- Chris Wood (golfer)
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For other uses, see Chris Wood (disambiguation).
Chris Wood 
Personal information Full name Christopher James Wood Born 26 November 1987
Bristol, EnglandHeight 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Nationality 
EnglandResidence Bristol, England Career Turned professional 2008 Current tour(s) European Tour Best results in Major Championships Masters Tournament CUT: 2010 U.S. Open DNP The Open Championship T3: 2009 PGA Championship T76: 2009 Achievements and awards Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year2009 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.
Contents
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.[1] 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.”[2]
On 17 July 2008, Wood teed off at Royal Birkdale for the 2008 Open Championship with his father as his caddy. 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.[3] 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 two 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.”[4] 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.[5] 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. Wood admitted that he was delighted to secure his playing card and revealed his relief that the week was over. "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.[6]
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."[7]
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.
Amateur wins (2)
- 2007 Russian Amateur Championship
- 2008 Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship
Results in major championships
Tournament 2008 2009 2010 The Masters DNP DNP CUT U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP Open Championship T5 LA T3 CUT PGA Championship DNP T76 CUT LA = Low amateur
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.Team appearances
Amateur
- Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2008 (winners)
Professional
- Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2009 (winners)
See also
- 2008 European Tour Qualifying School graduates
Equipment
- Irons: Mizuno MP-62 (3–4) / MP-68 (5-PW)
- Wedges: Mizuno MP T-10 Black Satin 54/60
- Fairway woods: Mizuno MX-700 (15), MP Titanium (18)
- Driver MP-630 Fast Track (8.5)
References
- ^ Kroichick, Ron (July 19, 2008). "British Open: That's Wood, not Woods". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/SPQE11RJ7G.DTL. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
- ^ Wood wins Welsh Title by six stokes, Retrieved on July 20, 2008
- ^ "Amateur Wood eyes shock open win". BBC. July 19, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7515748.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
- ^ Mahoney, Paul (July 20, 2008). "Wood aims to turn silver into gold". Golf Magic.com. http://www.golfmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/5732. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
- ^ http://www.golfism.net/news-item-in-detail.html?id=120&c=2 International Sports Management news release
- ^ "Open star Wood secures Tour card". BBC. November 18, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/7733441.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Wood misses out by a shot at Open". BBC. July 19, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/8158331.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
External links
- Official website
- Chris Wood at the European Tour official site
- Chris Wood at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
Sir Henry Cotton Rookies of the Year 1960 Tommy Goodwin • 1961 Alex Caygill • 1962 No award • 1963 Tony Jacklin • 1964 No award • 1965 No award • 1966 Robin Liddle • 1967 No award • 1968 Bernard Gallacher • 1969 Peter Oosterhuis • 1970 Stuart Brown • 1971 David Llewellyn • 1972 Sam Torrance • 1973 Pip Elson • 1974 Carl Mason • 1975 No award • 1976 Mark James • 1977 Nick Faldo • 1978 Sandy Lyle • 1979 Mike Miller • 1980 Paul Hoad • 1981 Jeremy Bennett • 1982 Gordon Brand, Jnr • 1983 Grant Turner • 1984 Philip Parkin • 1985 Paul Thomas • 1986 José María Olazábal • 1987 Peter Baker • 1988 Colin Montgomerie • 1989 Paul Broadhurst • 1990 Russell Claydon • 1991 Per-Ulrik Johansson • 1992 Jim Payne • 1993 Gary Orr • 1994 Jonathan Lomas • 1995 Jarmo Sandelin • 1996 Thomas Bjørn • 1997 Scott Henderson • 1998 Olivier Edmond • 1999 Sergio García • 2000 Ian Poulter • 2001 Paul Casey • 2002 Nick Dougherty • 2003 Peter Lawrie • 2004 Scott Drummond • 2005 Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño • 2006 Marc Warren • 2007 Martin Kaymer • 2008 Pablo Larrazábal • 2009 Chris Wood • 2010 Matteo ManasseroCategories:- English golfers
- European Tour golfers
- People from Bristol
- 1987 births
- Living people
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