Ricardo Santos (golfer) explained

Ricardo Santos
Birth Date:7 September 1982
Birth Place:Faro, Portugal
Residence:Vilamoura, Portugal
Spouse:Rita
Children:1
Yearpro:2006
Tour:European Tour
Extour:Challenge Tour
Prowins:6
Eurowins:1
Chalwins:3
Otherwins:3
Award1:Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year
Year1:2012

Ricardo Santos (born 7 September 1982) is a Portuguese professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour. He won the 2012 Madeira Islands Open.

Professional career

Santos turned professional in 2006. From 2007 to 2011 he played regularly on the Challenge Tour.[1] In 2007, he was given an invite to the Madeira Islands Open on the European Tour, and led after the first round.[2] He began the 2011 season well, making nine of his first ten cuts, including seven top-15 finishes. He then recorded his first Challenge Tour victory at The Princess, which took him to the top of the tour rankings.[3] He was the first Portuguese-born golfer to win at this level, as José-Filipe Lima and Daniel Silva, despite representing Portugal, were born in France and South Africa respectively. He eventually finished 2011 in fourth place in the Order of Merit to gain a place on the European Tour in 2012.

In 2012 Santos won on the European Tour for the first time, on home soil at the Madeira Islands Open. He was named the European Tour's 2012 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, finishing 90th in the Order of Merit. He had a good start to 2013 with five top-10 finishes between January and May. Despite a disappointing end to the season he finished 65th in the Order of Merit. 2014 was less successful and Santos finished 116th in the Order of Merit. In 2015 he split his time between the European Tour and the Challenge Tour.

Since 2015 Santos has played on the Challenge Tour. He was joint runner-up in the 2017 Hauts de France Golf Open. In 2019 Santos was runner-up in the D+D Real Czech Challenge and then won the next event, the Swiss Challenge, his first win on the tour since 2012.

Professional wins (6)

European Tour wins (1)

1Dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour

Challenge Tour wins (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
13 Jul 2011The Princess−16 (73-68-65-66=272)3 strokes Daniel Brooks
213 May 2012Madeira Islands Open - Portugal1−22 (68-67-68-63=266)4 strokes Magnus A. Carlsson
39 Jun 2019Swiss Challenge−15 (65-68-71-65=269)1 stroke Richard Bland, Moritz Lampert
1Dual-ranking event with the European Tour

Other wins (2)

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.europeantour.com/challengetour/players/playerid=31872/record/index.html Challenge Tour - Players. Ricardo Santos: Career Details
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/6482707.stm Santos claims early Madeira lead
  3. http://www.europeantour.com/challengetour/season=2011/tournamentid=2011740/news/newsid=140030.html#maiden+title+santos+the+princess Maiden title for Santos at The Princess