Sam Torrance

His father Bob (1932-2014) was a highly respected golf instructor who coached son Sam from childhood.

Samuel Robert Torrance (born 24 August 1953) is a Scottish professional golfer and sports commentator.

He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins.

Torrance was a member of European Ryder Cup teams on eight occasions consecutively; on Cup-winning teams four times.

Torrance represented Scotland against England at Boy's International Match at Hillside, Southport, England in August 1970.

He turned professional at the age of 17, and his first job was at Sunningdale, where he used to play for money with members, which was much needed because he was paid only £5 a week as an assistant professional.

In 1970, Torrance joined the tour, which officially became the European Tour in 1972.

He achieved his first professional win in 1972, and won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in the same year.

He recorded his first European Tour win in 1976.

He won 21 times on the European Tour; only fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie has accumulated more European Tour titles without winning one of golf's four major championships.

Individually, Torrance finished tied 5th at the 1978 World Cup in Hanalei, Hawaii and 3rd at the 1995 World Cup of Golf at the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China.

On his first visit on the PGA Tour of Australasia, at the time named the PGA Tour of Australia, Torrance finished second to George Serhan at the 1980 New South Wales Open in beginning of November and the week after he won the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, beating Seve Ballesteros by two strokes.

Torrance played in The Open Championship 28 times, with a best finish of tied 5th in 1981 at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England.

The year after, Torrance came back to Australia, capping a second-place finish in October, after losing in a playoff to Eamonn Darcy at the 1981 CBA West Lakes Classic.

Torrance played for Europe in the Ryder Cup eight times, from 1981 to 1995 consecutively; the Cup is contested every two years.

On a rare visit on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, in October 1983, trying to tune up for the Ryder Cup match to be played in Florida later the same month, Torrance finished tied first after 72 holes at the 1983 Southern Open at the Green Island Country Club in Columbus, Georgia.

This was the first time he ever made the cut on a PGA Tour tournament.

He eventually lost in a playoff against Ronnie Black on the fourth extra hole.

The year after, he was again close to victory on another continent.

His best finish on the European Tour Order of Merit was second, which he achieved in 1984 and 1995.

In total, he finished in the top-10 on the list 10 times.

He previously held the record for the most career appearances on the European Tour, with 706.

He lost in a playoff on the Japan Golf Tour to home player Masahiro Kuramoto at the 1984 Bridgestone Tournament at Sodegaura Country Club, Chiba, Japan.

That year he also finished in second place at the Malaysian Open, tying Australia's Terry Gale for second, two behind Taiwan's Lu Chien-soon.

Team Scotland twice finished second in the World Cup with Torrance on the two-man-team, 1984 with Gordon Brand Jnr and 1987 with Sandy Lyle.

In 1985 he sank the winning putt on the 18th green at The Belfry, England, which deprived the Americans of the trophy for the first time in 28 years.

Torrance reached another second place in Japan at the 1987 Casio World Open, losing by two strokes to American David Ishii, after leading or tying the lead after each of the first three rounds.

He also was a member of Cup-winning teams in 1987 (first-ever win for Europe on American soil), 1989 and 1995.

This made him the second European to sink the winning putt and captain a winning team at separate Ryder Cups, after Seve Ballesteros in 1987 (as a player) and 1997 (as captain).

He was also part of the winning Scotland team at the 1995 Dunhill Cup.

He was part of the winning Scotland team, with Colin Montgomerie and Andrew Coltart, at the 1995 Dunhill Cup at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland.

The home team beat Zimbabwe in the final 2–1, where Torrance won over Mark McNulty.

Torrance was honoured with the MBE (1996) and OBE (2003), for his outstanding contributions to golf.

Torrance was born and grew up in Largs on the west coast of Scotland, playing golf at Routenburn Golf Club, near his family home.

He was the winning non-playing captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2002.

In 2002, he was the non-playing captain on the European team which won the 2002 Cup at The Belfry.

In 2003, upon turning 50, Torrance became eligible to play in senior tournaments, and he picked up his first win on the European Senior Tour in 2004.

He was also named a vice-captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine by captain Darren Clarke.

Torrance represented Scotland eleven times at the World Cup and nine times at the Alfred Dunhill Cup.

At the 2020 Hero Open, Miguel Ángel Jiménez passed Torrance for most starts on the European Tour.