Craig A. Spence (born 17 September 1974) is an Australian professional golfer. Spence was born in

Colac, Victoria Colac is a small city in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac. History For thousands of years clans of the Gulidjan people occupied the region o ...

and first played golf at the age of 10. Around the age of 15 he began competing at an amateur level. He then went on to the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

, winning two Victorian Amateurs back to back. He turned professional in 1996 and joined the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

. In 1999 Spence made his professional breakthrough with victory in the Ericsson Australian Masters. Having opened up with a 9 under par first round, he finished by hitting a 6 iron to two feet for a birdie on the final hole to win by a single stroke over Australia's most successful golfer, playing partner

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

. Following that win Spence received invites to tournaments around the world, on five of the major

tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. He managed to record top 5 finishes in events on all of those tours. At the end of 1999, Spence earned his

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 ...

card for the 2000 season with a top 10 finish at the tour's

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 ...

. His rookie year on the PGA Tour was a struggle and he missed out on keeping a full card for 2001, finishing 129th on the money list. He made just two cuts the following season to lose all playing rights on the tour. He spent two more years in the United States competing mostly on mini-tours while receiving invites to a limited number of second tier Nationwide Tour events. He also continued to play on the PGA Tour of Australasia with limited success. Spence turned his attentions to Europe at the end of 2003, earning a spot 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 fi ...

for 2004 via the qualifying school. In his début season, he made just three cuts as he failed to keep his card for the 2005 season. He then returned to the United States, to play on the

Gateway Tour The Gateway Tour, title sponsored as the OnCore Gateway Tour, is a third-level men's professional golf tour headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona that runs tournaments in Arizona, California, and Florida. The top level of men's professional golf in t ...

in preparation for another try at qualifying for the PGA Tour. Having missed out on reaching the final qualifying tournament by one shot in 2006, he and his family moved back to Australia.

Amateur wins

*1994

Victorian Amateur Championship The Victorian Amateur Championship is the state amateur golf championship of Victoria, Australia. It has been played annually since 1899, except for the war years. Two players have won the championship six times, Michael Scott between 1904 and ...

*1995 Luxembourg Amateur Championship,

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (0–1)

Other wins (1)

*1997 Borrego Springs Open (U.S. mini-tour)

Results in major championships

''Note: Spence never played in the Masters Tournament or the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.''
CUT = Missed the half-way cut

Results in World Golf Championships

Team appearances

Amateur *

Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played a ...

(representing Victoria): 1994 (winners), 1995

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Craig Australian male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers European Tour golfers Victorian Institute of Sport alumni People from Colac, Victoria Sportsmen from Victoria (Australia) 1974 births Living people