Sam Torrance
Sam Torrance (born
24 August 1953) is a
Scottish golfer who was one of the leading players on the
European Tour from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s and was the winning non-playing captain of the European
Ryder Cup team in 2002.
Torrance turned professional at 16 and joined the European Tour at seventeen. He achieved his first professional win in 1972 and his first European Tour win in 1976. He won twenty-one times on the European Tour; only fellow Scot
Colin Montgomerie has accumulated more European Tour titles without winning one of golf's four
major championships. His best finish on the Tour's order of merit was second, which he achieved in 1984 and 1995. In total he finished in the top ten on the list ten times. In 2003 Torrance became eligible to play in senior tournaments and he picked up his first win on the
European Seniors Tour in 2004. In 2005 he topped the Seniors Tour's Order of Merit.
Torrance played for Europe in the
Ryder Cup eight times. In 1985 he sank the winning put which deprived the Americans of the trophy for the first times in twenty-eight years. Seventeen years later he was the non-playing captain on the European team which won the 2002 Cup at
The Belfry.
Torrance married English actress
Suzanne Danielle in 1988. He was awarded an
MBE in 1996 for services to golf and an
OBE in the 2003 New Year Honours List for his captaincy of Europe's Ryder Cup team.
*1976
Piccadilly Medal,
Martini International*1981
Carroll's Irish Open*1982
Benson & Hedges Spanish Open,
Portuguese Open*1983
Scandinavian Enterprise Open,
Portuguese Open*1984
Tunisian Open,
Benson & Hedges International Open,
Sanyo Open*1985
Johnnie Walker Monte Carlo Open*1987
Lancia Italian Open*1990
Mercedes German Masters*1991
Jersey European Airways Open*1993
Kronenbourg Open,
Heineken Open,
Honda Open*1995
Italian Open,
Murphy's Irish Open,
Collingtree British Masters*1998
Peugeot Open de France*2004
Travis Perkins Senior Masters *2005
Irvine Whitlock Seniors Classic, De Vere PGA Seniors Championship,
Bendinat London Seniors Masters *2006
Sharp Italian Seniors Open,
AIB Irish Seniors Open*1972 Radici Open (Italy), Under-25 Match Play Championship
*1975 Zambian Open
*1978 Scottish Professional Championship
*1979 Colombian Open
*1980 Australian PGA Championship, Scottish Professional Championship
*1983 C* Scottish PGA Championship (
Challenge Tour)
*1985 Scottish Professional Championship
*1991 Scottish Professional Championship
*1993 Scottish Professional Championship
*
Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1981, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied and retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 2002 (non-playing captain of winning team)
*
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Scotland): 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 (winning team), 1999
*
World Cup (representing Scotland): 1976, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995
*
Four Tours World Championship: 1985, 1991 (winning captain)
*
Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1976 (winners), 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners), 1984
*
Double Diamond: 1973 (winners), 1976, 1977
*
UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003
