Eric Cole

Cole comes from a family of accomplished golfers. His mother, Laura Baugh, won the 1971 U.S. Women's Amateur at 16 and was a regular on the LPGA Tour in the 1970s and 80s. His father, Bobby Cole, a native of South Africa, registered 13 worldwide professional victories and tied for third in both the PGA Championship and The British Open in 1974 and 1975, respectively.
Cole was born in 1988, the year after his parents remarried, two years after their divorce, as one of seven siblings. Cole grew up on golf courses with both parents being tour golfers and started playing seriously at age 11. He never had other coaches than his parents.
At age 14, while playing high school golf, Cole became a friend of Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer. Cole also got to know Palmer, and the three of them played golf at Palmer's home clubs, Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Florida and Latrobe Country Club in Pennsylvania. Cole also caddied for Saunders at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour in later years. Cole owns 54 Minor League Golf Tour wins and has played on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2017.
Cole earned his Korn Ferry Tour card in 2017 and played in eight events, making two cuts. His best finish was a T-39th. He returned to the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2021 season and made 31 starts. His first top-10 finish came at the Savannah Golf Championship in October 2020, where he finished T-3rd. Cole qualified for the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course, where he missed the cut after rounds of 77-73.
In the 2022 season, he earned his first PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Recorded five top-10s, including a solo third at the Lake Charles Championship to highlight a No. 39 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Eligibility Points List, along with a T-3rd at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, which propelled him to a 7th place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List.
2023 Notes: He played in 37 PGA Tour events, making 27 cuts and seven top-ten finishes. He finished 43rd in the FedExCup rankings. He tied Chris Kirk atop the leaderboard of the Honda Classic before Kirk won with a birdie on the first playoff hole. He got his second top-five finish at the Mexico Open, T-5th, eight shots back of winner Tony Finau. He shot a final-round 63 at the RBC Canadian Open to finish T-6th, three shots back of the Nick Taylor/Tommy Fleetwood playoff. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-31st at the FedEx St. Jude and T-25th at the BMW Championship. In the fall, he was 4th at the Fortinet Championship, T-3rd at the Shriners Children's Open, T-2nd at the Zozo Championship, and T-3rd at the RSM Classic. He won the Rookie-of-the-Year honors for 2023.
2024 Notes: Was T-10th at the Genesis Invitational, T-6th at the Rocket Mortgage and T-7th at the John Deere Classic.
Cole has been to Q-School 11 times.