Mark Calcavecchia
| Mark Calcavecchia | |
|---|---|
| — Golfer — | |
Calcavecchia at 2008 Open Championship
|
|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Mark John Calcavecchia |
| Nickname | Calc |
| Born |
June 12, 1960 Laurel, Nebraska |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg; 15.4 st) |
| Nationality |
 United States
|
| Residence | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida |
| Career | |
| College | University of Florida |
| Turned professional | 1981 |
| Current tour(s) | Champions Tour |
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Professional wins | 31 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 13 |
| Asian Tour | 1 |
| PGA Tour of Australasia | 1 |
| PGA Tour Champions | 3 |
| Other | 13 |
| Best results in major championships (wins: 1) |
|
| Masters Tournament | 2nd: 1988 |
| U.S. Open | 14th: 1986 |
| The Open Championship | Won: 1989 |
| PGA Championship | T4: 2001 |
| Achievements and awards | |
|
Byron Nelson Award (Champions Tour) |
2011 |
Mark John Calcavecchia (born June 12, 1960) is an American professional golfer and a former PGA Tour member. During his professional career, he has won thirteen PGA Tour events, including the 1989 Open Championship. Calcavecchia currently plays on the Champions Tour.
Calcavecchia was born in Laurel, Nebraska. While he was a teenager, his family moved from Nebraska to West Palm Beach, Florida in 1973. He attended North Shore High School in West Palm Beach, and won the Florida high school golf championship in 1977 while playing for the North Shore golf team. While playing in junior tournaments, Calcavecchia often competed against Jack Nicklaus' son, Jackie, and as a result began a lifelong friendship at the age of 14 with the legendary pro.
He accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Buster Bishop and coach John Darr's Florida Gators men's golf teams in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1978 to 1980. Calcavecchia earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors in 1979.
Calcavecchia turned professional in 1981 and joined the PGA Tour in 1982. Calcavecchia was at his best in the late 1980s. His most notable achievement was in 1989, when he won The Open Championship (the "British Open"), one of golf's four major championships, by beating Wayne Grady and Greg Norman in a four-hole playoff. Upon being awarded the Open's Claret Jug, Calcavecchia (whose Italian surname translates as "old crowd") asked "How's my name going to fit on that thing?" He later revealed that he had initially not wanted to play in the Open Championship that year due to his wife expecting their first child, but he was persuaded to fly to Scotland to compete in the tournament by his wife. He also revealed that he didn't know that the Open Championship had a four-hole aggregate playoff format until just before he teed off in the playoff. Calcavecchia shares the record for the lowest back nine in the Masters at 29, in 1992. 1989 was Calcavecchia's only multiple-win season on the PGA Tour, with two other titles complementing the Open. He also finished second behind Sandy Lyle at the 1988 Masters Tournament by a single stroke.
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