Emiliano Grillo

Grillo's decision at age 14 to move to Buenos Aires to play golf appeared to have paid dividends when he represented Argentina as an amateur and won the Terra Cotta Invitational in Naples, Fla., in April 2011. He turned professional in September of that year. Grillo graduated to the European Tour via the 2011 Qualifying School Final Stage. A 65 in the fifth round at PGA Catalunya Resort was the key to his taking the ninth card, and he made the most of it by finishing 94th in the 2012 Race to Dubai and five places higher the following year.
At 16, he moved again to the United States to study and hone his golf skills, having already spent a year traveling back and forth to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. Failed to qualify for match play in the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills.
2014 Notes: Grillo's highlight was his Argentine Open win in his last start of the year on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. After finishing T-3rd a year earlier, he played stellar golf all week at Martindale CC in Buenos Aires. He took the 54-hole lead after a third-round 65 allowed him to open a six-shot bulge over Tyler McCumber, and coasted to a six-shot win with a four-under-par 67, finishing ahead of runner-up Brad Hopfinger. He played 25 European Tour events, missing only six cuts. Grillo came close to winning in February at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic but ultimately finished 2nd, one shot behind Stephen Gallacher, despite scores of 67-69-66 over the final 54 holes. Two weeks later, he seemed to be in control at the Africa Open after a first-round 68, second-round 63, and third-round 62. He led Oliver Fisher by two shots with 18 holes to play but faltered with a 73 on Sunday, lowering him into a T-5th with Rich Bland, Darren Fichardt, and Jaco Van Zyl. He added T-8th results at the BMW International Open and the BMW Masters, finishing the year 44th in the Race to Dubai.
2015 Notes: I started the year playing on the European Tour and finished T-5th at the Qatar Masters. He was given a sponsor exemption to play at the Puerto Open, where he finished T-2nd, losing in a playoff to Alex Cejka. Returned to the European Tour and finished T-3rd at the Volvo China Open and 6th at the Open de Espana. He played three events over the summer on the PGA Tour, finishing T-10th at the Barbasol Championship, T-22nd at the RBC Canadian Open, and T-61st at the PGA Championship. His excellent play got him into the Korn Ferry Tour finals, and he finished T-2nd at the Small Business Connection Championship. A check for $74,666 placed him 3rd on the final money list, securing his PGA Tour card. He missed the cut the following week in Columbus, Ohio, but returned to top form at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, where he took the halfway lead with rounds of 66-64. A third-round 67 gave him a two-shot cushion entering the final day over Chez Reavie. The two exchanged the lead a couple of times on Sunday. The duo was tied when they reached the par-4 18th at TPC Sawgrass. They both reached the green in regulation. Grillo faced a 25-foot putt, while Reavie was 10 feet closer on a similar line. The Argentine made his putt while Reavie missed, giving the title to Grillo. He finished the year on the European Tour with a T-4th finish at the DP World Tour Championship and ranked 40th in the Race to Dubai.
2016 Notes: After winning the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in October 2015, Grillo was victorious in his next start, two weeks later, at the season-opening Frys.com Open, to become the first player to win in his first start as an official PGA Tour member since Russell Henley at the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii. Grillo defeated Kevin Na on the second playoff hole in his second career playoff appearance (lost at the 2015 Puerto Rico Open) to earn his first career PGA Tour victory in his seventh career Tour start (age of 23 years, 1 month, 4 days). He became the sixth player from Argentina to win on the PGA Tour, joining Roberto De Vicenzo, Jose Caceres, Angel Cabrera, Andres Romero, and Fabian Gomez. After finishing T-54th at the U.S. Open, he flew to Japan and played in the Handa Global Cup, finishing 2nd after losing a playoff to Junwon Park. He represented Argentina at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, finishing T-8th in the 60-player field. On his return, he placed T-2nd at the Barclays, his second top-10 of the season, and moved from 34th to 6th in the FedExCup standings to secure a spot at the Tour Championship. He finished T-10th at East Lake to rank 11th in the FedExCup and 22nd on the money list. He was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
2017 Notes: Played 25 PGA Tour events, making 20 cuts. They finished in the top 10 twice. He earned his first top-10 with a T-10th finish at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Their best finish of the year was a T-7th finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he shared the first-round lead with Matt Fitzpatrick (67) and was one off Charley Hoffman's 10-under-par 36-hole lead. His third-round 78, his season-high score, ruined his chance to win. He finished 67th in the FedExCup standings. He was selected by Nick Price, along with Anirban Lahiri, as a captain's pick for the 2017 Presidents Cup International Team. Grillo went 0-3-0 in his debut at Liberty National.
2018 Notes: Played 25 PGA Tour events, making 22 cuts with six top-10 results. He was 32nd in the final FedEx Cup standings. He finished T-9th at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, T-8th at the Honda Classic, and 6th at the Hero Indian Open. They had a T-3rd result at the Houston Open after finishing three shots short of the playoff. He placed T-9th at the Wells Fargo Championship and 3rd at the Fort Worth Invitational, where he shot a final-round 64 to finish four behind winner Justin Rose. Played in three FedEx Cup Playoff events, with the best finish of T-7th at the Dell Technologies Championship.
2019 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour events making 20 cuts with two top-ten finishes. He was 65th in the FedExCup standings. He finished T-2nd at the CIMB Classic, shooting a final-round 66, five shots behind winner Marc Leishman. Placed T-8th at the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour. He was T-9th at the Memorial Open. In the FedExCup playoffs, they missed the cut at the Northern Trust and T-31st at the BMW Championship.
2020 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour events making 12 cuts with three top-ten finishes. It was 93rd on the FedExCup points list. Was T-3rd a the Puerto Rico Open, five shots back of winner Viktor Hovland. After the break was T-3rd at the 3M Open, shooting 64-65 over the weekend to finish three shots back of winner Michael Thompson. He was T-9th at the Barracuda Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-44th at the Northern Trust.
2021 Notes: Played in 30 PGA Tour events making 20 cuts with four top-ten finishes. He was 59th in the FedExCup points list. He was T-8 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, played in March, was T-6th, three shots back of winner Joel Dahmen. At the RBC Heritage, he posted four sub-70 scores, including a pair of bogey-free rounds, to finish T-2nd four shots back of winner Stewart Cink. It was his fourth career runner-up finish. He finished T-8th at the Charles Schwab Challenge. In the FedExCup playoffs missed the cut at the Northern Trust and was T-46th at the BMW Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 15 cuts with two top-ten finishes. It was 53rd in the final FedExCup rankings. It would be 13 months before Grillo returned to the top ten as he finished T-2nd at the John Deere Classic. Over the weekend, he shot 65-69 to finish three shots back of winner J.T. Poston. With the high finish, Grillo went from 147th to 85th in the FedExCup standings, and he not only secured his PGA Tour card for 2023, but he got one of the three exemptions to play in the 2022 Open Championship. He missed the cut at the British Open, but the following week had his sixth runner-up finish on the PGA Tour with a T-2nd at the 3M Open, three shots back of winner Tony Finau. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-31st at the FedEx St. Jude and T-19th at the BMW Championship.
2023 Notes: Finished T-5th at the Sanderson Farms Championship, three shots back of the Mackenzie Hughes/Sepp Straka playoff. Shot 65-64 over the weekend to finish 4th at the Zozo Championship. He was T-7th at the RBC Heritage and T-5th at the Mexico Open, shooting 65 on the final day. Defeated Adam Schenk with a birdie on the second playoff hole to win the Charles Schwab Challenge, earning his second PGA Tour title and first since the 2015 Fortinet Championship. Snapped a winless drought of 7 years, 7 months, 10 days (2,779 days). The victory came in his 206th PGA Tour start at the age of 30 years, 8 months, 14 days. He improved to 2-0 in playoffs in his career. Became the second player from Argentina to win the Charles Schwab Challenge and first since Roberto De Vicenzo in 1957.