Loren Roberts
Loren Roberts | |||
---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||
Full name | Loren Lloyd Roberts | ||
Nickname | Boss of the Moss | ||
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
Sporting nationality | United States | ||
Career | |||
College | California Polytechnic State University | ||
Turned professional | 1975 | ||
Current tour(s) | PGA Tour Champions Tour | ||
Professional wins | 23 | ||
Highest ranking | 11 (February 11, 1996)[1] | ||
Number of wins by tour | |||
PGA Tour | 8 | ||
PGA Tour Champions | 11 | ||
Best results in major championships | |||
Masters Tournament | T3: 2000 | ||
PGA Championship | T5: 1990 | ||
U.S. Open | T2: 1994 | ||
The Open Championship | T7: 2000 | ||
Achievements and awards | |||
|
Loren Lloyd Roberts (born June 24, 1955) is an American professional golfer. He was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He competed for San Luis Obispo Senior High School and Cal Poly-SLO. In 1975 he turned professional after his sophomore season due to the university's dropping its NCAA Division II golf team.
He worked as an assistant pro at San Luis Obispo Golf and Country Club as well as Morro Bay Golf Course. He won the Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship of 1979 and was second in 1980. The first professional tour where he competed was the PGA Tour of Australasia where he played briefly after his 1979 PGA victory.
PGA Tour career
On his fifth attempt, he earned his first PGA Tour card at the PGA Tour Qualification Tournament in 1980 for the 1981 season. He returned to the tournament in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987, earning his card every year except 1981. He did not get his first win on the PGA Tour until 1994 at age 38, yet it sparked a nine-season run of eight victories. His career earnings are over $15 million. He is known as "Boss of the Moss" for his putting skills. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings.
His best finish in a major was at the 1994 U.S. Open. He contended in an 18-hole playoff with Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie. Montgomerie was eliminated. An additional pair of sudden-death holes gave Els the title.
He played for the United States in the 1995 Ryder Cup, 1994 and 2000 Presidents Cups, and 2001 UBS Warburg Cup. He was 3-1 at the Ryder Cup, 4-2-1 at the Presidents Cups, and 1-2 at the UBS Warburg Cup. Of the four team events, only the Ryder Cup team lost. He was a co-assistant captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup which also lost.
After concentrating on the Champions Tour in 2006, Roberts went without a PGA Tour card for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, passing on using his exemption for being among the top 50 in career earnings. He used the exemption for the 2009 season.
Champions Tour career
In 2005 he joined the Champions Tour. His first senior win came in his third event at the JELD-WEN Tradition which is one of the five senior majors. He defeated Dana Quigley in a two-hole sudden-death playoff.
In 2006 he became the first golfer to open a Champions Tour season with three wins.[1]. Later that season he won his second senior major by beating Eduardo Romero in a playoff at the Senior British Open. He won the Byron Nelson Award for having the lowest average stroke total per round.
In 2009, he won his second Senior British Open title after beating Fred Funk and Mark McNulty in a playoff. He won a month later in August at the Boeing Classic, where he denied Mark O'Meara of his first Tour victory, defeating him by one stroke after making birdie on the final hole. The GWAA voted him Player of the Year.
He broke 54-hole tournament Champions Tour records for lowest score in relationship to par (25-under) and most birdies (26) as well as sharing lowest score (191). The marks were set largely due to scoring a career-best 61 in the final round of his 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai win.
Other achievements
He hosts the annual Loren Roberts Celebrity Pro-Am in May at Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville, Tennessee. Its first year was 1995. The benefitting charity is Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center of Memphis, Tennessee.
He was named Professional co-Athlete of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and 2007.[2] He was inducted into the Cal Poly-SLO Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.[3] The Tennessee Golf Foundation inducted him into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.[4] He has been a resident of Germantown, Tennessee, since the 1980s.
Roberts wrote Focus: The Name of the Game with fellow PGA Tour golfers Scott Simpson and Larry Mize. The 128-page book was published by J. Countryman in 1999.
Professional wins (22)
PGA Tour wins (8)
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mar 20, 1994 | Nestle Invitational | -13 (70-70-68-67=275) | 1 stroke | Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Fuzzy Zoeller |
2 | Jul 25, 1995 | Nestle Invitational | -16 (68-65-68-71=272) | 2 strokes | Brad Faxon |
3 | Apr 21, 1996 | MCI Classic | -19 (66-69-63-67=265) | 3 strokes | Mark O'Meara |
4 | Sep 1, 1996 | Greater Milwaukee Open | -19 (66-65-66-68=265) | Playoff | Jerry Kelly |
5 | Sep 14, 1997 | CVS Charity Classic | -18 (67-67-68-64=266) | 1 stroke | Bill Glasson |
6 | May 16, 1999 | GTE Byron Nelson Classic | -18 (66-66-62-68=262) | Playoff | Steve Pate |
7 | Jul 16, 2000 | Greater Milwaukee Open | -13 (65-66-63-66=260) | 8 strokes | Franklin Langham |
8 | Sep 29, 2002 | Valero Texas Open | -19 (67-63-67-64=261) | 3 strokes | Fred Couples, Fred Funk, Garrett Willis |
Other wins (4)
This list may be incomplete.
- 1979 Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship
- 1992 Ben Hogan Pebble Beach Invitational
- 1997 Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational
- 1999 Tennessee Open
Champions Tour wins (11)
|
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning Score | Margin of Victory |
Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Aug 28, 2005 | JELD-WEN Tradition | -15 (67-69-70-67=273) | Playoff | Dana Quigley |
2 | Jan 22, 2006 | MasterCard Championship at Hualalai | -25 (63-67-61=191) | 1 stroke | Don Pooley |
3 | Jan 29, 2006 | Turtle Bay Championship | -12 (66-66-72=204) | 2 strokes | Scott Simpson |
4 | Feb 19, 2006 | The ACE Group Classic | -14 (67-66-69=202) | 1 stroke | R. W. Eaks, Brad Bryant |
5 | Jul 30, 2006 | Senior British Open | -6 (65-65-69-75=274) | Playoff | Eduardo Romero |
6 | Jun 3, 2007 | The Boeing Championship at Sandestin | -16 (65-67-65=197) | 3 strokes | Eduardo Romero |
7 | Oct 7, 2007 | Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship | -13 (67-66-67-67=267) | 6 strokes | Tom Watson |
8 | Jun 29, 2008 | Commerce Bank Championship | -12 (65-68-68=201) | 1 stroke | Nick Price, Lonnie Nielsen |
9 | Feb 22, 2009 | The ACE Group Classic | -7 (70-71-68=209) | 1 stroke | Gene Jones |
10 | Jul 26, 2009 | Senior British Open | -12 (66-68-67-67=268) | Playoff | Fred Funk, / Mark McNulty |
11 | Aug 31, 2009 | Boeing Classic | -18 (68-65-65=198) | 1 stroke | Mark O'Meara |
PGA Tour major results
Tournament | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
U.S. Open | T34 | DNP | CUT | DNP | CUT |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
PGA Championship | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | T34 |
Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | T5 | T24 | T23 | CUT | DNP | CUT |
U.S. Open | DNP | T49 | DNP | T11 | T2 | WD | T40 | T13 | T18 | DNP |
The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T24 | CUT | T18 | CUT | T29 | DNP |
PGA Championship | T5 | T27 | DNP | T28 | T9 | T58 | CUT | T49 | T65 | CUT |
Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | T3 | T37 | DNP | T33 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
U.S. Open | T8 | T52 | DNP | T42 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
The Open Championship | T7 | T13 | T28 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | CUT |
PGA Championship | T58 | CUT | T43 | T7 | T17 | CUT | DNP | DNP |
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
Starts | Wins | 2nd | Top 3 | Top 5 | Top 10 | Longest Top 10 Streak |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
48 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
Champions Tour major results
Wins (4)
Year | Championship | Winning Score | Margin | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | The Tradition | -15 (67-69-70-67=273) | Playoff | Dana Quigley |
2006 | The Senior Open Championship | -6 (65-65-69-75=274) | Playoff | Eduardo Romero |
2007 | Senior Players Championship | -13 (67-66-67-67=267) | 6 strokes | Tom Watson |
2009 | The Senior Open Championship (2) | -12 (66-68-67-67=268) | Playoff | Fred Funk, / Mark McNulty |
Champions Tour major results are listed in the current order of play, which was not instituted until 2008.
Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Senior PGA Championship | DNP | 5 | T12 | T49 | T28 |
Senior British Open Championship | 5 | 1 | T4 | DNP | 1 |
U.S. Senior Open | T2 | T8 | 3 | T12 | T4 |
The Tradition | 1 | T14 | T4 | T7 | T5 |
Senior Players Championship | DNP | T3 | 1 | T21 | T3 |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
Green background for a win
Starts | Wins | 2nd | Top 3 | Top 5 | Top 10 | Longest top 10 streak |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 7 |
United States national team appearances
This list may be incomplete.
Professional
- Ryder Cup: 1995
- Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 2000 (winners)
- UBS Warburg Cup: 2001 (winners)
See also
External links
- ^ "Week 06 1996 Ending 11 Feb 1996" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.