Christiaan Bezuidenhout (; born 18 May 1994) is a South African professional golfer who is a three-time winner 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 won the 2019 Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters and, in consecutive weeks, the 2020

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 ...

and the 2020 South African Open.

Amateur career

As an amateur, Bezuidenhout received a drug suspension after testing positive for

beta blockers Beta blockers, also spelled β-blockers, are a class of medications that are predominantly used to manage cardiac arrhythmia, abnormal heart rhythms, and to protect the heart from a second myocardial infarction, heart attack after a first heart ...

at the 2014

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. Bezuidenhout was using them for anxiety and a stutter after an accidental poisoning at the age of two. The suspension was originally for two years, but was later reduced to nine months.

Professional career

Bezuidenhout turned professional in early 2015. He had success in September 2015 winning two 36-hole events on the

Big Easy Tour The Big Easy Tour is a golf tour based in Southern Africa, founded in 2011. It is a developmental tour for the Sunshine Tour. The top five players earn Sunshine Tour cards, with those 6th–30th earning entry into the final stage of Sunshine Tour q ...

, losing in a playoff for the Big Easy Tour Championship and also winning the Order of Merit. In December 2015, Bezuidenhout won the Sunshine Tour Q School. In the first event of the season, the 2016

BMW SA Open The South African Open is one of the oldest national open golf championships in the world, having first been played in 1903, and is one of the principal tournaments on the Southern-Africa-based Sunshine Tour. Since 1997 it has also been co-sanct ...

, co-sanctioned with the

, he finished runner-up to

Brandon Stone Brandon Stone (born 20 April 1993) is a South African professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He represented South Africa at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Amateur career Stone won several amateur tournaments in South ...

. Later in 2016, he won a smaller tournament on the Sunshine Tour, the Sun Fish River Challenge, and finished runner-up in the

Vodacom Origins of Golf Final The Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour is a series of pro-am golf tournaments in South Africa. The series began in 2004 and forms part of the winter swing of the Southern Africa-based Sunshine Tour. 2004–05 season 2005–06 season 2006–07 seas ...

. Bezuidenhout started 2017 with 5th-place finishes in both the

Eye of Africa PGA Championship The South African PGA Championship is one of the most prestigious golf tournaments on the Sunshine Tour. It is generally played in February, depending on the Tour Schedule, with a prize fund of 2 million rand, and is currently held at Eye of Afr ...

and the

Dimension Data Pro-Am The Dimension Data Pro-Am is an annual golf tournament on the Southern African Sunshine Tour, founded in 1996. The tournament was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first two years. In 2020 it was co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour ...

. He was the 2016–17 Sunshine Tour Rookie of the Year, awarded the Bobby Locke Trophy. Bezuidenhout played a number of 2017 Challenge Tour events. He finished tied for 25th place in the

Q-School to gain a place on the main tour for 2018. Bezuidenhout made the cut in 20 of his 26 2018 European Tour starts. His best finish was tied for 17th place and he finished 105th in the Order of Merit, just retaining his card for 2019. Bezuidenhout was one of nine runners-up in the 2019

Commercial Bank 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 ...

behind

Justin Harding Justin Adam Harding (born 9 February 1986) is a South African professional golfer. Amateur career Harding attended Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and played college golf at Lamar University in Texas and represented his countr ...

. He also tied for 4th place in the

Hero Indian Open The Indian Open, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Hero Indian Open since 2011, is the national open golf championship of India, organised by the Indian Golf Union. Founded in 1964, it was added to the Asia Golf Circuit schedule in 1970. In ...

and for third place in the

BMW International Open The BMW International Open is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour held in Germany. History Founded in 1989, it was held near BMW's home city of Munich every year until 2012. From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2011 i ...

. The following week he won the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters and with the win earned entry into the 2019 Open Championship. He was third in the

2019 BMW PGA Championship The 2019 BMW PGA Championship was the 65th edition of the BMW PGA Championship, an annual golf tournament on the European Tour, held 19–22 September at the West Course of Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, a suburb southwest of ...

to enter the world top 100 for the first time and finished the season 18th in the European Tour Order of Merit. In January 2020, Bezuidenhout lost in a sudden death playoff at the

Omega Dubai Desert Classic The Dubai Desert Classic is a European Tour golf tournament held on Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 1999 and 2000 it was held at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, all other editions have been held at Emirates Go ...

to Lucas Herbert. Playing his final hole he held the outright lead, but found the water with his third shot resulting in a bogey finish. He lost the playoff to a birdie on the second extra hole. The following month he won the

in South Africa and advanced into the top 50 on 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 ...

. Bezuidenhout trailed by a stroke coming to the final hole but made an eagle 3 to beat

George Coetzee George William Coetzee (born 18 July 1986) is a South African professional golfer. He has won five tournaments on the European Tour and 13 on the Sunshine Tour, where he has also topped the Order of Merit on two occasions. Early life Coetzee wa ...

by one. In November 2020, Bezuidenhout won the

Leopard Creek Country Club Leopard Creek Country Club is a Gary Player-designed country club in Malalane, South Africa. The course sits at the border of Kruger National Park, with the Crocodile River (Mpumalanga) snaking through some fairways. The course is owned by South ...

. A final round 69 was good enough to help him win by four shots. 54-hole leader

Adrian Meronk Adrian Meronk (born 31 May 1993) is a Polish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He won the 2022 Horizon Irish Open, becoming the first Polish golfer to win on the European Tour. Amateur career Meronk was born in Germany. He a ...

let his lead slide by shooting a final round 76. A week later, Bezuidenhout claimed a wire-to-wire victory at the South African Open which was played at Gary Player Country Club. He became the first player with back-to-back victories on the European Tour since

Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose, (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open (golf), 2013 U.S. O ...

in 2017. Bezuidenhout recorded his best finish 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 k ...

in July 2022. He finished tied-second at the John Deere Classic, three shots behind

J. T. Poston James Tyree Poston (born June 1, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour, where he is a two-time winner. Early life In high school, while competing for Hickory High School, Poston shot a North Carolina High School Athletic A ...

. This result also gave him a place in the 2022 Open Championship. In September 2022, Bezuidenhout was selected for the International team in the 2022 Presidents Cup; he played two matches, winning one and tying the other.

Professional wins (10)

European Tour wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Sunshine Tour wins (4)

¹Co-sanctioned by 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 ...

²Co-sanctioned by the

Big Easy Tour wins (2)

IGT Pro Tour wins (3)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.

Team appearances

Professional *

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

(representing the International team):

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezuidenhout, Christiaan South African male golfers Sunshine Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Olympic golfers of South Africa Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Golfers from Johannesburg Doping cases in golf People from Victor Khanye Local Municipality Afrikaner people 1994 births Living people