Jean van de Velde (golfer)

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Jean van de Velde
Van de Velde in 2016
Personal information
Full nameJean van de Velde
Born (1966-05-29) 29 May 1966 (age 58)
Mont-de-Marsan, France
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Sporting nationality France
SpouseJeovana
Children5
Career
Turned professional1987
Current tour(s)European Senior Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Professional wins7
Highest ranking70 (21 May 2000)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour2
Other5
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT19: 2000
PGA ChampionshipT30: 2000
U.S. OpenT45: 2002
The Open ChampionshipT2: 1999

Jean van de Velde (born 29 May 1966) is a French professional golfer, who formerly played on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is best known for his runner-up finish at the 1999 Open Championship, where he lost a three-shot lead on the final hole.[2]

Early life and amateur career

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Van de Velde was born in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France.

As an amateur he won both the French Youths Championship and the French Amateur Championship.[3] He represented his country at the European Youths' Team Championship[4][5] and also at the 1986 Eisenhower Trophy in Caracas, Venezuela, were his team finished tied 8th and van de Velde best French player, tied 11th individually.[6]

Professional career

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Van de Velde turned professional in 1987 and his rookie season on the European Tour was 1989. His first European Tour win was the 1993 Roma Masters. He has twice finished in the top twenty of the Order of Merit.[7]

He represented France twelve times in the World Cup and six times in the Alfred Dunhill Cup.

1999 Open Championship

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Van de Velde was ranked 152 in the world, and with only one previous European Tour victory, when he nearly achieved an upset victory at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie.[8][9] Going into the final round, he held a five shot lead over Justin Leonard and Craig Parry.[10] Van de Velde arrived at the 18th tee with a three shot lead, needing only a double bogey six to become the first Frenchman since 1907 to win a major golf tournament. He had played error-free golf for much of the week and birdied the 18th hole in two previous rounds at the tournament.

Van de Velde chose to use his driver off the tee, and he drove the ball to the right of the burn, where he was lucky to find land. Rather than laying up and hitting the green with his third, Van de Velde decided to go for the green with his second shot. His shot drifted right, ricocheted backwards off the railings of the grandstands by the side of the green, landed on top of the stone wall of the Barry Burn and then bounced fifty yards backwards into knee-deep rough.

On his third shot, Van de Velde's club got tangled in the rough on his downswing, and his ball flew into the Barry Burn, a water hazard. He removed his shoes and socks and stepped through shin-deep water as he debated whether to try to hit his ball out of the Barry Burn, which guards the 18th green. Ultimately, he took a drop and then hit his fifth shot into the greenside bunker. Van de Velde shot to within six feet from the hole, and made the putt for a triple-bogey seven, dropping him into a three-way playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie. Lawrie won the playoff.[11][12]

The performance has become infamous in professional golf history.[8][9] ESPN once called it the "biggest collapse" in golf,[13] and in 2016 ranked it 13th on its list of 25 worst collapses in sports history.[10] USA Today ranked it 4th in 2016 on its list of worst collapses in sports.[14] His journey is profiled in the 2019 docu-series, "Losers," produced and aired on Netflix.

1999 Ryder Cup

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Van de Velde represented Europe, automatically selected by ranking points, at the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts. European team captain Mark James chose not to play van de Velde (or other rookies Jarmo Sandelin and Andrew Coltart) on the first two days, and all three debuted during the single matches on the final day. Van de Velde, Sandelin and Coltart came to face the three, at the time, highest ranked U.S. players, Davis Love III, David Duval and Tiger Woods. All three lost, with Van de Velde losing 6 and 5 against Love. Team Europe lost the Ryder Cup 141⁄2–131⁄2, despite leading by four points going into the final day.[15][16]

Later career

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Van de Velde played on the PGA Tour in 2000 and 2001. He finished tied 2nd at the 2000 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open and 2nd at the 2000 Reno–Tahoe Open, losing in a play-off.[17]

In the new millennium, Van de Velde was troubled by injuries for several years. He injured his knee while skiing in 2003, needing an operation. He made a comeback at the 2005 Open de France, where he lost a playoff to fellow Frenchman Jean-François Remésy after, once again, finding water on the last hole.

In 2006, he won his second European Tour title, 13 years after his first one, at the Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos. With a three-stroke lead entering the last hole, van de Velde made a double bogey on the 72nd hole, but still finished with a 68 to win by a shot.[18]

In 2016, van de Velde turned 50 and became eligible for senior tournaments, returning to Carnoustie for the 2016 Senior Open Championship, played to Carnoustie, site of his 1999 runner-up finish. Van de Velde missed the cut by nine shots after shooting 83–74.[2]

In 2018, he played ten tournaments on the European Senior Tour, finishing 52nd on the Order of Merit.[2]

Affiliations

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In 2012, he was named by UNICEF France as an ambassador – only the second French sportsman, after Lilian Thuram, to achieve this.[19]

Since 2019, he has hosted the Legends Open de France hosted by Jean van de Velde, in 2021 and 2022 played at Golf de Saint-Cloud outside Paris.[2]

Amateur wins

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  • 1985 French Youths Championship
  • 1986 French Youths Championship, French Native Amateur Championship[3]

Professional wins (7)

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European Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 18 Apr 1993 Roma Masters 66-76-67-72=281 −7 Playoff New Zealand Greg Turner
2 26 Mar 2006 Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos 69-65-71-68=273 −15 1 stroke England Lee Slattery

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1993 Roma Masters New Zealand Greg Turner Won with par on third extra hole
2 1999 The Open Championship Scotland Paul Lawrie, United States Justin Leonard Lawrie won four-hole aggregate playoff;
Lawrie: E (5-4-3-3=15),
Leonard: +3 (5-4-4-5=18),
van de Velde: +3 (6-4-3-5=18)
3 2005 Open de France France Jean-François Remésy Lost to double-bogey on first extra hole

Other wins (5)

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Playoff record

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PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1999 The Open Championship Scotland Paul Lawrie, United States Justin Leonard Lawrie won four-hole aggregate playoff;
Lawrie: E (5-4-3-3=15),
Leonard: +3 (5-4-4-5=18),
van de Velde: +3 (6-4-3-5=18)
2 2000 Reno–Tahoe Open United States Scott Verplank Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT T34 T38 CUT T2
PGA Championship T26
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Masters Tournament T19
U.S. Open CUT T45
The Open Championship T31 CUT CUT T19
PGA Championship T30
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
The Open Championship 0 1 0 1 1 2 9 5
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Totals 0 1 0 1 1 3 14 9
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (1999 Open Championship – 2000 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2000 2001
The Players Championship CUT CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 1999 2000 2001
Match Play R16
Championship T30 NT1
Invitational T36

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Week 20 2000 Ending 21 May 2000" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Players, Jean van de Velde, Meet Jean". European Tour. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b The Golfer's Handbook 1993. Macmillan London Ltd. 1993. p. 194. ISBN 0-333-58895-9.
  4. ^ a b Nordlund, Anders (October 1984). "JEM-brons med idel debutanter, Junior-EM, pojkar" [European bronze with only rookies, European Youth's Team Championship]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 10/1984. pp. 40, 65. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Scots trail by 15 shots". The Herald. Glasgow. 30 August 1984. p. 10. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Record Book 1986 World Amateur Golf Team Championships" (PDF). World Amateur Golf Council. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Players, Jean van de Velde, Wins and Results, Tournament Wins". European Tour. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  8. ^ a b Nelson, Elizabeth (17 July 2019). "Sink or … Swim? Remembering Jean Van de Velde's British Open Meltdown, 20 Years Later". The Ringer. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Jean Van de Velde's cartoonish collapse at 1999 British Open revisited in whimsical new Netflix doc". Golf. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b "The 25 worst collapses in sports history". ESPN. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  11. ^ Harig, Bob (18 July 1999). "Frozen moment: Van de Velde throws it away". ESPN.
  12. ^ "Collapse at Carnoustie". CNNSI. 19 July 1999. Archived from the original on 18 July 2006.
  13. ^ "How Jean van de Velde famously threw away The Open". ESPN. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  14. ^ "The 10 worst collapses in sports". For The Win. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  15. ^ Rosaforte, Tim; Hawkins, John (11 September 2010). "Inside Golf's Greatest Comeback". Golf Digest.
  16. ^ Campbell, Paul (1 October 2012). "From the Vault: Europe capitulate in Brookline in Ryder Cup 1999". The Guardian. London.
  17. ^ "Players, Jean van de Velde, 2000 PGA Tour Season Results". PGA Tour. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Van de Velde Completes Emotional Victory in Madeira". European Tour. 26 March 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  19. ^ Dunsmuir, Alistair (7 July 2012). "Van de Velde named UNICEF ambassador". Golf Club Management. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
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