Mário Gonzalez (22 November 1922 – 29 July 2019) was a Brazilian

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 ...

. He was one of the first players from his country to have enjoyed success on the international circuit and was known as the "father of Brazilian golf".

Amateur career

As an amateur, Gonzalez had a great deal of success and built a reputation around the world. He won the Brazil Amateur Championship nine times, the

Brazil Open The Brasil Open was a tennis tournament held annually in São Paulo, Brazil. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series, and was one of the main events in the Brazilian tennis calendar alongside ATP Tour 500 Rio Open. Since 2004, it was a part of t ...

twice, the

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 ...

in 1941, and the

Spanish Open Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

in 1947. He also played in several tournaments and matches in the United States; in 1941 he finished in a tie for sixth place in

Chicago Open The Chicago Open was a golf tournament played in the Chicago area. A Chicago District Open was first held in 1914. From 1926 to 1928 it became a national event. It was held again from 1937 to 1941, although there was no event in 1939. The Hale Ame ...

and tied a match with Bobby Jones. He had one other top-ten finish in a

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 ...

event, which came at the 1946

Pensacola Open The Pensacola Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The inaugural version of the tournament was played in 1956 and its last edition in 1988. Tournament highlights * 1960: Arnold Palmer birdies the 72nd hole to win by one shot over Doug San ...

. In the

1948 Open Championship The 1948 Open Championship was the 77th Open Championship, held 30 June to 2 July at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Henry Cotton, age 41, won his third and final Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up and defending champio ...

he was near the top of the leaderboard before a poor final round saw him finish 11th, which was still enough to tie for low amateur honours.

Professional career

After turning professional in 1949, he became the head professional at Gávea Golf and Country Club in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, where he remained until 1984. Although he did not pursue a playing career, he won many more tournaments including the Brazil Open a further 6 times and a second

in 1953. He also represented Brazil in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...

, on sixteen occasions. In 1961 he was asked to appear in the first edition of

Shell's Wonderful World of Golf ''Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' was a televised series of golf matches which began in the 1960s. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil. It was a part of the tradition of "challenge matches" between pairs of professional golfers, which were ...

; in the match held at Gávea, he beat

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie a ...

by three strokes. Gonzalez played in few international tournaments as a professional. However he did occasionally play in the major championships, recording best finishes of tied for 33rd in the 1956 Open Championship and tied for 48th in the 1962

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

. In 2006 he was recognised by being awarded the honour of Officer of the

Order of Rio Branco The Order of Rio Branco (''Ordem de Rio Branco'') is an honorific order of Brazil instituted by decree 51.697 of February 5, 1963. It is named in honor of the Brazilian diplomat José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco. The President of Brazil serves ...

Personal

Gonzalez was born in

Santana do Livramento Santana do Livramento is a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is located along the border with the city of Rivera, Uruguay, forming together an international city of almost 170,000 inhabitants. Santana do Livramento was founded on ...

. His father José Maria, was a teaching professional and course designer. His younger brother José Maria Gonzalez Filho was also an accomplished golfer, winning the Brazilian Amateur four times, and his son Jaime Gonzalez has enjoyed a successful career playing on both 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 ...

and

Amateur wins

* 9 x Brazilian Amateur Championship * 3 x Argentine Amateur Championship

Professional wins (15)

*1940

(as an amateur) *1944 Uruguay Open (as an amateur) *1945 São Paulo Open (as an amateur) *1946

(as an amateur) *1947

(as an amateur) *1948

(as an amateur) *1949

*1950

*1951

, Uruguay Open *1953

*1954

Abierto del Sur 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 ...

*1955

*1969

Team appearances

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 Brazil): 1954,

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, 1956, 1957, 1958,

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, 1960,

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, 1962, 1963, 1964,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, 1967, 1968,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Mário Brazilian male golfers Sportspeople from São Paulo Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) 1922 births 2019 deaths