Eduardo Alejandro Romero (17 July 1954 – 13 February 2022) was an Argentine

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 ...

. Nicknamed "El Gato" ("The Cat"), he won over 80 professional tournaments around the world, including eight 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 ...

and five on the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

, with two senior majors; he also won over 50 times in South America and was a member of the Argentine team at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

on 14 occasions.

Early life

Romero was born in Córdoba to a family of modest means.

Professional career

Romero turned professional in 1982. He played extensively in Latin America on the Tour de las Americas and its predecessor the "South American Tour", but his international profile is mainly based on his success on the more prestigious

and in senior golf in the United States and Europe. He reached the top 20 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 ...

. He first played on the European Tour in 1985 and was a full member from 1988 to 2005. He had 8 tournament victories and seven top twenty placings on the Order of Merit. In 2002 he became the third oldest winner on the European Tour (behind

Des Smyth Desmond John Smyth (born 12 February 1953) is an Irish professional golfer. He won eight times on the European Tour between 1979 and 2001. He also had a successful senior career winning twice on the Champions Tour and five times on the European ...

and

Neil Coles Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors ...

) when he won the Scottish Open just three days before his 48th birthday. Romero came fifth on the Order of Merit for 2002. Romero turned fifty in 2004, and just a few days later he finished in a tie for second at his first senior tournament, the

Senior British Open The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...

. In 2005 he won his first senior title at the

European Seniors Tour The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insur ...

Travis Perkins Senior Masters The Wentworth Senior Masters was a men's professional golf tournament on the European Seniors Tour from 1997 to 2007. The first tournament was won by multi- major winner Gary Player. It was staged at the Wentworth Club beyond the western fringe ...

, and he won the Wentworth Senior Masters in both 2005 and 2006. In 2006, he lost in a playoff against

Loren Roberts Loren Lloyd Roberts (born June 24, 1955) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early life Roberts was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He competed for San Luis Obispo Senior High Scho ...

for the

Senior British Open Championship The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...

and won a playoff against

Lonnie Nielsen Lonnie Dean Nielsen (June 29, 1953 – January 20, 2021) was an American professional golfer. Nielsen was born and raised in Belle Plaine, Iowa. His father started him in golf as a youngster on the sand green courses in and around his hometown. ...

for the

JELD-WEN Tradition The Tradition (known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is an event on the PGA Tour Champions. First staged in 1989, the PGA Tour recognizes the event as one of the five senior major golf championships. Unlike the U.S. Senior Ope ...

for his first

win and major. He was the Champions Tour's 2006 Rookie of the Year. He won the

U.S. Senior Open The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...

, his second major, at

The Broadmoor The Broadmoor (stylized as THE BRODMOOR) is a hotel and resort in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Broadmoor is a member of Historic Hotels of America of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Its visitors hav ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

in 2008. Romero won more than eighty tournaments in Latin America. He represented Argentina in the

and the

Alfred Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

numerous times, and he participated in the

UBS Cup The UBS Cup was a team golf tournament contested by the United States and a team representing the "Rest of the World" which ran from 2001 to 2004. In 2001 and 2002 it was called the UBS Warburg Cup. Six golfers on each side had to be 50 or over, and ...

in 2002 and 2003. He also appeared on The

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television television network, network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ...

The Big Break ''The Big Break'' is a reality television program broadcast by the Golf Channel. The show's premise was to award an aspiring professional golfer exemptions into selected events or full-season exemptions on lower-level tours. The series debuted on ...

series. Romero's nicknamed was "El Gato" ("The Cat").

Death

Romero died on 13 February 2022, at the age of 67 at his home in

Villa Allende Villa Allende is a city in Córdoba Province, Argentina in the department of Colón. Villa Allende was founded in 1889 and has 27,164 inhabitants (Provincial Census 2008). Located just 19 km away from Córdoba, Argentina, Córdoba. the econ ...

Córdoba Province, Argentina Córdoba () is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Its neighboring provinces are (clockwise from the north) Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja, and Catamarca. Together with Sant ...

. The

Abierto del Centro The Center Open, or Abierto del Centro, is one of the major regional open golf tournaments in Argentina. Founded in 1927, it has always been held at the Córdoba Golf Club in Córdoba. In 2001, Ángel Cabrera set the course record of 60 in the fi ...

, played on the

PGA Tour Latinoamérica PGA Tour Latinoamérica is a third level professional golf tour formed in 2012 and operated by the PGA Tour. It was formed in concert with the now defunct Tour de las Américas. Executives from the Tour de las Américas became employees of the new ...

in April 2022, was renamed in memory of Romero.

Professional wins (75)

European Tour wins (8)

European Tour playoff record (2–1)

Argentine Tour wins (44)

:''This list is incomplete'' *1983 (3)

Argentine PGA Championship The Argentine PGA Championship is a golf tournament played in Argentina since 1920. It was generally supported by the leading Argentine golfers and its list of champions includes Eduardo Romero (8 times), José Jurado (7 times), Vicente Fernández ...

, La Cumbre Open, Highland Grand Prix *1984 (8)

Carilo Open The Carilo Open, or the Abierto de Cariló, was a golf tournament on the TPG Tour, the official professional golf tour in Argentina. First held in 1983, it has always been held at the Carilo Golf Club, in Cariló Cariló (from the Mapuche word m ...

Abierto del Litoral The Coast Open, or Abierto del Litoral, is a golf tournament played in Argentina. Founded in 1932 as the Torneo de Profesionales (Professional Tournament), a name only used for the first two editions, it has always been played at the Rosario Gol ...

, La Cumbre Open,

Center Open The Center Open, or Abierto del Centro, is one of the major regional open golf tournaments in Argentina. Founded in 1927, it has always been held at the Córdoba Golf Club in Córdoba. In 2001, Ángel Cabrera set the course record of 60 in the fi ...

, San Martin Grand Prix,

Chaco Open The Chaco Open, Abierto del Nordeste or Northeast Open, is a golf tournament on the TPG Tour, the official professional golf tour in Argentina. First held in 1970, it has always been held at the Chaco Golf Club, in Resistencia, Chaco Province ...

, Ituzaingo Grand Prix, Jockey Club Rosario Open *1986 (1)

*1987 (4) Sevel Grand Prix,

North Open The North Open, or Abierto del Norte, was one of the major regional golf tournaments in Argentina. First held in 1962, it was always held at the Jockey Club, in Tucumán, the hometown of golfers César Monasterio and Andrés Romero. Eduardo Romer ...

, Los Cardales Grand Prix, American Express Grand Prix *1988 (4)

South Open The South Open, or Abierto del Sur, is one of the major regional open golf tournaments in Argentina, and is also one of the oldest, having been inaugurated 1918. It has always been held at the Mar del Plata Golf Club in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aire ...

, Punta del Este Open (Uruguay),

Norpatagonico Open The Norpatagonico Open, or Abierto Norpatagónico, is one of the major professional golf tournaments in Argentina. Founded in 1969, it has always been held at the Palihue Golf Club in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), offi ...

*1989 (3)

Argentine Open The Argentine Open or Abierto de la República or Abierto de Argentina is one of the oldest national golf open championships. First played in 1905, when it was called the Open Championship of the River Plate, it has featured numerous notable winn ...

, Sevel Grand Prix, Los Lagartos Grand Prix *1990 (2)

*1991 (3)

Acantilados Grand Prix The Acantilados Grand Prix or Gran Premio Los Acantilados was a golf tournament on the PGA of Argentina Tour, formerly the principal professional golf tour in Argentina. Founded in 1954, it was always been held at the Club de Golf Los Acantilados i ...

(tie with

Adan Sowa Adan Domingo Sowa (born 15 August 1954) is an Argentine professional golfer. Sowa was born in Buenos Aires, and turned professional in 1973. He won the Argentine Open twice, in 1978 and 1983, and led the Argentine Professional Rankings on tw ...

) *1992 (3)

*1993 (1)

*1994 (1)

*1995 (2) Punta del Este Open (Uruguay),

*1996 (2)

*1997 (2)

, Las Delicias Open *1998 (2)

*1999 (3)

, La Cumbre Open

Córdoba Tour wins (5)

*1982 (4) Center Cuyo Tournament, Bell Ville Tournament, Córdoba PGA Championship, La Cumbre Tournament *1984 (1) Bell Ville Tournament

Other wins (11)

*1980 Argentine Caddie's Tournament *1984 Chile Open *1987 Sierra de la Ventana Tournament (Arg), South American team (Arg), Prince of Wales Open (Chile), Santo Domingo Open (Chile), Sports Frances Open (Chile) *1997 Las Brisas Open (Chile) *1998 Mexican Open, Las Brisas Open (Chile) *2000 Desafio de Maestros (Arg)

Champions Tour wins (5)

Champions Tour playoff record (1–1)

European Senior Tour wins (2)

European Senior Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1995 U.S. Open – 1998 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2016.'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

''this list in incomplete'' *

(representing Argentina):

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

(representing Argentina): 1989,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

(representing the Rest of the World): 2002, 2003 (tie)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Eduardo Argentine male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers European Senior Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of senior major golf championships Sportspeople from Córdoba, Argentina 1954 births 2022 deaths