Mark Calcavecchia

Played golf every day as a teenager after his family moved from Laurel, Neb., to Palm Beach, Fla. During the summer, he played as many as 72 holes a day. He turned professional in 1981 and qualified for the PGA Tour, but struggled during his first four years and had to return to Qualifying School after every year. When he failed to qualify for the 1986 season, he caddied for his friend, Ken Green, in a handful of tournaments and practiced more than ever. He qualified for the Doral tournament that year, leading the first round with a 65 and tying for eighth. By the end of the summer, he had a conditional card and ended the season 58th on the money list.
The highlight of his career, which included 13 PGA Tour victories, was in 1989 when he won the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club by defeating Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a four-hole playoff. His daughter, Britney, was born three weeks after that victory.
A member of the 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2002 USA Ryder Cup Teams and a member of the 1998 USA Presidents Cup Team, he finished in the top-50 on the money list every year from 1987-2001 and finished 53rd on the 2002 money list. He retired from the PGA Tour at the Memorial right before his 50th birthday and plays full-time on the PGA Tour Champions. A full-time member of the PGA Tour from 1982-2010, he played in 760 events, made 527 cuts and posted 142 top-10 finishes with 27 runner-up finishes.
He turned in a stellar first complete full season on the PGA Tour Champions in 2011, earning the Byron Nelson Trophy for lowest stroke average (69.04). He won once and finished second in official earnings with more than $1.8 million.
2012 Notes: Enjoyed another successful year, adding another victory at the Montreal Championship along with 11 top-10 finishes and a sixth-place finish on the season-ending money list with earnings of $1,361,067 - topping the $1-million mark for the second consecutive year. He was T-9th in his 26th Open Championship start, making his 19th cut in the event - his first top-10 at that championship since a T-10th in 1997.
2013 Notes: Missed playing in just one Champions Tour event despite battling a series of nagging injuries most of the season. Best run during the year was in the first half when he was among the top-five for four out of five tournaments, concluding with a T-third at The Principal Charity Classic in early June, his best performance of the season. He ended the season ranked 24th on the money list.
2014 Notes: Saw his string of top-30 finishes come to a close at four when he finished 32nd on the final money list. Was 28th with two full-field events remaining, but was forced to withdraw at the Greater Hickory Kia Classic and then finished 72nd at the AT&T Championship, falling four spots. In 23 starts had three top-ten finishes all in the spring. Best finish was second at the Regions Tradition, and he was the 36-hole leader before falling three back after 54 holes following a 2-over par 74. Battled his way back into contention with birdies on four of his first eight holes on Sunday before seeing his chances slip away with costly bogeys on No. 9 and 13, which left him one shot behind Kenny Perry. Made six of eight PGA Tour cuts while utilizing his one-time exemption in the top 50 on the Tour career money list. Best finish was a T-34th at the Zurich Classic. Finished 39th in the Schwab Rankings.
2015 Notes: Suffered a serious injury during a fall on Thanksgiving (2014) morning when his hand went through a plate-glass window, cutting a tendon on top of his hand. Underwent surgery to reattach the tendon in early December and was unable to play in a tournament until the end of March at Tucson. Teamed with Steve Lowery at the Bass Pro Shop Legends of Golf for a T-third finish at Big Cedar Lodge. The pair was 12-under par over the weekend. His comeback was completed when he ended nearly a three-year victory drought by winning The Principal Charity Classic by one stroke over Brian Henninger and Joe Durant. Using a store-bought putter for the first time in an event, he managed to hold off a string of challengers Sunday. His only bogey on Sunday was on No. 14, and it dropped him back into a tie for the lead with Davis Love III at 11-under par, but he immediately chipped to two feet for a birdie on the following hole and never relinquished his lead. The victory came in his 67th start since his previous win on the Champions Tour in Montreal. Finished 36th on the money list and 35th in the Schwab rankings.
2016 Notes: Had a final-round 65 to finish T-6th at the Tucson Conquistadors Classic. In 21 starts was 68th on the money list and Schwab rankings.
2017 Notes: Advanced to the first round of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs but finished T-39th at the Dominion Energy Charity which ended his season. Was 66th on the final Charles Schwab Cup money list and failed to record a top-10 finish for the first time in his PGA Tour Champions career. Best finish came in early September when three straight sub-par rounds led to a T-15th finish at the Shaw Charity Classic. Mark was having problems with his back and a combination of a bulging disk pinching a nerve and arthritis on his spine was making playing golf hard. But in December he had an outpatient procedure know as Rhizotomy which involves severing nerve roots in the spinal cord to relieve chronic back pain and muscle spasms. Between the surgery and a new exercise routine, he is walking and playing painless golf.
2018 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour Champions events with five top-ten finishes. Returned back to the winner's circle for the first time since his 2015 Principal Charity Classic win as he beat Bernhard Langer by 2 shots at the Boca Raton Championship. His victory was wire-to-wire and the $240,000 check was more than he made in his previous 27 starts. Calcavecchia partnered with Woody Austin and finished T-5th at the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf. Was T-7th at the American Family Insurance Championship. At the Insperity Invitational started with 67-69 to sit T-2nd through 36 holes. Shot an even-par 72 in the final round to finish T-10th. Was T-7th at the American Family Insurance, also T-5th at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open. He failed to advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the third straight year, however, as he closed with a pair of 49th-place finishes and ended the season 39th in the standings.
2019 Notes: Played in 24 PGA Tour Champions events with one top-tens and finished 71st in the Charles Schwab Cup. With rounds of 71-67-69 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, he finished T-10th.
2020/2021 Notes: Played in 16 PGA Tour Champions events with one top-25 and finished 98th in the Charles Schwab Cup. For over a decade Mark has suffered from chronic back pain that he had been treating with epidurals and cortisone shots. But in 2020 the treatments didn't relieve the pain and a new thing bothered him. The pain would shoot down the leg and he was coping with it at each stop. Mark played in 12 events in 2020 and in each event it got harder and harder. At the SAS Championship the back pain was so bad it knocked him to the ground. So after talking with his doctors they decided to have back-fusion surgery. His last event was the PNC Championship playing with his son Eric, and at the end of the tournament, the golf clubs went into storage. On January 4th, 2021 he underwent the procedure and it went well. The hard part was the nine months after surgery in rehabbing but the surprising aspect of things, he no longer had the pain in his back. He had to work hard on learning to loosen up and it still took a while for him to hit golf shots, but when he did in September the pain was gone and he was able to swing full-bore. He made his first start at the 2021 Ascension Charity Classic and by the last one at the Furyk & Friends, he was getting better and finished T-46th and was ready for the future.
2022 Notes: He was able to return to the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and finished T-28th. He continued to play and improve on his game. In April he started to think about the future and one thing that was bothering him was the British Open. Mark's last one due to turning 60 was supposed to be at Royal St. George's in 2020. It was canceled because of COVID but he wasn't able to play in 2021 because of his back surgery. So he wrote a letter to the R&A explaining what happened and asked them if they would allow him to play at St. Andrews and make that his last Open. They agreed and he will play for the 31st and final time in that championship. Another milestone came at the ClubCorp Classic. That event was his 1,000 combined start on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Calcavecchia became the 23rd player to accomplish that feat and he finished 66th for the week.