George Coetzee

George Coetzee
George Coetzee
	Coetzee at the 2011 BMW International Open
Personal information
Full name	George William Coetzee
Born	18 July 1986 (age 38); Pretoria, South Africa
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	95 kg (209 lb; 15.0 st)
Sporting nationality	South Africa
Residence	Pretoria, South Africa
Career
Turned professional	2007
Current tour(s)	Sunshine Tour
Former tour(s)	European Tour; Canadian Tour
Professional wins	16
Highest ranking	41 (27 January 2013)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	5
Asian Tour	1
Sunshine Tour	14
Other	1
Best results in major championships;
Masters Tournament	CUT: 2013
PGA Championship	T7: 2015
U.S. Open	T56: 2013
The Open Championship	15th: 2011
Achievements and awards
Sunshine Tour; Order of Merit winner
Sunshine Tour; Order of Merit winner	2015, 2017–18

George William Coetzee (born 18 July 1986) is a South African professional golfer. He has won five tournaments on the European Tour and 14 on the Sunshine Tour, where he has also topped the Order of Merit on two occasions.

Early life

Coetzee was born in Pretoria and matriculated from the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool in 2004. He started playing golf when he was 10 and won the first junior tournament he ever played in, shooting 49 in 9 holes. He finished 4th and 8th in the Callaway Junior World Championship in San Diego, where he attended the University of San Diego for one semester. He turned professional in 2007.

Professional career

Having turned professional, Coetzee joined the Sunshine Tour in 2007. He claimed his first win during his rookie season, in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour event at Selborne. His second and third wins came a year later at the SAA Pro-Am Invitational, and the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour event at Humewood.

He earned a European Tour card for the 2010 season through the qualifying school, but had to return to qualifying school at the end of the season after finishing 126th on the Order of Merit and recording only two top-10 finishes. Coetzee regained his playing rights in 2011. He had a runner-up placing at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where he lost out to Thomas Bjorn on the fifth extra hole of a five-man playoff. He also had three third-place finishes at other tournaments and eight top-10s overall. Coetzee finished the season ranked 26th on the Race to Dubai. The following season, 2012, he finished 21st on the Race to Dubai and reached the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

In February 2014, Coetzee won his maiden European Tour title in his 107th start with a three stroke victory at the Joburg Open. He came from four strokes behind in the final round with a six under par 66 to claim victory.^[2] Coetzee won his second European Tour title at the Tshwane Open in March 2015, by a single stroke over Jacques Blaauw. In May 2015, Coetzee won his second tournament of the year at the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, defeating Thorbjørn Olesen in a sudden-death playoff, at the second extra hole with a birdie on the par-five 18th hole. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit that season.

In February 2016, Coetzee won the Dimension Data Pro-Am finishing birdie-birdie-eagle to defeat Dean Burmester by a single stroke. In July 2017, Alan Burns, who had been Coetzee's caddie since 2010, took another opportunity with another South African golfer Brandon Stone.^[3] Coetzee won his second Sunshine Tour Order of Merit title in 2017–18; during the season he won the co-sanctioned Tshwane Open, his fourth European Tour victory.

In September 2020, Coetzee won his fifth tournament on the European Tour at the Portugal Masters. This was his first win in mainland Europe and his first European Tour win that was not co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour.^[4]

Amateur wins

2006 Northern Amateur Open^[5]

Professional wins (16)

European Tour wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	9 Feb 2014	Joburg Open¹	65-68-69-66=268	−19	3 strokes	Tyrrell Hatton, Jin Jeong, Justin Walters
2	15 Mar 2015	Tshwane Open¹	67-66-68-65=266	−14	1 stroke	Jacques Blaauw
3	10 May 2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open^1,2	70-67-65-69=271	−13	Playoff	Thorbjørn Olesen
4	4 Mar 2018	Tshwane Open¹ (2)	67-64-68-67=266	−18	2 strokes	Sam Horsfield
5	13 Sep 2020	Portugal Masters	66-70-66-66=268	−16	2 strokes	Laurie Canter

¹Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour
²Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2011	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Thomas Bjørn, Mark Foster, Pablo Larrazábal, Bernd Wiesberger	Bjørn won with birdie on fifth extra hole Foster eliminated by par on fourth hole Larrazábal eliminated by par on second hole Wiesberger eliminated by par on first hole
2	2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Thorbjørn Olesen	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Asian Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	10 May 2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open¹	70-67-65-69=271	−13	Playoff	Thorbjørn Olesen

¹Co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Thorbjørn Olesen	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Sunshine Tour wins (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	15 Jun 2007	Vodacom Origins of Golf at Selborne	70-71-66=207	−9	2 strokes	Ulrich van den Berg
2	23 Aug 2008	SAA Pro-Am Invitational	72-66-69=207	−9	3 strokes	Warren Abery, Doug McGuigan
3	19 Sep 2008	Vodacom Origins of Golf (2) at Humewood	71-68-73=212	−4	1 stroke	Jean Hugo
4	27 Feb 2011	Telkom PGA Championship	65-64-68-64=261	−27	2 strokes	Neil Schietekat
5	9 Feb 2014	Joburg Open¹	65-68-69-66=268	−19	3 strokes	Tyrrell Hatton, Jin Jeong, Justin Walters
6	15 Mar 2015	Tshwane Open¹	67-66-68-65=266	−14	1 stroke	Jacques Blaauw
7	10 May 2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open^1,2	70-67-65-69=271	−13	Playoff	Thorbjørn Olesen
8	21 Feb 2016	Dimension Data Pro-Am	68-70-64-66=268	−21	1 stroke	Dean Burmester
9	4 Mar 2018	Tshwane Open¹ (2)	67-64-68-67=266	−18	2 strokes	Sam Horsfield
10	2 Nov 2019	Vodacom Origins of Golf Final (3)	61-69-66=196	−20	3 strokes	M. J. Viljoen
11	4 Sep 2020	Titleist Championship	67-70-66=203	−13	4 strokes	Tristen Strydom
12	6 Aug 2021	Vodacom Origins of Golf (4) at De Zalze	63-66-69=198	−18	3 strokes	Jaco Ahlers, Tristen Strydom
13	6 Aug 2022	Vodacom Origins of Golf (5) at De Zalze	61-67-67=195	−21	2 strokes	Joe Long
14	6 Nov 2022	PGA Championship (2)	67-71-67-68=273	−15	3 strokes	Casey Jarvis

¹Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
²Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Sunshine Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2015	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Thorbjørn Olesen	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Other wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	13 Nov 2011	Gary Player Invitational (with Mark James)	64-61=125	−19	4 strokes	Jaco van Zyl and Ian Woosnam

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Masters Tournament			CUT
U.S. Open		CUT	T56		T70		CUT
The Open Championship	15	CUT	T71	18	CUT	CUT		CUT
PGA Championship		CUT	CUT	CUT	T7	T60

Tournament	2020	2021
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship		CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	NT

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	1	0
PGA Championship	1	1	6	2
U.S. Open	0	0	4	2
The Open Championship	0	2	7	3
Totals	1	3	18	7

Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2013 U.S. Open – 2013 Open Championship)
Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2018	2019
Championship		T53	T16		57		T56
Match Play	R64	R64	R16	T17
Invitational					T21
Champions	T56	74	T12		T40	T50

Top 10

Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Professional

World Cup (representing South Africa): 2013, 2016

References

^ "Week 4 2013 Ending 27 Jan 2013" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
^ McEwan, Michael (10 February 2014). "Coetzee wins maiden title at last". Bunkered. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
^ "Who's That Caddie: PGA Championship". 29 July 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
^ "South African George Coetzee wins Portugal Masters". Associated Press. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
^ "Coetzee takes Northern Amateur". South African Golf Association. 10 April 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

External links

George Coetzee at the Sunshine Tour official site
George Coetzee at the European Tour official site
George Coetzee at the PGA Tour official site
George Coetzee at the Official World Golf Ranking official site

[w201304-1] "Week 4 2013 Ending 27 Jan 2013" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[2] McEwan, Michael (10 February 2014). "Coetzee wins maiden title at last". Bunkered. Retrieved 11 February 2014.

[3] "Who's That Caddie: PGA Championship". 29 July 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2017.

[4] "South African George Coetzee wins Portugal Masters". Associated Press. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.

[5] "Coetzee takes Northern Amateur". South African Golf Association. 10 April 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

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