=6}}

| weight = {{convert|198|lb|kg st|abbr=on}}

| nationality = {{ENG}}

| residence = Bristol, England

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| college =

| yearpro = 2008

| retired =

| tour = Challenge Tour

| extour = European Tour

| prowins = 4

| pgawins =

| eurowins = 3

| japwins =

| asiawins =

| sunwins =

| auswins =

| nwidewins =

| chalwins =

| champwins =

| seneurowins =

| otherwins = 1

| majorwins =

| masters = T42: 2016

| usopen = T23: 2016

| open = T3: 2009

| pga = T33: 2017

| wghofid =

| wghofyear =

| award1 = Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year

| year1 = 2009

| award2 =

| year2 =

| awardssection =

}}

Christopher James Wood (born 26 November 1987) is an English professional golfer who currently plays on the European Tour. He was the low amateur in the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and tied for third in the following year's tournament held at Turnberry.

Amateur career

Wood was born in Bristol, England. He went to school at Golden Valley Primary School in Nailsea between the ages of 4 and 11, before leaving to join Backwell School. He began playing golf at a young age. He was a keen footballer with aspirations to play for Bristol City Football Club but following a serious knee injury he devoted himself to golf. He became a member at the Long Ashton Golf Club near Bristol at the age of 9 and obtained a single-figure handicap by age 12.{{cite news |last=Kroichick |first=Ron |title=British Open: That's Wood, not Woods |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/SPQE11RJ7G.DTL |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=19 July 2008 |access-date=20 July 2008}} Wood was the English Amateur Order of Merit winner in 2007 and 2008.

In May 2008, Wood won the Welsh Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Conwy. He finished with a score of 289 (74–75–69–71) to take the title by six strokes over teammate Sam Hutsby and by eight over Jamie Abbott from Suffolk. After his victory Wood said "I putted much better today. I stayed pretty patient all the way around. My swing felt good and playing with Gary Wolstenholme kept me relaxed. This is the biggest event I've won so I may take a few days off now."{{cite web |url=http://www.trymysport.co.uk/sports_news/golf_news/2008/may08/wood_welsh_title.htm |title=Wood wins Welsh Title by six stokes |access-date=20 July 2008 }}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

On 17 July 2008, Wood teed off at Royal Birkdale for the 2008 Open Championship with his father as his caddie. He raised speculation in the press that he could have become the first amateur to win the tournament since Bobby Jones, who won it in 1926, 1927 and 1930.{{cite news |title=Amateur Wood eyes shock open win |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7515748.stm |work=BBC |date=19 July 2008 |access-date=20 July 2008}} He spoke about his qualification into the weekend of The Open and play at the tournament; "I love playing in front of a crowd," he said after a three over par third round 73. "I've been getting standing ovations on every green. It's been awesome. But I must admit it is now getting daunting for me and I got nervous when they announced my name on the first tee in the third round."{{cite news |last=Mahoney |first=Paul |title=Wood aims to turn silver into gold |url=http://www.golfmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/5732 |publisher=Golf Magic.com |date=20 July 2008 |access-date=20 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929000536/http://www.golfmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/5732 |archive-date=29 September 2017 |url-status=live }} He finished joint fifth overall alongside Jim Furyk and was awarded the silver medal as the top amateur.

Professional career

After his success at the Open championship, Wood decided to turn professional.{{cite web |url=http://www.golfism.net/news-item-in-detail.html?id=120&c=2 |title=International Sports Management news release |access-date=29 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723135714/http://www.golfism.net/news-item-in-detail.html?id=120&c=2 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=live }} In November he gained his European Tour card for 2009 by finishing in a tie for 5th at qualifying school held at PGA Golf de Catalunya near Girona, Spain; "I've worked really hard for this so I feel like I deserve everything I've achieved, but this does cap a pretty amazing year for me," he said.{{cite news |title=Open star Wood secures Tour card |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/7733441.stm |work=BBC |date=18 November 2008 |access-date=19 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119005725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/7733441.stm |archive-date=19 November 2008 |url-status=live }}

Through July of his rookie season, Wood has made 13 of 17 cuts while recording four top-10 finishes. A superb final round at Turnberry in the 2009 Open Championship put Wood in contention for his first major win. A birdie at the final hole would have sufficed but Wood's approach took a hard bounce and ran through the green. A par would have seen him contest the playoff but his par putt finished on the edge of the hole so he had to settle for a joint 3rd-place finish with Lee Westwood. "I've never hit a nine iron 210 yards in my life," he told BBC Sport. "There's nothing I could have done about it. It went miles."{{cite news |title=Wood misses out by a shot at Open |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/8158331.stm |work=BBC |date=19 July 2009 |access-date=20 July 2009}}

Thanks to his performance at the Open, Wood qualified for the Dubai World Championship and was named the European Tour's rookie of the year. Finishing in the top four at the Open also gave Wood a spot in the 2010 Masters Tournament. He missed the cut by seven strokes.

Wood made a good start to 2011 by tying for the Africa Open but lost to Open champion Louis Oosthuizen on the first playoff hole.

Wood claimed his maiden championship in August 2012 when he took the Thailand Open on the OneAsia Tour. He followed this by winning the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in January 2013, his first European Tour victory, making an eagle on the last hole to win by one stroke. "It's a dream come true," he said after his three-under-par 69 took him to 18 under. "There's an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I can go on and win more. I knew it was going to be hard no matter how I played – winning on the European Tour is not easy."{{cite news |title=Chris Wood wins first European Tour title with eagle |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/21211731 |work=BBC |date=26 January 2013 |access-date=27 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128174207/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/21211731 |archive-date=28 January 2013 |url-status=live }}

In June 2015, Wood won his second European tour title at the Lyoness Open with a two-stroke victory over Rafa Cabrera-Bello. He started the day five shots behind leader Grégory Bourdy, but shot a bogey-free final round of 67 to take the victory.

The 2016 season started with a third place at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa. In May, Wood won the 2016 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club; the win lifted him at the 22nd place of the Official World Golf Ranking and guaranteed him an automatic selection for the 2016 Ryder Cup.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/05/29/chris-wood-wins-bmw-pga-european-tour.html|title=Wood holds on to win BMW PGA Championship|date=29 May 2016|publisher=PGA Tour|access-date=17 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018234154/http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/05/29/chris-wood-wins-bmw-pga-european-tour.html|archive-date=18 October 2016|url-status=live}}

Wood paired up with Justin Rose in his career debut at the Ryder Cup for a 1 up victory against Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson in Saturday's foursomes; in the singles, he lost (1 up) to Dustin Johnson.

Amateur wins

  • 2007 Russian Amateur Championship
  • 2008 Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship

Professional wins (4)

=European Tour wins (3)=

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! Legend

style="background:#f2ecce;"

| Flagship events (1)

Other European Tour (2)

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of
victory

!Runner(s)-up

align=center|1

|align=right|26 Jan 2013

|Commercial Bank Qatar Masters

|−18 (67-70-64-69=270)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|ZAF}} George Coetzee, {{flagicon|ESP}} Sergio García

align=center|2

|align=right|14 Jun 2015

|Lyoness Open

|−15 (67-69-70-67=273)

|2 strokes

|{{flagicon|ESP}} Rafa Cabrera-Bello

style="background:#f2ecce;"

|align=center|3

|align=right|29 May 2016

|BMW PGA Championship

|−9 (72-70-68-69=279)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|SWE}} Rikard Karlberg

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.!!Year!!Tournament!!Opponents!!Result

style="background:#F2C1D1;"

|align=center|1

|2011

|Africa Open

|{{flagicon|ZAF}} Louis Oosthuizen, {{flagicon|ESP}} Manuel Quirós

|Oosthuizen won with birdie on first extra hole

=OneAsia Tour wins (1)=

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of
victory

!Runner-up

align=center|1

|align=right|12 Aug 2012

|Thailand Open

|−23 (67-64-67-67=265)

|2 strokes

|{{flagicon|KOR}} Jang Dong-kyu

Results in major championships

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament

!2008

!2009

!2010

!2011

!2012

!2013

!2014

!2015

!2016

!2017

!2018

align=left|Masters Tournament

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T42

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|U.S. Open

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T23

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|The Open Championship

|style="background:yellow;"|T5LA

|style="background:yellow;"|T3

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T64

|T23

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|WD

|T14

|T28

align=left|PGA Championship

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T76

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|CUT

|T46

|CUT

|CUT

|T33

|CUT

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament

!2019

align=left|Masters Tournament

|style= "background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|PGA Championship

|style= "background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|U.S. Open

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|The Open Championship

|CUT

{{legend|yellow|Top 10}}

{{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}}

LA = Low amateur

CUT = missed the half-way cut

WD = withdrew

"T" = tied

=Summary=

class=wikitable style=text-align:center

!Tournament !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top-5 !! Top-10 !! Top-25 !! Events !! Cuts made

align=left|Masters Tournament00000031
align=left|PGA Championship00000083
align=left|U.S. Open00000121
align=left|The Open Championship00122496
Totals0012252211

  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2008 Open Championship – 2009 Open Championship)

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Tournament !! 2010 !! 2011 !! 2012 !! 2013 !! 2014 !! 2015 !! 2016 !! 2017

align="left"|Championship

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T43

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T42

|T28

align="left"|Match Play

|R64

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|R64

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T61

|T39

align="left"|Invitational

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:yellow;"|T7

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|73

align="left"|Champions

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T39

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T51

|T23

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

{{legend|yellow|Top 10}}

{{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}}

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

WD = withdrew

"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Ryder Cup points record

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! 2016 !! Total

11

See also

References

{{Reflist}}