Michael Hoey

Hoey was born in Ballymoney but played much of his early golf at Shandon Park Golf Club in East Belfast. He won the British Amateur Championship in 2001 and was a member of the victorious 2001 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team. As British Amateur Champion, he was invited to play in the U.S. Masters in 2002, where he missed the cut by a single stroke. He turned professional later that year. He played his collegiate golf in the U.S. at Clemson University.
Until 2009, Hoey had struggled to secure his place on the main European Tour and had mostly competed the second tier Challenge Tour where he has three tournament victories, the 2005 BA-CA Golf Open, the 2007 Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata, and the 2008 Banque Populaire Moroccan Classic. He finished 8th on the end of season rankings in 2005, which gave him automatic promotion to the European Tour. Following a largely unsuccessful début season in 2006, he returned to the Challenge Tour the following year. He regained his playing privileges on the European Tour for the 2009 season at final qualifying school.
Early in 2009, Hoey finished runner-up to Retief Goosen in the Africa Open on the Sunshine Tour. Then in April, he claimed his first European Tour title, at the Estoril Open de Portugal where he defeated Gonzalo Fernández-Castano on the third hole of a sudden death playoff. The win also gave him a one-year exemption on the European Tour. He won twice in 2011, including his most prestigious title to date at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He picked up his fourth victory on the European Tour in 2012 at the Trophee Hassan II.
2013 Notes: In July, Hoey won his fifth European Tour title at the M2M Russian Open, prevailing by four strokes from Alexandre Kaleka and Matthew Nixon. His victory was set up by a third round score of 65, which took him into the lead heading into the final round. It was his only top-ten of the year, he finished 92nd in the Race to Dubai with euro318,960.
In 2014 has gotten off to a better start with four top-tens including a runner-up finish in the Tshwane Open.