Loren Roberts

Loren Roberts
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Loren Lloyd Roberts
Nickname Boss of the Moss[1]
Born (1955-06-24) June 24, 1955
San Luis Obispo, California
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 215 lb (98 kg; 15.4 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Germantown, Tennessee
Career
College California Polytechnic State University
Turned professional 1975
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 26
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 8
PGA Tour Champions 13
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T3: 2000
U.S. Open T2: 1994
The Open Championship T7: 2000
PGA Championship T5: 1990
Achievements and awards
Byron Nelson Award
(Champions Tour)
2006, 2007
Charles Schwab Cup 2007, 2009

Loren Lloyd Roberts (born June 24, 1955) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour

Early life

Roberts was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He competed for San Luis Obispo Senior High School and California Polytechnic State University. In 1975, he turned professional after his sophomore season due to the university's dropping its NCAA Division II golf team.

Professional career

Early career

In the late 1970s, Roberts worked as an assistant pro at San Luis Obispo Golf and Country Club as well as Morro Bay Golf Course. He won the Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship of 1979 and was second in 1980. The first professional tour where he briefly competed was the PGA Tour of Australasia, after his 1979 PGA victory.

PGA Tour

On his fifth attempt, Roberts earned his PGA Tour card at the PGA Tour Qualification Tournament in 1980 for the 1981 season. He returned to the tournament in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987, earning his card every year except 1981. He did not get his first win on the PGA Tour until 1994 at age 38, yet it sparked a nine-season run of eight victories. His career earnings are over $15 million. He is known as "Boss of the Moss" for his putting skills.[1] He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

Roberts' best finish in a major was tie for 2nd place at the 1994 U.S. Open. He contended in an 18-hole playoff with Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie. Montgomerie was eliminated. An additional pair of sudden-death holes gave Els the title.[2]

Roberts played for the United States in the 1995 Ryder Cup, 1994 and 2000 Presidents Cups, and 2001 UBS Warburg Cup. He was 3-1 at the Ryder Cup, 4-2-1 at the Presidents Cups, and 1-2 at the UBS Warburg Cup. Of the four team events, only the Ryder Cup team lost. He was a co-assistant captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup which was also defeated by the European team.

After concentrating on the Champions Tour in 2006, Roberts went without a PGA Tour card for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, passing on using his exemption for being among the top 50 in career earnings. He used the exemption for the 2009 season.

Champions Tour

In 2005, Roberts joined the Champions Tour. His first senior win came in his third event at the JELD-WEN Tradition, one of five senior majors. He defeated Dana Quigley in a two-hole sudden-death playoff.

In 2006, Roberts became the first golfer to open a Champions Tour season with three wins.[3] Later that season he won his second senior major by beating Eduardo Romero in a playoff at the Senior British Open. He won the Byron Nelson Award for lowest average stroke total per round.

In 2009, he won his second Senior British Open title after beating Fred Funk and Mark McNulty in a playoff. He won a month later in August at the Boeing Classic, where he denied Mark O'Meara his first Champions Tour victory, defeating him by one stroke after making birdie on the final hole. The GWAA voted him Player of the Year.

He broke 54-hole tournament record for lowest score in relationship to par (25-under) and most birdies (26) as well as sharing lowest score (191). The marks were set largely due to scoring a career-best 61 in the final round of his 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai win.

Other achievements

Roberts hosts the annual Loren Roberts Celebrity Pro-Am in May at Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville, Tennessee. Its first year was 1995. The benefitting charity is Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center of Memphis, Tennessee.

Roberts was named Professional co-Athlete of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and 2007.[4] He was inducted into the Cal Poly-SLO Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.[1] The Tennessee Golf Foundation inducted him into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 2006.[5] He has been a resident of Germantown, Tennessee, since the 1980s.

Roberts wrote Focus: The Name of the Game with fellow PGA Tour golfers Scott Simpson and Larry Mize. The 128-page book was published by J. Countryman in 1999.

Professional wins (25)

PGA Tour wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Mar 20, 1994 Nestle Invitational −13 (70-70-68-67=275) 1 stroke Zimbabwe Nick Price, Fiji Vijay Singh, United States Fuzzy Zoeller
2 Mar 19, 1995 Nestle Invitational −16 (68-65-68-71=272) 2 strokes United States Brad Faxon
3 Apr 21, 1996 MCI Classic −19 (66-69-63-67=265) 3 strokes United States Mark O'Meara
4 Sep 1, 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open −19 (66-65-66-68=265) Playoff United States Jerry Kelly
5 Sep 14, 1997 CVS Charity Classic −18 (67-67-68-64=266) 1 stroke United States Bill Glasson
6 May 16, 1999 GTE Byron Nelson Classic −18 (66-66-62-68=262) Playoff United States Steve Pate
7 Jul 16, 2000 Greater Milwaukee Open −24 (65-66-63-66=260) 8 strokes United States Franklin Langham
8 Sep 29, 2002 Valero Texas Open −19 (67-63-67-64=261) 3 strokes United States Fred Couples, United States Fred Funk, United States Garrett Willis

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1994 U.S. Open South Africa Ernie Els, Scotland Colin Montgomerie Els won with par on second extra hole after 18-hole playoff (Els:74, Roberts:74, Montgomerie:78)
2 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open United States Jerry Kelly Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 1999 GTE Byron Nelson Classic United States Steve Pate Won with par on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

This list may be incomplete.

Champions Tour wins (13)

Legend
Champions Tour major championships (4)
Other Champions Tour (9)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 28, 2005 JELD-WEN Tradition −15 (67-69-70-67=273) Playoff United States Dana Quigley
2 Jan 22, 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai −25 (63-67-61=191) 1 stroke United States Don Pooley
3 Jan 29, 2006 Turtle Bay Championship −12 (66-66-72=204) 2 strokes United States Scott Simpson
4 Feb 19, 2006 The ACE Group Classic −14 (67-66-69=202) 1 stroke United States R. W. Eaks, United States Brad Bryant
5 Jul 30, 2006 Senior British Open −6 (65-65-69-75=274) Playoff Argentina Eduardo Romero
6 Jun 3, 2007 The Boeing Championship at Sandestin −16 (65-67-65=197) 3 strokes Argentina Eduardo Romero
7 Oct 7, 2007 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship −13 (67-66-67-67=267) 6 strokes United States Tom Watson
8 Jun 29, 2008 Commerce Bank Championship −12 (65-68-68=201) 1 stroke Zimbabwe Nick Price, United States Lonnie Nielsen
9 Feb 22, 2009 The ACE Group Classic −7 (70-71-68=209) 1 stroke United States Gene Jones
10 Jul 26, 2009 Senior British Open −12 (66-68-67-67=268) Playoff United States Fred Funk, Zimbabwe/Republic of Ireland Mark McNulty
11 Aug 31, 2009 Boeing Classic −18 (68-65-65=198) 1 stroke United States Mark O'Meara
12 Jun 27, 2010 Dick's Sporting Goods Open −15 (68-68-65=201) 1 stroke United States Fred Funk
13 Mar 18, 2012 Toshiba Classic −8 (66-70-69=205) 2 strokes United States Mark Calcavecchia, United States Tom Kite, Germany Bernhard Langer

Champions Tour playoff record (3–2)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2005 JELD-WEN Tradition United States Dana Quigley Won with bogey on second extra hole
2 2006 Senior British Open Argentina Eduardo Romero Won with par on first extra hole
3 2007 AT&T Classic United States Tom Purtzer Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
4 2008 AT&T Champions Classic United States Brad Bryant, Zimbabwe Denis Watson Watson won with birdie on third extra hole
Bryant eliminated with birdie on second hole
5 2009 Senior British Open United States Fred Funk, Republic of Ireland Mark McNulty Won with par on third extra hole
Funk eliminated with birdie on first hole

Results in major championships

Tournament 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T34 DNP CUT DNP CUT
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship CUT DNP DNP DNP T34
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament DNP CUT DNP DNP T5 T24 T23 CUT DNP CUT
U.S. Open DNP T49 DNP T11 T2 WD T40 T13 T18 DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP T24 CUT T18 CUT T29 DNP
PGA Championship T5 T27 DNP T28 T9 T58 CUT T49 T65 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Masters Tournament T3 T37 DNP T33 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T8 T52 DNP T42 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T7 T13 T28 DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP CUT
PGA Championship T58 CUT T43 T7 T17 CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 1 2 2 4 9 6
U.S. Open 0 1 0 1 2 5 13 10
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 1 4 10 6
PGA Championship 0 0 0 1 3 4 17 12
Totals 0 1 1 4 8 17 49 34

Senior major results

Wins (4)

YearChampionshipWinning scoreMarginRunner(s)-up
2005 JELD-WEN Tradition −15 (67-69-70-67=273) Playoff United States Dana Quigley
2006 The Senior Open Championship−6 (65-65-69-75=274) PlayoffArgentina Eduardo Romero
2007 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship −13 (67-66-67-67=267) 6 strokes United States Tom Watson
2009 The Senior Open Championship (2)−12 (66-68-67-67=268) PlayoffUnited States Fred Funk, Zimbabwe/Republic of Ireland Mark McNulty

Results timeline

Results are not in chronological order prior to 2016.

Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2015 2016
The Tradition 1 T14 T4 T7 T5 T15 3 T25 T22 T31 WD DNP DNP
Senior PGA Championship 5 T12 T49 T28 T15 T8 T12 T47 WD CUT DNP DNP
Senior Players Championship DNP T3 1 T21 T3 3 T28 T38 56 T22 T29 DNP T20
Senior British Open Championship 5 1 T4 DNP 1 T14 DNP T27 DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP
U.S. Senior Open T2 T8 3 T12 T4 T20 T17 T36 T14 T20 CUT DNP T9

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for a win. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Starts Wins 2nd Top 3 Top 5 Top 10 Longest top 10 streak
51 4 1 10 16 20 7

U.S. national team appearances

This list may be incomplete.

Professional

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cal Poly Hall of Fame". Cal Poly Mustangs. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  2. "Golf Major Championships". Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  3. "Roberts gets his hat trick at The ACE Group Classic". PGA Tour. February 19, 2006. Archived from the original on March 2, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  4. "Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame". Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  5. "Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame". Retrieved August 23, 2011.
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