Bob Friend (born December 5, 1963) is an American professional golfer who played on the

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 ...

and the Nationwide Tour.

Golfing career

Friend joined the Ben Hogan Tour (now Nationwide Tour) in 1990 and recorded five top-10 finished including a second-place finish at the

Ben Hogan El Paso Open The El Paso Open was a golf tournament on the Ben Hogan Tour. It ran from 1990 to 1991. It was played at Coronado Country Club in El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of ...

during his rookie year on Tour. The following year he won the Ben Hogan Fort Wayne Open and earned his PGA Tour card for 1992 through

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. In his rookie year on Tour he didn't play well enough to retain full-time status on Tour but his 137th-place finish gave him partial status. He split time between Tours in 1993 with the highlights of his year coming on the Nationwide Tour where he recorded a second-place finish and a tied for third finish. He played full-time on the Nationwide Tour in 1994 where he recorded five top-10 finishes and two third-place finishes. He struggled in 1995 but recorded two top-10 finishes. He didn't play on Tour in 1996 and returned to the Nationwide Tour in 1997 where he recorded three top-10 finishes. He returned to the PGA Tour in 1998, earning his card through qualifying school. He played very well during his second stint on Tour, finishing 57th on the money list. He lost in a playoff to

Billy Andrade William Thomas Andrade (born January 25, 1964) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he was a four-time winner. Early life Andrade was born in Bri ...

at the Bell Canadian Open and recorded three top-10 finishes. He didn't play as well the following year and had to go through qualifying school to retain his card. In 2000, his final year on the PGA Tour, he struggled and returned to the Nationwide Tour the following year where he would play until 2003. Friend is the son of the late MLB

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Bob Friend (1930–2019), who was a four-time All-Star and

1960 World Series The 1960 World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (NL) and the New York Yankees of the American League (AL) from October 5–13, 1960. In Game 7, Bill Mazeroski hit the series winning ninth-inning home run, ...

Champion with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is father to Charles, Libby, and Andrew Friend. He currently works as a real estate agent for Howard Hanna Real Estate in the Fox Chapel area.

Amateur wins

*1984 Western Pennsylvania AmateurLove of golf good reason for Friend to play on
/ref> *1985 Western Pennsylvania Amateur, Pennsylvania Amateur *1986 SEC Championship,

Monroe Invitational The Monroe Invitational Championship is an annual amateur golf tournament in the United States, played since 1937 at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, New York, a suburb southeast of Rochester. Originally a match play event, it switched to 72-hole str ...

Northeast Amateur The Northeast Amateur is an amateur golf tournament played annually at the Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, Rhode Island. It was first played in 1962. In December 2021, the Northeast Amateur joined with six other tournaments to form the Elite ...

, Mid-Atlantic Amateur

Professional wins (2)

Nike Tour wins (1)

Nike Tour playoff record (1–1)

Other wins (1)

*1998

Panama Open The Panama Open was a golf tournament played from 1938 to 1982, during which time it was won by some of the biggest names in professional golf, including Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer. It was an event on the PGA-sponsored Caribbean Tour between 1 ...

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Bob American male golfers LSU Tigers golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golfers from Pittsburgh Golfers from West Virginia 1963 births Living people