Andrew Thomas Johnston (born 18 February 1989) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

. He has one win on the European Tour, which came at the 2016

Open de España The Acciona Open de España (formerly the Spanish Open) is the national open golf championship of Spain. It was founded in 1912 and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the inception of the Tour in 1972. Except for a five-year peri ...

. Known affectionately as 'Beef' since his youth, he has carried the nickname into his professional career, and is a popular character amongst the crowd.

Personal life

Johnston, who is of partial Jamaican descent, was born in London in 1989 to a working-class family. His father worked as a bus driver and his mother as a school dinner lady. He started playing golf at the age of four with his father and siblings in a local chip and putt course, and later joined the North Middlesex Golf Club, which is still his home club today. At 14, he was in The Middlesex Junior Squad, and became a scratch player at 16. He is married to Jodie Valencia. They have a daughter named Harley Noelle.

Career

Johnston was a successful amateur, representing England boys and the Great Britain and Ireland team in the

Jacques Léglise Trophy The Jacques Léglise Trophy is an annual amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It was first played in 1977, as a one-day match before the Boys Amateur Championship, but since 1996 it has b ...

. He turned professional in 2009 and won for the first time that year on the Jamega Tour. After a 2010 season split between the Jamega Tour, the

PGA EuroPro Tour The PGA EuroPro Tour was a men's developmental professional golf tour. It was created in 2002 by the merger of two development tours, the EuroPro Tour and the PGA MasterCard Tour, as the Professional Golfers' Association and Barry Hearn's Matchr ...

and invites to the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

, Johnston enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2011. He played in his first

event at the

Alfred Dunhill Championship The Alfred Dunhill Championship is a men's professional golf tournament which is played in South Africa. It is part of the Southern African Sunshine Tour and is one of several events in South Africa that are co-sanctioned by the more prestigious ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and qualified for his first major championship, the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, via local final qualifying at

Royal Cinque Ports Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is an 18-hole links golf course in southeastern England, in the town of Deal in the County of Kent (the course is often known simply as "Deal"). Founded in 1892, its name derives from Deal's membership of an ancient ...

. Johnston also recorded several good results from invites to the Challenge Tour, including a runner-up spot at the M2M Russian Challenge Cup. That qualified him for the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, where he finished in a tie for third to jump to 15th in the standings and secure a place on the European Tour for 2012. Johnston played 20 events in his first season on the European Tour, without being able to make any top-10 result and ultimately failing to retain his tour membership. In 2013, he was back on the Challenge Tour, where he registered a 5th place at the Finnish Challenge and a 6th place at the Northern Ireland Open Challenge, but failed to gain the European Tour membership by finishing only 68th in the final Order of Merit. At the end of the year, he entered the European Tour Qualifying School; after winning the Second Qualifying Stage at Valle Romano Golf, he again came short finishing 52nd at the final event at the PGA Catalunya Resort. In 2014, Johnston finally found success in the Challenge Tour by winning two events, the Scottish Hydro Challenge and the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge; he ended up winning also the final Order of Merit and regained his European Tour membership. In his second season on the European Tour Johnston started with a 3rd place at the

, but struggled to make other positive results, missing 11 cuts in 25 events. At the end of the season he was able to retain his tour card thanks to a 10th place at the

Turkish Airlines Open The Turkish Airlines Open is a European Tour golf tournament played annually in Turkey since 2013. In both 2013 and 2014 the tournament was the penultimate event of the European Tour Final Series. The first three tournaments were held at the Mont ...

. His 2016 started in January with a 4th place at the

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

, after which Johnston earned his first European Tour win at the 2016 Real Club Valderrama Open de España. He went on to on secure two other top-10 results at the

BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the British PGA Championship. History The BMW PGA Championship ...

and at the 145th

, where he enjoyed remarkable popularity for his look, personality and game. After the Open he entered for the first time in his career the top-100 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

at the 89th place. In September Johnston entered the Web.com Tour Finals in an attempt to gain a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

card for 2017; he achieved that at the second event of the series, the

Albertsons Boise Open The Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet ...

, where he finished 4th. As a result, he got a card for the

2017 PGA Tour Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Jamega Pro Golf Tour wins (2)

*2009 The Warwickshire *2011 The Vale of Glamorgan

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2016 U.S. Open – 2017 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in World Golf Championships

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

(representing England): 2007 *

(representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2007 (winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Andrew English male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from London English people of Jamaican descent Living people 1989 births