José María Olazábal facts for kids

In this Basque name, the first family name is Olazábal and the second is Manterola.

Quick facts for kids José María Olazábal
Olazábal in 2009
Personal information
Full name	José María Olazábal Manterola
Nickname	Ollie
Born	(1966-02-05) 5 February 1966 (age 58) Hondarribia, Basque Country, Spain
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality	Spain
Residence	Hondarribia, Basque Country, Spain
Career
Turned professional	1985
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions European Senior Tour PGA Tour European Tour
Professional wins	30
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	6
European Tour	23 (9th all time)
Japan Golf Tour	2
Asian Tour	1
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 2)
The Masters Tournament	Won: 1994, 1999
U.S. Open	T8: 1990, 1991
The Open Championship	3rd/T3: 1992, 2005
PGA Championship	T4: 2000
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2009
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	1986
Prince of Asturias Award	2013

José María Olazábal Manterola (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse maˈɾia olaˈθaβal manteˈɾola], Basque: [olas̻abal]; born 5 February 1966) is a Spanish Basque professional golfer from the Basque Country, who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships, both at The Masters.

In 2012 he captained Europe's Ryder Cup team to a narrow victory over the US, which seemed improbable at the start of the final day's play when the Europeans trailed 10–6. They came back to win 14½–13½.

Early life
Amateur career
Professional career
Amateur wins
Professional wins (30)
Major championships
Results in The Players Championship
Results in World Golf Championships
Results in senior major championships
Team appearances
See also

Early life

Olazábal was born in Hondarribia, a town in the Basque Country of Spain, the day after the golf course Real Golf Club de San Sebastian opened next to his family's home. His father Gaspar succeeded his grandfather as greenskeeper at the golf club, where his mother also worked. Olazábal began to hit golf balls at age 2 with a shortened club, and at age 6 he could practice on the course in late afternoons.

Amateur career

As an amateur, he represented Spain on all levels. He represented Spain in competing in the Eisenhower Trophy at 16 years of age in 1982, and again two years later, in 1984.

In 1983, he won the Boys Amateur Championship at Glenbervie Golf Club, Scotland, and in 1984, he won The Amateur Championship at Formby Golf Club, Liverpool, England, at age 18, beating Colin Montgomerie 5 and 4 in the final. The year after, when he won the British Youths Open Amateur Championship, at Ganton Golf Club, England, he became the first player to have won the British Boy's, Youth's and Amateur titles in a career.

At the 1985 European Amateur Team Championship in Halmstad, Sweden, Olazabal made a hole-in-one at the 13th hole on his way to winning 3 and 2 against Colin Montgomerie in the semi-final between Spain and Scotland. However, Scotland went on to win the team tournament.

The month before his British Youths title, Olazábal, finished tied 25th and low amateur at the 1985 Open Championship in tough conditions at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England.

Professional career

In his rookie professional season of 1986, he finished second on the European Tour Order of Merit aged 20. In his first nine seasons, he finished in the top 10 every year except two, including another second place in 1989. He was unable to play in 1996 due to a foot injury but he recovered and recorded further top 10 placings in the Order of Merit in 1997, 1999 and 2000.

He has won 23 career titles on the European Tour, which is ninth best all-time.

He was in the world top 10 for over 300 weeks between 1989 and 1995. Had Olazábal beaten Ian Woosnam at the 1991 Masters Tournament (he finished second) he would have become the World No. 1.

In 1990, Olazábal made a, at the time, rare visit to the PGA Tour, invited in a limited field to the NEC World Series of Golf at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. He opened with a course record 61, continued with aggregate course and tournament records after every round and finished with an 18-under 262 total, 12 strokes ahead of second placed Lanny Wadkins. After congratulating Olazábal, Wadkins joked that he wished Olazábal back to Europe immediately.

Both of Olazábal's majors have come in the United States, namely The Masters in 1994 and 1999. These wins make him one of only two winners of the Amateur Championship since World War II to have gone on to win a professional major. He has been highly placed in The Masters on a number of other occasions. Olazábal shares the record for the lowest round in the PGA Championship (63), which he accomplished in the third round at Valhalla Golf Club in 2000.

In 2001, Olazábal began to play on the PGA Tour, while also retaining his membership of the European Tour. He had a solid year on the PGA Tour in 2002, when he won nearly $2 million and came 24th on the money list, but has not duplicated the success he enjoyed in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. He has six career PGA Tour titles, five of them won before he became a full member of the Tour. In 2006, he made a return to the top 15 of the world rankings.

José María Olazábal (in the bunker)

Olazábal was a member of Europe's Ryder Cup team seven times from 1987 to 2006. He formed a famous partnership with fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros that spanned many years, and formed a similarly successful partnership with Sergio García in 2006.

Olazábal captained the European team at the 2012 Ryder Cup for the defence of the trophy at Medinah Country Club in Illinois. After his team went down 10–4 during the second day and 10–6 going into the last day, he helped engineer the greatest ever Ryder Cup comeback with the European team eventually winning by 14½ points to 13½. Olazábal was very emotional with the win, saying in an interview that that was his number one happiest golf moment and happiest moment of his life. The win was inspired by his late friend Seve Ballesteros, to whom he dedicated the win. He confirmed afterwards that he would not consider himself for captaincy in the next Ryder Cup.

Olazábal holds the world record distance for a completed putt. During the 1999 European Ryder Cup team's Concorde flight to the United States, he holed a putt which travelled the full length of the cabin. The ball was in motion for 26.17s, during which time the Concorde, at 1,270 mph, traveled 9.232 miles, beating U.S. golfer Brad Faxon's previous record of 8.5 miles, set in 1997.

Olazábal was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009 with 56% of the vote on the international ballot.

On 19 June 2013, Olazábal was presented with Spain's most prestigious sporting honor, the Prince of Asturias Award in recognition of his accomplishments as a player and leader of the 2012 Ryder Cup team. He is only the second golfer to be honored since the awards were launched in 1987; Seve Ballesteros was honored in 1989.

Amateur wins

1982 Spanish Amateur Closed Championship
1983 Italian Open Amateur Championship, Biarritz Cup, Spanish International Amateur Championship, Boys Amateur Championship, Spanish Amateur Closed Championship
1984 The Amateur Championship, Belgian International Youths Championship, Spanish International Amateur Championship
1985 British Youths Open Amateur Championship

Professional wins (30)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (2)
Other PGA Tour (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	26 Aug 1990	NEC World Series of Golf	−18 (61-67-67-67=262)	12 strokes	Lanny Wadkins
2	18 Aug 1991	The International	10 pts (5-6-8-10=10)	3 points	Ian Baker-Finch, Scott Gump, Bob Lohr
3	10 Apr 1994	Masters Tournament	−9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
4	28 Aug 1994	NEC World Series of Golf (2)	−11 (66-67-69-67=269)	1 stroke	Scott Hoch
5	11 Apr 1999	Masters Tournament (2)	−8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III
6	10 Feb 2002	Buick Invitational	−13 (71-72-67-65=275)	1 stroke	J. L. Lewis, Mark O'Meara

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2005	BellSouth Classic	Arjun Atwal, Rich Beem, Brandt Jobe, Phil Mickelson	Mickelson won with birdie on fourth extra hole Olazábal eliminated by par on third hole Atwal and Jobe eliminated by par on first hole
2	2006	Buick Invitational	Nathan Green, Tiger Woods	Woods won with par on second extra hole Green eliminated by par on first hole

European Tour wins (23)

Legend
Major championships (2)
Flagship events (1)
Other European Tour (20)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	7 Sep 1986	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	−26 (64-66-66-66=262)	3 strokes	Anders Forsbrand
2	12 Oct 1986	Sanyo Open	−15 (69-68-69-67=273)	3 strokes	Howard Clark
3	19 Jun 1988	Volvo Belgian Open	−15 (67-69-64-69=269)	4 strokes	Mike Smith
4	25 Sep 1988	German Masters	−9 (69-72-70-68=279)	2 strokes	Anders Forsbrand, Des Smyth
5	26 Feb 1989	Tenerife Open	−13 (69-68-68-70=275)	3 strokes	José María Cañizares
6	30 Jul 1989	KLM Dutch Open	−11 (67-66-68-76=277)	Playoff	Roger Chapman, Ronan Rafferty
7	7 May 1990	Benson & Hedges International Open	−9 (69-68-69-73=279)	1 stroke	Ian Woosnam
8	24 Jun 1990	Carroll's Irish Open	−6 (67-72-71-72=282)	3 strokes	Mark Calcavecchia, Frank Nobilo
9	16 Sep 1990	Trophée Lancôme	−11 (68-66-70-65=269)	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie
10	17 Mar 1991	Open Catalonia	−17 (66-68-64-73=271)	6 strokes	David Feherty
11	22 Sep 1991	Epson Grand Prix of Europe	−19 (64-68-67-66=265)	9 strokes	Mark James
12	23 Feb 1992	Turespaña Open de Tenerife (2)	−20 (71-68-66-63=268)	5 strokes	Miguel Ángel Martín
13	1 Mar 1992	Open Mediterrania	−12 (68-71-69-68=276)	2 strokes	José Rivero
14	6 Mar 1994	Turespaña Open Mediterrania (2)	−12 (70-65-71-70=276)	Playoff	Paul McGinley
15	10 Apr 1994	Masters Tournament	−9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
16	30 May 1994	Volvo PGA Championship	−17 (67-68-71-65=271)	1 stroke	Ernie Els
17	23 Mar 1997	Turespaña Masters Open de Canarias	−20 (70-67-68-67=272)	2 strokes	Lee Westwood
18	1 Mar 1998	Dubai Desert Classic	−19 (69-67-65-68=269)	3 strokes	Stephen Allan
19	11 Apr 1999	Masters Tournament (2)	−8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III
20	14 May 2000	Benson & Hedges International Open (2)	−13 (75-68-66-66=275)	3 strokes	Phillip Price
21	6 May 2001	Novotel Perrier Open de France	−12 (66-69-66-67=268)	2 strokes	Paul Eales, Costantino Rocca, Greg Turner
22	2 Dec 2001 (2002 season)	Omega Hong Kong Open¹	−22 (65-69-64-64=262)	1 stroke	Henrik Bjørnstad
23	23 Oct 2005	Mallorca Classic	−10 (69-65-70-66=270)	5 strokes	Paul Broadhurst, Sergio García, José Manuel Lara

¹Co-sanctioned by the Asian PGA Tour

European Tour playoff record (2–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1989	KLM Dutch Open	Roger Chapman, Ronan Rafferty	Won with double-bogey on ninth extra hole Chapman eliminated by par on first hole
2	1993	Carroll's Irish Open	Nick Faldo	Lost to par on first extra hole
3	1994	Turespaña Open Mediterrania	Paul McGinley	Won with birdie on second extra hole
4	1994	Mercedes German Masters	Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els	Ballesteros won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA of Japan Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	12 Nov 1989	Visa Taiheiyo Club Masters	−13 (66-70-67=203)*	3 strokes	Naomichi Ozaki
2	11 Nov 1990	Visa Taiheiyo Club Masters (2)	−18 (66-68-69-67=270)	5 strokes	Bernhard Langer, Masashi Ozaki

*Note: The 1989 Visa Taiheiyo Club Masters was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.

Other wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	30 Apr 1995	Tournoi Perrier de Paris (with Seve Ballesteros)	−24 (63-67-64-62=256)	3 strokes	Mike Clayton and Peter O'Malley

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1994	Masters Tournament	1 shot deficit	−9 (74-67-69-69=279)	2 strokes	Tom Lehman
1999	Masters Tournament (2)	1 shot lead	−8 (70-66-73-71=280)	2 strokes	Davis Love III

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament		CUT		CUT		T8
U.S. Open				T68		T9
The Open Championship	CUT	T25LA	T16	T11	T36	T23
PGA Championship				CUT		CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	13	2	T42	T7	1	T14	T12	T12	1
U.S. Open	T8	T8	CUT	CUT	CUT	T28	T16	T18	WD
The Open Championship	T16	T80	3	CUT	T38	T31	T20	T15	CUT
PGA Championship	T14	CUT	CUT	T56	T7	T31	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament	CUT	T15	4	T8	30	CUT	T3	T44	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	T12	CUT	T50	CUT			T21	T45
The Open Championship	T31	T54	CUT	CUT		T3	T56
PGA Championship	T4	T37	69	T51	CUT	T47	T55	CUT

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2017	2018
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	T50	T34	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open			CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	T50	CUT	CUT	T45
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship		NT

Win Top 10 Did not play LA = Low amateur
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	2	1	1	5	8	13	35	20
PGA Championship	0	0	0	1	2	3	21	10
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	3	7	18	11
The Open Championship	0	0	2	2	2	9	21	16
Totals	2	1	3	8	15	32	95	57

Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1994 Open Championship – 1997 Open Championship)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Players Championship	CUT	T9	CUT	T14	T23			T25	T52

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
The Players Championship	CUT	T12	T36	CUT	CUT		7	T3	T54

Top 10 Did not play CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007
Match Play	QF	R32		QF	R64		R32	R32
Championship	T11	T17	NT¹	T27		T51	T17	T35
Invitational	40	T10		T47		T9	T22	82

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
Top 10 Did not play QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Results in senior major championships

Results not in chronological order before 2022.

Tournament	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
The Tradition	T20	CUT	T39	NT	T48	T60	76
Senior PGA Championship	CUT	CUT		NT		CUT		CUT
U.S. Senior Open				NT	CUT
Senior Players Championship	T68				T28		T59	T76
The Senior Open Championship	T53		CUT	NT	T46	CUT	CUT	CUT

Did not play CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Team appearances

Amateur

Eisenhower Trophy (representing Spain): 1982, 1984
Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 1981, 1982, 1983
European Amateur Team Championship (representing Spain): 1983, 1985
European Youths' Team Championship (representing Spain): 1982, 1984
St Andrews Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 1984

Professional

Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Spain): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999 (winners), 2000 (winners)
Four Tours World Championship (representing Europe): 1987, 1989
Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied; retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1997 (winners), 1999, 2006 (winners), 2012 (winners, non-playing captain)
World Cup (representing Spain): 1989, 2000
Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2000 (winners), 2002, 2003, 2005 (playing captain), 2013 (winners, non-playing captain)
Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2009 (non-playing captain), 2012 (playing captain), 2013 (non-playing captain)