Нил Коулз: Ұлыбританиялық кәсіби гольфшінің жетістіктері

English professional golfer

Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors tournaments between 1985 and 2002, winning his final European Seniors Tour event at the age of 67. He also played in eight Ryder Cup matches between 1961 and 1977. While he never became one of the leading stars of global golf, and did not win a major championship, Coles was remarkable for his consistency, and even more for his durability. He was five times a top ten finisher in the Open Championship, finishing third in 1961 and second in 1973. In 1982 at the age of 48 he won the Sanyo Open in Spain and held the distinction of being the oldest winner of a European Tour event for nearly 20 years. Even at the peak of his career, he made few appearances in the United States because of his fear of flying. In his eight Ryder Cup appearances, Coles had 5 wins, 6 defeats and 4 halves in his 15 singles matches; the 7 points he won in these is tied for the most singles points in Ryder Cup history. All his appearances were in a winless period for the Great Britain and Ireland team.

Coles was born in London, England, and grew up in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. He started out as a junior golfer at Letchworth Golf Club, before becoming an assistant professional there at the age of 16.

Coles, then an assistant at Moor Park, was in contention for the 1955 Gor Ray Cup, the Assistants' Championship, at Hartsbourne. However a poor finish left him in third place, two strokes behind Dave Thomas and Jimmy Hitchcock. In 1956, having moved to Burhill, he won the event, finishing four strokes ahead of Peter Butler. However rounds of 78 and 82 meant he missed the cut. As a previous winner Coles was unable to play in the 1957 assistants' championship but he was runner up in the Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament, a stroke behind George Low. In 1957 Coles became more prominent in major British events. In September he reached the quarter finals of the News of the World Match Play and was sixth in the Dunlop Masters, despite a poor final round. Coles played in a few PGA Tour events in early 1959, including the Bing Crosby Pro Am where he finished tied for 28th place. In the 1959 Open Championship at Muirfield Coles qualified in a tie for third place. In the Open itself he finished in a tie for 21st place. In June 1961 Coles had his best finish in an important event, finishing runner up to Bernard Hunt in the Daks Tournament. Coles finished joint 3rd in the 1961 Open Championship in July. The week before the Ryder Cup was played, Coles won his first major event, the Ballantine Tournament at Wentworth, winning by five strokes from Ken Bousfield. Coles started the final round 7 strokes behind Bousfield but had a final round of 65 to Bousfield's 77. The first prize of £1,500 was more than Arnold Palmer received for winning that year's Open Championship. Coles made his second trip to America to play in some PGA Tour events in California in early 1962. He had his best result in his final event, the 90 hole Palm Springs Golf Classic where he finished tied for 7th place, winning $1,350. After Coles's win in the 1961 Ballantine Tournament he won a further 10 British and Irish events between 1962 and 1966. Two of these were shared wins, both in 1963. In British tournaments at this time only "championships" required a champion; other events were often left with joint winners who shared the prize money. Coles won the Senior Service Tournament in 1962, which had first prize of £2,000. He also led the Ryder Cup points list for the 1963 event in the United States. The British and Ireland were heavily beaten, Coles getting a win and two halves from his six matches. He reached the final of the 1964 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship, losing 2&1 to Arnold Palmer and collecting the runners up prize of £3,000. Coles won two events in 1965, the Carroll's International and the News of the World Match Play, He played in all six sessions, winning three matches and losing three. Coles played on the American winter circuit in early 1966, finishing with the Masters. He made the cut and was tied for 32nd place after three round, but withdrew from the final round after feeling ill.

After winning 11 important British events between 1961 and 1966, Coles failed to win one from 1967 to 1969. He had some consistent results, including solo runner up finishes behind Tony Jacklin in the 1967 Dunlop Masters and behind Peter Townsend in the 1968 Piccadilly PGA Close Championship. He qualified for the 1967 Ryder Cup team, finishing third in the points list, and was placed fifth in the list for the 1969 team, to get an automatic place. In the 1967 match in Houston, he lost his three opening pairs matches but beat Doug Sanders twice in the final day single matches. Returning to England he was runner up in the Penfold Tournament in early May, and then in successive weeks he won the Southern Professional Championship, won the Sumrie Better Ball with Bernard Hunt, was third in the Agfa Gevaert Tournament and won the Daks Tournament at the end of the month. Coles' continued his good form into 1971, winning four tournaments: the Penfold Bournemouth Tournament, the Daks Tournament, the Carroll's International and the German Open. He halved his single match with Frank Beard but lost to Jack Nicklaus in the second singles session. Coles was ranked 7th in the world on the inaugural Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in December 1968, a position he regained at the end of 1970.

Coles was 37 when the European Tour started in 1972. He won seven times on the tour, six times between 1972 and 1978 and then in 1982 at the Sanyo Open in Barcelona. Coles also held the record for the number of consecutive cuts made in European Tour events, 56, until that record was passed by Bernhard Langer in the 1990s. He made the cut in every event between the 1973 Viyella PGA Championship and the 1979 Open Championship, when he withdrew with an elbow injury. Coles was in the top 10 of the Order of Merit every year from 1972 to 1979, except 1977 when he was 11th. His highest finish in the Order of Merit was 5th place in 1974. Coles had his best finish in the Open Championship in 1973, finishing joint runner up three strokes behind Tom Weiskopf, after a final round of 66. He also had a top 10 finish in 1975 when he was tied for 7th place, despite a final round 74. The match at Muirfield was tied after two day but the United States dominated the two singles sessions. Coles halved his match against Gay Brewer but lost 6&5 to Lee Trevino in the afternoon session. Coles finished in 15th place in the points list for the 1977 Ryder Cup at Royal Lytham, having missed some events with back trouble. The top 8 in the list were automatic selections and were joined by four further players selected by a committee of three consisting of Coles himself, the team captain Brian Huggett and Brian Barnes. The committee chose Coles as one their four selections. The selection seemed justified when Coles won the Tournament Players Championship the week before the Ryder Cup. The match itself was a disappointment with the United States winning by five points with Coles losing all his three matches.

The European Senior Tour started in 1992, when Coles was 57 years old. Before then there were very few professional seniors events in the UK. The PGA Seniors Championship had been played since 1957 and The Senior Open Championship was started in 1987. Coles dominated the PGA Seniors Championship between 1985, when he first played in it, to 1991. He won the events in 1985, two strokes ahead of the 60 year old Christy O'Connor Snr. He won again in 1986 and for a third time in 1987, when the event was reduced to 54 holes by bad weather. He was tied for third place in 1988 behind Peter Thomson before winning for a fourth time in 1989. In 1990 and 1991 he was the runner up, behind Brian Waites on both occasions. Coles won the inaugural Senior Open Championship in 1987 at Turnberry, a stroke ahead of Bob Charles. The following year, again at Turnberry. he was just a stroke behind the leader Gary Player after three rounds, but a last round 79 dropped him into a tie for 6th place; Player scoring 69 to win the title. He had further top 10 finishes in the 1989 and 1991. From 1987 to 1991 it was only in the 1990 Seniors' British Open that he failed to get into the top 10. Coles played on the European Seniors Tour from its start in 1992, making his final appearances in 2007. Although he never won the PGA Seniors Championship or the Senior Open Championship during this period, he did win 9 of the regular 54 hole events between 1992 and 2002. Amongst his high finishes was joint runner up behind John Fourie in the 1992 Senior British Open. He had a total of 68 top 10 finishes between 1992 and 2004, the last being in the Bovis Lend Lease European Senior Masters three weeks before his 70th birthday. He was 11th in the Order of Merit in 2002. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. He was also a golf course architect designing courses such as Chartham Park.

Coles married Ann Keep, after growing up together in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. They had two sons, Keith and Gary. Ann died in 2015. Gary was also a professional golfer and followed his father by winning the PGA Assistants' Championship in 1985, 29 years after his father. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours,

DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s) upRef.25 May 1956Gor Ray Cup70 71 68 68=2774 strokes Peter Butler26 May 1960Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament66 70 71 73=2801 stroke Lionel Platts7 Oct 1961Ballantine Tournament71 72 69 65=2775 strokes Ken Bousfield22 Sep 1962Senior Service Tournament70 69 65 73=2771 stroke Denis Hutchinson, Kel Nagle, Peter Thomson4 May 1963Martini International74 74 71 79=298 Shared title with Christy O'Connor Snr15 Jun 1963Daks Tournament75 68 69 68=280Shared title with Peter Alliss6 Jun 1964Daks Tournament67 74 73 68=2821 stroke Peter Thomson30 Jun 1964Bowmaker Tournament68 68=1361 stroke Peter Alliss5 Sep 1964News of the World Match Play3 & 2 Peter Butler18 Jul 1965Carroll's International68 67 69 65=2696 strokes Tommy Horton, Harry Weetman5 Sep 1965News of the World Match Play19 holes Lionel Platts25 Jun 1966Pringle of Scotland Tournament69 67 69 68=2733 strokes Peter Alliss17 Sep 1966Dunlop Masters70 69 70 69=2781 stroke Christy O'Connor Snr, Peter Thomson30 May 1970Daks Tournament67 70 71 73=2813 strokes Peter Wilcock30 Jun 1970Bowmaker Tournament66 66=1323 strokes Jimmy Hitchcock8 May 1971Penfold Bournemouth Tournament71 74 69 70=2844 strokes Stuart Brown, Gordon Cunningham, Doug Sewell, Ronnie Shade5 Jun 1971Daks Tournament70 71 70 73=284 Shared title with Brian Huggett20 Jun 1971Carroll's International69 67 72 68=2763 strokes Peter Oosterhuis

DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s) upRef.24 Aug 1963Engadine Open2762 strokes Stewart Davies, Abdel Halim Kahoul29 Mar 1970Italian BP Open69 73 72 68=2823 strokes Valentín Barrios6 Apr 1970Walworth Aloyco Tournament2823 strokes Christy O'Connor Snr, Brian Huggett25 Jul 1971German Open69 71 71 68=2794 strokes Peter Thomson