Jhonattan Vegas (born 19 August 1984) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

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

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 ...

and is a two-time Olympian. Vegas was born in

Maturín Maturín () is a city in Venezuela, the capital of the Venezuelan state of Monagas and a centre for instrumental exploration and development of the petroleum industry in Venezuela. The metropolitan area of Maturín has a population of 401,384 inha ...

, Venezuela. He played college golf at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

,Former Longhorn rallies from six-stroke deficit to record first career Nationwide Tour victory
/ref> graduating with a degree in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

. Vegas turned professional in 2008, started playing the Nationwide Tour in 2009 and moved up to the PGA Tour in 2011.

Professional career

Vegas represented Venezuela in the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup with Alfredo Adrian. They finished tied for 12th place. Vegas won his first Nationwide Tour event in 2010 at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open. He finished the season 7th on the money list and earned his 2011

card, the first Venezuelan to do so. On 23 January 2011, Vegas won his first PGA Tour event, the

Bob Hope Classic The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...

, after defeating Tour veteran

Bill Haas William Harlan Haas (born May 24, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and won the 2011 FedEx Cup. He is the son of former PGA Tour player Jay Haas. Early life Haas was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was r ...

and

Gary Woodland Gary Woodland (born May 21, 1984) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Woodland won the U.S. Open in 2019, his first major championship and sixth professional victory. Following a successful college career, he turned ...

in a sudden death playoff. It was Vegas' fifth overall start on the PGA Tour and the second as a member of the tour. The victory is the first by a Venezuelan at a PGA Tour event; Vegas earned entry into the Masters and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. In his next start he finished in a tie for 3rd at the

Farmers Insurance Open The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the San Diego, California, area in the early part of the season known as the "West Coast Swing". The tournament was noted for having singer-actor Andy William ...

, holding a share of the lead on the back nine and moved to a career

OWGR 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 ...

high of 69th. Vegas was the first PGA Tour rookie to lead the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

standings. In July 2012, Vegas was the runner-up finisher at the annual

Telus World Skins Game The Telus Skins Game was a Canadian annual summer golf event, sponsored by Telus, and officially known as the Telus World Skins Game. It was hosted at a different golf course each year within Canada. Between 2006 and 2012, the Telus Skins Game in ...

Paul Casey Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Ranking. ...

held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after having won the 2011 event in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest e ...

. Vegas started 2013 with three missed cuts in three tournaments. He sat out the remainder of the 2013 season after shoulder surgery. Vegas attempted to regain his PGA Tour status through the Web.com Tour Finals, but fell short and started the 2013–14 season on a Medical Extension. He satisfied his medical extension with a T3 finish at the

John Deere Classic The John Deere Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in July, usually the week before The Open Championship, at TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities community of Silvis, Illinois. History The tournament bega ...

. Vegas finished the 2014–15 season 153rd in the FedEx Cup and just outside the top 25 in the Web.com Tour Finals, limiting him to past champion status for the 2015–16 PGA Tour season. After some near-wins and collapses during the season, he earned his second career PGA Tour win at the

RBC Canadian Open The Canadian Open (french: L'Omnium Canadien) is a professional golf tournament in Canada. It is co-organized by Golf Canada (formerly known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association) and the PGA Tour. It was first played in 1904, and has been hel ...

, regaining full Tour privileges through the 2017–18 season. He was also Venezuela's representative in golf for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. On 30 July 2017 Vegas successfully defended his title at the RBC Canadian Open for his third PGA Tour win. The win also moved him to a career-high 48th in the OWGR. Vegas peaked at 35th in the world and in 2017, he became the first player from Venezuela to compete in the

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 ...

. In 2021, Vegas was Venezuela's representative in golf for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo where he finished 16th.

Professional wins (6)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (2–0)

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

Tour de las Américas wins (1)

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
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 ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.'' "T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

(representing Venezuela):

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 ...

Professional *

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 ...

(representing Venezuela):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

(representing the International team):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vegas, Jhonattan Venezuelan male golfers PGA Tour golfers Olympic golfers of Venezuela Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Texas Longhorns men's golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates People from Maturín Golfers from Houston 1984 births Living people