| Andrew Chandler | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | 1953 Bolton |
| Nationality | England |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1974 |
| Retired | 1989 |
| Former tour(s) | European Tour |
| Professional wins | 1 |
| Best results in Major Championships |
|
| Masters Tournament | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T65: 1986 |
| PGA Championship | DNP |
Andrew "Chubby" Chandler (born 1953) is a retired English professional golfer (European Tour) and current Managing Director of Cheshire-based sports management firm ISM (International Sports Management).
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Of Turkish descent,[1] Chandler turned professional in 1974; his first European Tour tournament was that year's Italian Open, which was also the tour debut of Seve Ballesteros.[2] He spent the following 15 years playing on the Tour, with his best season coming in 1986 when he finished 44th on the Order of Merit; he also had his best result in this season with a third place in the Italian Open. Despite never winning on Tour, he did have one professional victory, at the 1985 Sao Paulo International.[3] However, after another slump in form, he retired from the professional game in 1989.
| Tournament | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | CUT | DNP | CUT | CUT | DNP | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | CUT | DNP | T65 | DNP | CUT |
Note: The Open Championship was the only one of the four majors that Chandler played in.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
After retirement from his playing career in 1989, Chandler decided to start a sports management business. He approached fellow professional golfers Derrick Cooper, Denis Durnian, Phil Harrison and Carl Mason, and agreed a deal to manage their careers, operating with an initial £10,000 overdraft out of a back room at Mere Golf Club. Soon after, in 1990, Chandler was approached by young amateur player Darren Clarke, who would go on to become one of his most successful players.[4]
The golf management business steadily grew throughout the 1990s, until Chandler was approached by Lancashire player Neil Fairbrother to manage the career of his young teammate Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff would go on to propel Chandler and his company into the spotlight during the 2005 Ashes series, while Fairbrother took a post at IMG himself after retiring from cricket in 2002.[5] The increasing success of ISM, and particularly the original golf sector, became apparent in 2010 and 2011; after the victory of longtime client Darren Clarke at the 2011 Open Championship, ISM had represented four of the last five major championship winners, namely Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Clarke himself.