Bob May

Introduced to golf by aunt and uncle, then spent time at a driving range in California picking up range ball. At age 11 began taking lessons from legendary Bel Air C.C. professional, Eddie Merrins. Father, Jerry, who owned a gas station, would drive son every Sunday for 7 a.m. lesson with Merrins, an hour from May's home in La Habra. At age 16, qualified to play in the 1985 Los Angeles Open. Member of the 1991 Walker Cup team. In 1991 he played on the Oklahoma State team that won the NCAA championship. Received financial backing early in his career from actor Joe Pesci and radio jock Rick Dees. After turning pro in 1991 played in mini-tour events on the west coast and in 1992 was able to play in 7 Web.Com Tour events and had a runner-up finish at the Wichita Charity. Did earn $28,594 which placed him 54th on the money list and got him full-time Web.Com Tour for 2003
1993 Web.Com Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 28; in money - 24; top ten finishes - 11; money $132,656 (ranked 4th); best finish, 2nd Shreveport Open & T-2nd Greater Ozarks Open. Was good enough to get him a spot on the PGA Tour.
1994 Notes: Played in 31 events but only made 7 cuts and finished 209th on the money list, losing his card.
After playing in a few Web.Com Tour events and the mini-tours, went off to Europe in 1996.
Played full time on the European Tour between 1996 and 1999. He played a total of 92 events making 66 cuts and 15 top-ten finishes. In 1999 he played in 24 events in Europe, won the Victor Chandler British Open, and was runner-up in the Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open. Also had a T-3rd at the Volvo Scandinavian Masters and a 5th at the Heineken Classic. For the year won euro609,662 and was
11th in the Order of Merit. In his career won euro1,921,214 on the European Tour. At the end of 1999, he made it to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School and finished T-12th to earn a PGA Tour card for 2000.
2000 Notes: Was a special year for him, he played in 26 events and made the cut in 21 of them. He had three top-ten finishes with two runner-up finishes. The first came at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, he was leading going into the final round but shot 71 to finish T-2nd, a shot back of winner Notah Begay III. His second runner-up created a lot of "buzz" along with a lot of excitement. May lost a playoff to Tiger Woods in the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla GC. After opening with a 72, came back with 66-66-66. Paired with Woods in the final round, both players birdied 18. May drained a 15-footer to match Woods with a 31 on the back nine. In the three-hole playoff, May recorded three pars (4-4-5) while Woods birdied the first extra hole. In final three rounds, May produced 20 birdies and only two bogeys and shares the PGA Championship scoring record with Woods at 18-under-par 270. The next week May finished 3rd at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He finished the year 29th on the money list with $1,557,720 in what would be his most successful season ever.
In 2001 May played in 25 events and slipped to 94th on the money list with just $534,936 with a best finish of T-11th at the Compaq Classic of New Orleans. In 2002 he slipped even further earning just $407,778 and finishing 138th on the money list.
2003 Notes: This was the year that changed everything. in his seventh start of the year at the Byron Nelson, he finished T-30th thanks to a final round 64. That round should of been a proud moment for him but it wasn't because of what happened on the 18th tee. On the last tee shot he felt a tweak in his back and after that couldn't play. He took just about a year to rehab the back with physical therapy, but that didn't work so on May 11th, 2004 he had lower back surgery to clean up the spinal nerve canal, two herniated discs, and one on the other side. Little did May know that his 64 from the Byron Nelson would be the last shot struck until December of 2005 when he was back at Q-School. So for a year and a half, he didn't get to play at all. He was able to play in 2006 due to his medical exemptions but in 21 starts he was 141st on the money list. 2007 wasn't much better, in 16 starts he could only finish 189th on the money list. Little did May know at the time it would be his last full year on the PGA Tour. He played a few events on the PGA Tour over the next five years but in 2008 he turned back into a full-time Web.Com Tour player and for three years played with little success finishing 39th on the money ist that year, 57th in 2009 and 89th in 2010 his last full-time year on the Web.Com Tour.
So he played a total of 171 PGA Tour events making 97 cuts with five, top-ten finishes. He won a total of $3,670,408. On the Web.Com tour he played a total of 123 events making 80 cuts with 19 top-ten finishes, four of them being runner-up finishes. He won a total of $524,499.
2019 Notes: May played his first PGA Tour Champions event at the Hoag Classic and finished T-72nd. He also finished T-30th at the Rapiscan Systems and T-21st at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. Was T-60th in the Senior PGA Championship and T-79th at the Senior Open. Went back to PGA Tour Champions qualifying tournament and didn't make it out of the 1st stage so he has very little pull in playing on the tour in 2020/21
2020 & 2021 Notes: Played once in the 2020 Sanford International finishing T-17th.