Des Smyth

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Des Smyth
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Desmond John Smyth
Born (1953-02-12) 12 February 1953
Drogheda, County Louth
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 168 lb (76 kg; 12.0 st)
Nationality  Ireland
Residence Drogheda, County Louth
Career
Turned professional 1974
Current tour(s) European Seniors Tour
Champions Tour
Former tour(s) European Tour
Professional wins 25
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 8
Champions Tour 2
European Seniors Tour 5
Other 2
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament DNP
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship T4: 1982
PGA Championship DNP

Desmond John Smyth (born 12 February 1953) is an Irish professional golfer.

Smyth was born in Drogheda, County Louth. He turned professional in 1974 and was a member of the European Tour for over a quarter of a century. His best finish on the European Tour Order of Merit was seventh in 1988. He won eight tournaments on the tour across four different decades, breaking Neil Coles' record as the oldest man to win a European Tour event when he claimed the 2001 Madeira Island Open at the age of 48 years and 34 days. This record was broken by Miguel Ángel Jiménez (48 years, 11 months, 13 days) at the 2012 UBS Hong Kong Open.

Smyth represented Europe in the Ryder Cup in 1979 and 1981, losing on both occasions to the United States. Smyth also represented his country in the World Cup and the Alfred Dunhill Cup many times and was a member of the Irish team (alongside Eamonn Darcy and Ronan Rafferty) which won the latter in 1988. At the 2006 Ryder Cup, he was one of Ian Woosnam's vice-captains.[1]

Since turning fifty in 2003, Smyth has had a successful career in senior golf, winning tournaments on both the Champions Tour and the European Seniors Tour.

Personal life

Smyth has a son, Greg, a horticultural student at IT Blanchardstown. Greg won Ireland's eighth largest lottery jackpot of €9,426,636 on 13 August 2008.[2]

Amateur wins

  • 1968 South of Ireland Open Amateur

Professional wins (25)

European Tour wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 5 Aug 1979 Sun Alliance European Match Play Championship 3&2 Zimbabwe Nick Price
2 8 Jun 1980 Newcastle Brown "900" Championship −12 (67-70-70-69=276) 1 stroke England Graham Burroughs, England Neil Coles,
Australia Greg Norman
3 22 Jun 1980 Cold Shield Greater Manchester Open −7 (67-71-69-66=273) Playoff England Brian Waites
4 28 Jun 1981 Coral Classic −6 (67-72-70-73=282) 2 strokes England Michael King, West Germany Bernhard Langer,
Republic of Ireland John O'Leary
5 30 Oct 1983 Sanyo Open −9 (72-66-70-71=279) 1 stroke South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, England Mark James
6 23 Oct 1988 BNP Jersey Open −15 (69-68-69-67=273) Playoff England Roger Chapman
7 31 Oct 1993 Madrid Open −16 (65-68-68-71=272) 3 strokes Spain Domingo Hospital, Spain José Rivero,
England Mark Roe, South Africa Wayne Westner
8 18 Mar 2001 Madeira Island Open −18 (66-70-68-66=270) 2 strokes England John Bickerton

European Tour playoff record (2–3)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1981 Cold Shield Greater Manchester Open England Brian Waites Won with birdie on seventh extra hole
2 1982 Jersey Open Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy, Scotland Bernard Gallacher Gallacher won with par on fifth extra hole
Darcy eliminated with birdie on second hole
3 1984 Sanyo Open Scotland Sam Torrance Lost to par on first extra hole
4 1986 Whyte & Mackay PGA Championship Australia Rodger Davis Lost to bogey on third extra hole
5 1988 BNP Jersey Open England Roger Chapman Won on fifth extra hole

Other wins (8)

Champions Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 13 Mar 2005 SBC Classic −5 (71-72-68=211) 1 stroke Republic of Ireland Mark McNulty, United States D. A. Weibring
2 24 Apr 2005 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf −8 (66-71-71=208) 2 strokes United States Tom Jenkins

Champions Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2005 Senior British Open United States Tom Watson Lost to par on third extra hole

European Seniors Tour wins (5)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 12 Nov 2005 Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship −10 (68-68-70=206) 2 strokes Scotland John Chillas
2 5 Aug 2007 Wentworth Senior Masters −6 (70-71-69=210) 2 strokes New Zealand Bob Charles
3 5 Sep 2010 Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters −10 (66-71-69=206) 3 strokes England Carl Mason
4 26 Jun 2011 Van Lanschot Senior Open −6 (71-74-65=210) 2 strokes Australia Peter Fowler, United States Tim Thelen
4 2 Sep 2012 Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters −10 (72-66-68=206) 1 stroke Australia Peter Fowler

Other senior wins (2)

  • 2011 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Mark James)
  • 2012 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Mark James)

Results in major championships

Note: The only major Smyth played in was The Open Championship.

Tournament 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Open Championship CUT T31 T4 CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT DNP CUT
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Open Championship CUT T44 CUT T27 CUT DNP DQ DNP T15 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002
The Open Championship DNP T13 T28

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = Disqualified
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Des Smyth & Peter Baker named Ryder Cup assistants"
  2. ↑ "Golfer's son wins Lotto jackpot". RTÉ. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 

External links

European Ryder Cup team – 1979
Europe
Lost: 11 – 17
European Ryder Cup team – 1981
Europe
Lost: 9.5 – 18.5
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