Peter Lonard

Since beginning his play for pay career in 1989 Peter has now won about $3,5 million playing in Australia, Europe ($4.5million) and the US ($9.52 million) until the end of 2008. Also played on the Web.Com Tour between 2011 and 2017 earning $214,136.
Played on the Australian Tour since 1989, best year was 1996-97 after winning Australian Masters he was top of the Order of Merit. Uses a long putter, he was sidelined for nearly 18 months between 1993-'94 after contracting Ross River Fever, a mosquito-carrying virus which caused damage to the eyes. His weight soared to about 265 due to his chronic fatigue as he slowly recovered from illness and in 1994 he was offered a position as a club pro at Oatlands Golf Club, north of Parramatta, where he had served his PGA Traineeship. An Oatlands club member who was an eye specialist diagnosed treatment for his poor eyesight which was affected by the Ross River Fever and he then began to regain his golf game.
While still the club pro at Oatlands in 1995, Peter pre-qualified for tournaments and regained Tour card by finishing 27th on the money list with $45,000. In 1996 and '97 played 19 events, making the weekend cut 16 times and finished in the top 10 on 12 occasions.
In 1997 became the first club pro to win the Australasian Tour Order of Merit, the first club pro to win the Ericsson Masters (beating amongst others Tiger Woods), the first player to break 70 in all four rounds of the Masters and set an Australasian Tour money-winning record of $484,534. Returned as a fulltime Tournament Player in 1997 and played with success in Europe and Australia from 1997-2001 winning the 2000 Ford Open in Adelaide and the 2001 ANZ Tour Championship at Concord both times using a short putter.
In 2001, after finishing 15th in the US Tour's Memorial Tournament an event to which he was invited for finishing 2nd on the Australian OOM and inspired also by friend Paul Gow's US Tour success, Peter decided to try for his US Tour card for the first time at age 34.
Shot 22 under par for six rounds to finish 10th at the US PGA Tour Qualifying School in December 2001.
In 2002 played in 24 PGA Tour events, making the weekend cut in every tournament except one and very nearly won the US Tour Rookie of the Year. He won about $2.7 million in the US the result of four top-10 finishes, 14 top-25 finishes. His best finish was 3rd behind winner Ernie Els and runner-up Tiger Woods at the Genuity Championship at Doral. It was a start that all but guaranteed his status for 2003.
More impressive in his first year was his performance in the majors finishing 11th, T-4th and T-17th in the US Open, the British Open, and the PGA Champions respectively. His 11th place at the US Open at Bethpage came despite a triple bogey in his last round.
Peter finished 2002 in spectacular fashion, jointly winning the Australian PGA with Jarrod Moseley and then going on to win the MasterCard Masters in a three-way playoff with Adam Scott and Gavin Coles.
In 2003 he again had a good year in the US, missing just five of 26 cuts and making close to $2 million. His biggest cheque (US$390,000)came when finishing 4th at the Accenture Match Play Championship after making it to the semi-finals. He qualified to play the Presidents Cup team in South Africa and won his singles match against Fred Funk.
Peter returned to Australia to finish 5th at the MasterCard Masters, 5th at the Australian PGA Championship and then won his first Australian Open with a come from behind win at Moonah Links. He topped the Australasian Tour Order of Merit that year and reached a career-high of 28 in the World Ranking.
The early days of 2004 however, saw a rib injury incurred in a training mishap which set him back six weeks, perhaps more, and he was on the back foot for most of the 2004 season. There were occasional good finishes including a 5th at the Bell South Classic and a 4th at the Irish Open after leading into the final round. He safely kept his USPGA Tour card but it would be on his return home where he would set the golfing world alight.
After winning the NSW Open, a Von Nida Tour event he played as a warmup to the Australian Open, he would win the Hillross Australian Open after coming from three back on the final day, then the next week won the Australian PGA Championship by two after starting the last round three behind. It swept him to the lead in the Australasian Tour Order of Merit but because he had not played the required amount of events he would not be eligible for that title. The event he was not able to play because of his rib injury but that he had committed to was the Heineken Classic. Despite his request for an exemption it was denied. He was a moral victory if not an official one.
A week later Peter ended his 2004 season with an 8th place at the Mastercard Masters.
In 2005, Peter's year began promisingly with a T-4th place finish at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic but after a brief return to Australia to play the Heineken he struggled on his return to the US. After yet another disappointing US Masters (Missed Cut), Peter made the decision to return to the short putter for the following week's event. Without even a practice round and with little practice with the new putter, he won his first ever event outside of Australia when he held off Darren Clarke to win the MCI Heritage Classic at the famed Harbour Town Links at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.
A month later he finished T-3rd at the Bank of America Colonial Classic on another quality layout in Fort Worth but while there was the occasional flash of good golf, the rest of the year promised much but delivered little. Still, it was a breakthrough year in so many ways. He had won internationally and on the USPGA Tour for the first time. He had confirmed status on the PGA Tour for two full years and had positioned himself for consideration by Gary Player for inclusion on the Presidents Cup Team. He made that team and won his singles match against Stewart Cink.
He played the Australian Open, the Australian PGA, and the MasterCardMasters late in the year where his best finish was 6th at the Masters.
On The PGA Tour Peter played in 2007, '08 and '09 and was runner-up in 2008 Zurich Classic. After that struggled with his putter and when he finished 164th on the money list lost his PGA Tour card. In his years on the PGA Tour Lonard played in 232 events making 148 cuts and finishing in the top-ten, 21 times. He had the one win at the Heritage, one runner-up, and 3 top-three finishes. He won $9,501,202. He tried to regain his Tour card for 2011 at Q-School but finished T-137th. This did get him on the Web.Com Tour which he played regularly between 2011 and 2017. In 112 starts made the cut in 52 events and had 3 top-ten finishes, T-10th at the 2011 Children's Hospital, T-7th at the 2012 Panama Claro Championship and T-9th in the 2013 Cox Classic. Leonard also played a full schedule on the European Tour between 1991 and 2001, he played sporadically between 2002 and 2006. He played a total of 189 events making the cut in 133 events. He finished in the top ten 28 times and was runner-up three times, 1997 Australian Players Championship, 1999 and 2003 Heineken Classic. He won a total of euro3,780,384.
In the later years of his career, Lonard had thought about senior golf and a week after turning 50 in 2017 played in the Senior Open Championship in Wales, he finished T-3rd three shots back of winner Bernhard Langer. Lonard would like to play more on the PGA Tour Champions Tour, he was 23rd in Champions Tour qualifying which allows him to Monday qualify.
Member of 2003 & '05 Presidents Cup team.