Chris Wood (golfer)

For other uses, see Chris Wood (disambiguation).
Chris Wood
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Christopher James Wood
Born (1987-11-26) 26 November 1987
Bristol, England
Height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14.1 st)
Nationality  England
Residence Bristol, England
Career
Turned professional 2008
Current tour(s) European Tour
Professional wins 4
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 3
Other 1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T42: 2016
U.S. Open T23: 2016
The Open Championship T3: 2009
PGA Championship T46: 2014
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		 2009

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.[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.

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."[8]

In June 2015, Wood won his second European tour title at the Lyoness Open with a two-stroke victory over Rafael 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.[9]

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 (2)

Professional wins (4)

European Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 26 Jan 2013 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters –18 (67-70-64-69=270) 1 stroke South Africa George Coetzee, Spain Sergio García
2 14 Jun 2015 Lyoness Open –15 (67-69-70-67=273) 2 strokes Spain Rafael Cabrera-Bello
3 29 May 2016 BMW PGA Championship –9 (72-70-68-69=279) 1 stroke Sweden Rikard Karlberg

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2011 Africa Open South Africa Louis Oosthuizen, Spain Manuel Quirós Oosthuizen won with birdie on first extra hole

OneAsia Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 12 Aug 2012 Thailand Open –23 (67-64-67-67=265) 2 strokes South Korea Jang Dong-kyu

Results in major championships

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T42
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T23
The Open Championship T5 LA T3 CUT DNP DNP T64 T23 DNP WD
PGA Championship DNP T76 CUT DNP DNP CUT T46 CUT CUT

LA = Low amateur
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
The Open Championship 0 0 1 2 2 3 6 4
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2
Totals 0 0 1 2 2 4 15 8

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Cadillac Championship DNP DNP DNP T43 DNP DNP T42
Dell Match Play R64 DNP DNP R64 DNP DNP T61
Bridgestone Invitational DNP DNP DNP T7 DNP DNP DNP
HSBC Champions DNP DNP DNP T39 DNP T51 T23

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Ryder Cup points record

2016 Total
1 1

Equipment

Driver: Callaway Great Big Bertha (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana D+ 60TX

3 Wood: Callaway XR 16 (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana D+ 70TX

5 Wood: Mizuno JPX EZ (18 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana D+ 80TX

Irons: Mizuno MP 25 (3-4), Mizuno MP 5 (5-PW) Shaft: True Temper Project X Flighted 7.0

Wedges: Mizuno MP T-5 (52, 56, 60) Shaft: True Temper Project X Flighted 6.5

Putter: Odyssey Versa #7

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kroichick, Ron (19 July 2008). "British Open: That's Wood, not Woods". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  2. ↑ "Wood wins Welsh Title by six stokes". Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  3. ↑ "Amateur Wood eyes shock open win". BBC. 19 July 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  4. ↑ Mahoney, Paul (20 July 2008). "Wood aims to turn silver into gold". Golf Magic.com. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  5. ↑ "International Sports Management news release".
  6. ↑ "Open star Wood secures Tour card". BBC. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
  7. ↑ "Wood misses out by a shot at Open". BBC. 19 July 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Chris Wood wins first European Tour title with eagle". BBC. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Wood holds on to win BMW PGA Championship". PGA Tour. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
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