Richard Sterne (golfer)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Richard Sterne
Personal information
Born (1981-08-27) 27 August 1981 (age 42)
Pretoria, South Africa
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Sporting nationality South Africa
ResidencePretoria, South Africa;
Manchester, England
Career
Turned professional2001
Current tour(s)European Tour
Sunshine Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins9
Highest ranking29 (27 January 2008)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour6
Sunshine Tour6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT25: 2008, 2013
PGA ChampionshipT28: 2017
U.S. OpenCUT: 2008
The Open ChampionshipT21: 2013
Achievements and awards
Sunshine Tour
Order of Merit winner
2008

Richard Sterne (born 27 August 1981) is a South African professional golfer who plays on both the European and Sunshine Tours.

Life and career

Sterne was born in Pretoria and attended St Alban's College for high school. He was runner-up in the Boys' 15–17 Division at the 1999 World Junior Golf Championships and turned pro in 2001. He played on the European Challenge Tour in 2002 and graduated to membership of the main European Tour in 2003. He won his first European Tour title at the 2004 Open de Madrid.

In the 2007 European Tour, Sterne won at the Celtic Manor Wales Open, and finished second at the Johnnie Walker Classic, third at the BMW PGA Championship and fourth at the Barclays Scottish Open, therefore finishing 14th in the Order of Merit. In 2008 he picked up his third victory at the Joburg Open which is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, and at the end of 2008 won a further two European Tour tournaments in South Africa.

His best year-end ranking on the European Order of Merit is 8th in 2013. His Celtic Manor win moved him into the top 40 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time.[2]

He has had six wins on the Sunshine Tour, and won that tour's Order of Merit in 2008. In January 2008 he reached a career high of number 29 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He missed most of the 2010 and 2011 seasons with injury.

In February 2013, Sterne won the Joburg Open by seven strokes, to end a four-year winless drought from which he had been plagued with back injuries.[3] This marked his sixth victory on both the European and Sunshine Tours and came on the back of a second-place finish he had in the previous week at the Dubai Desert Classic. It was also the first event that he had won wire-to-wire. The win moved him inside the top 60, which meant qualification for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and to the top of the Race to Dubai standings. Later he finished second at the Alstom Open de France, ninth at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, 13th at the Omega European Masters, and 14th at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. As a result, he was eighth in the Race to Dubai final standings.

During the 2014 season, Sterne finished fourth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, 17th at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and 35th at the PGA Championship. He qualified to the Web.com Tour Finals, where he ended second at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. He finished ninth in the Web.com Tour Finals to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season.

Sterne is friends with South African golf icon, Gary Player, to whom he is often compared because of their similar small stature. He has played several times in the Gary Player Invitational charity event to help raise funds for less fortunate children's education.

Amateur wins

  • 1999 South African Junior Strokeplay & Matchplay Championship, South African Amateur
  • 2000 Southern Cross
  • 2001 South African Amateur Strokeplay Championship

Professional wins (9)

European Tour wins (6)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 24 Oct 2004 Open de Madrid −18 (70-65-66-65=266) 2 strokes Denmark Anders Hansen
2 3 Jun 2007 Celtic Manor Wales Open −13 (67-67-64-65=263) 1 stroke Wales Bradley Dredge, Denmark Søren Kjeldsen,
Singapore Mardan Mamat, Denmark Mads Vibe-Hastrup
3 13 Jan 2008 Joburg Open1 −13 (71-68-67-65=271) Playoff Sweden Magnus A. Carlsson, South Africa Garth Mulroy
4 14 Dec 2008
(2009 season)
Alfred Dunhill Championship1 −17 (68-66-68-69=271) 1 stroke Sweden Johan Edfors, England Robert Rock
5 21 Dec 2008
(2009 season)
South African Open Championship1 −14 (72-69-67-66=274) Playoff Northern Ireland Gareth Maybin
6 10 Feb 2013 Joburg Open1 (2) −27 (63-65-68-64=260) 7 strokes South Africa Charl Schwartzel

1Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour

European Tour playoff record (2–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2007 Johnnie Walker Classic South Africa Anton Haig, England Oliver Wilson Haig won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2008 Joburg Open Sweden Magnus A. Carlsson, South Africa Garth Mulroy Won with birdie on second extra hole
3 2008 South African Open Championship Northern Ireland Gareth Maybin Won with birdie on first extra hole

Sunshine Tour wins (6)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other Sunshine Tour (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 5 Feb 2005 Nashua Masters −11 (68-64-67-70=269) 1 stroke South Africa Titch Moore, South Africa Grant Muller
2 18 Feb 2007 Vodacom Championship −14 (73-68-68-65=274) Playoff South Africa Louis Oosthuizen
3 13 Jan 2008 Joburg Open1 −13 (71-68-67-65=271) Playoff Sweden Magnus A. Carlsson, South Africa Garth Mulroy
4 14 Dec 2008 Alfred Dunhill Championship1 −17 (68-66-68-69=271) 1 stroke Sweden Johan Edfors, England Robert Rock
5 21 Dec 2008 South African Open Championship1 −14 (72-69-67-66=274) Playoff Northern Ireland Gareth Maybin
6 10 Feb 2013 Joburg Open1 (2) −27 (63-65-68-64=260) 7 strokes South Africa Charl Schwartzel

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Sunshine Tour playoff record (3–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2007 Vodacom Championship South Africa Louis Oosthuizen Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 2008 Joburg Open Sweden Magnus A. Carlsson, South Africa Garth Mulroy Won with birdie on second extra hole
3 2008 South African Open Championship Northern Ireland Gareth Maybin Won with birdie on first extra hole

EuroPro Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 14 Sep 2001 Rye Hill Championship −7 (209) 1 stroke England Martin LeMesurier

Playoff record

Web.com Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship United States Justin Thomas Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T25 CUT
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT T34
PGA Championship WD WD
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament T25
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T39 T21 CUT T46
PGA Championship CUT T35 T28
Tournament 2019
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied for place

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 2
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 4
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 3 19 8
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2008
The Players Championship T66

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Championship T44 73 T12 T4 T72 T51
Match Play R64 R64 R32 R32
Invitational T51 73 T9 T58
Champions T60 T39 T60 T38 T70
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 04 2008 Ending 27 Jan 2008" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  2. ^ "KJ Choi Wins the Memorial and Climbs into the World Top 20". OWGR. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Sterne wins Joburg Open". Eurosport. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2021.

External links