Mark O'Meara

Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from their debut in 1986 to 2000.^[1]

O'Meara was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, but grew up in southern California in Mission Viejo, and took up golf at age 13, sneaking on to the nearby Mission Viejo Country Club. He later became an employee of the club and played on his high school golf team. He was an All-American at Long Beach State, and won the U.S. Amateur in 1979, defeating John Cook. After graduating with a degree in marketing in 1980, O'Meara turned professional and would win 16 events on the PGA Tour, starting with the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1984. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am four times, but he passed his 41st birthday in January 1998 without having won a major championship as a professional.

In a late finale to his PGA Tour winning career, O'Meara won two majors in 1998, The Masters and the British Open. O'Meara attributed this resurgence partly to the inspiration of working with Tiger Woods, the new superstar of the game at the time, with whom O'Meara had become good friends.^[2] In the same year he won the Cisco World Match Play Championship and he reached a career best of second in the Official World Golf Rankings.

O'Meara is known for competing outside the United States more often than most leading American golfers, and has won tournaments in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. A man with a genial demeanour, he is one of the most popular figures in international golf. In the new millennium his form took a downturn and he began to struggle with injuries, but in 2004 he won an official tour event for the first time since 1998, taking the Dubai Desert Classic title, which despite being played in Asia is a European Tour event.

In 2007, O'Meara entered his first season on the Champions Tour.

O'Meara has begun to develop a golf course design practice and enjoys fishing in his off time.

1 Professional wins (31)
2 Major Championships
3 United States national team appearances
- 3.1 Professional
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Professional wins (31)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (16)

1984 (1) Greater Milwaukee Open
1985 (2) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Hawaiian Open
1989 (1) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
1990 (2) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, H.E.B. Texas Open
1991 (1) Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic
1992 (1) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
1995 (2) Honda Classic, Bell Canadian Open
1996 (2) Mercedes Championships, Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic
1997 (2) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Buick Invitational
1998 (2) The Masters, British Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] European Tour wins (4)

[edit] Japan Golf Tour wins (2)

1985 Fujisankei Classic
1992 Tokai Classic

[edit] Other wins (10)

1985 Isuzu Kapalua International (unofficial PGA Tour event)
1986 Australian Masters
1989 RMCC Invitational (with Curtis Strange)
1994 Argentine Open
1998 Cisco World Match Play Championship (Europe - unofficial event), Skins Game (U.S. - unofficial event)
1999 World Cup (with Tiger Woods)
2000 Fred Meyer Challenge
2002 Skins Game (U.S. - unofficial event)
2007 Champions Challenge (with Mike Reid)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner(s) Up
1998	The Masters	2 shot deficit	-9 (74-70-68-67=279)	1 stroke	Fred Couples, David Duval
1998	The Open Championship	2 shot deficit	E (72-68-72-68=280)	Playoff ¹	Brian Watts

¹ Defeated Brian Watts in 4-hole playoff: O'Meara (4-4-5-4=17), Watts (5-4-5-5=19)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	24	48	T24	T39	T11
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	58	DNP	T7	T15	T41	CUT	T3	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	T47	DNP	DNP	DNP	T3	T43	T66	27	T42
PGA Championship	DNP	T70	DNP	CUT	T25	T28	CUT	CUT	T9	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	CUT	T27	T4	T21	T15	T31	T18	T30	1	T31
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	DNP	T16	T36	T32	CUT
The Open Championship	T48	T3	T12	CUT	DNP	T49	T33	T38	1	CUT
PGA Championship	T19	CUT	CUT	CUT	DNP	T6	T26	T13	T4	T57

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
The Masters	CUT	T20	CUT	T8	T27	T31	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	T51	CUT	T18	T35	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T26	T42	T22	T65	T30	CUT	T63	T60
PGA Championship	T46	T22	CUT	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP