Vincent Tshabalala
| Vincent Tshabalala | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Vincent Vesele Tshabalala |
| Born | 16 March 1942 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Sporting nationality |  South Africa |
| Residence | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1963 |
| Former tour(s) | European Tour Southern Africa Tour European Seniors Tour |
| Professional wins | 3 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| European Tour | 1 |
| Best results in major championships | |
| Masters Tournament | DNP |
| PGA Championship | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T56: 1977 |
Vincent Vesele Tshabalala (born 16 March 1942) is a South African professional golfer.
Tshabalala was born in Johannesburg and worked as a mechanic before his golf career took over. As he was designated as "Coloured" under the Apartheid racial classification scheme he was not able to play on the Southern African Tour in his prime, but with assistance from South Africa's leading white golfer Gary Player he gained entry to tournaments around the world, and in 1976 he won the European Tour's French Open. Later that year he was selected in South Africa's World Cup team, but refused to take part.[1] Soon afterwards his career was curtailed by injury. He plays his full shots crosshanded, a virtually unique method for a professional player.
Tshabalala made a comeback in the over-50 ranks, finishing in the top twenty on the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit four times in the 1990s, though without winning any tournaments. He also played on the Southern Africa Tour after the racial restrictions were abolished in the early 1990s, but by then he was almost fifty and he didn't win any official money events. However he won an unofficial money pairs event called the Nelson Mandela Invitational in both 2004 and 2005, playing with Ernie Els in the former year and with Tim Clark in the latter year.
Professional wins
European Tour wins (1)
- 1976 French Open
Southern Africa Tour wins (2)
- 2004 Nelson Mandela Invitational (with Ernie Els, non-Order of Merit event)
- 2005 Nelson Mandela Invitational (with Tim Clark, non-Order of Merit event)
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1976 | 1977 |
|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | CUT | T56 |
| PGA Championship | DNP | DNP |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
References
- ^ Alliss, Peter (1983). The Who's Who of Golf. Orbis Publishing. p. 356. ISBN 0-85613-520-8.
External links
- Vincent Tshabalala at the European Tour official site
- Vincent Tshabalala at the Sunshine Tour official site