Rafael Echenique (born 18 October 1980) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

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 ...

Early life and amateur career

Echenique was born in

San Luis, Argentina San Luis () is the capital city of San Luis Province in the Cuyo region of Argentina. It is also the seat of the Juan Martín de Pueyrredón Department. City information Points of interest in the city include the Park of the Nations, the neoc ...

. He won the Argentine Amateur Rankings in 1997/98.

Professional career

Echenique turned pro in 1999. Having failed to gain a place 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 ...

via the

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 ...

on four occasions, he finally won a card on the main tour by virtue of finishing seventh on the 2006

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 ...

, helped by winning the

Telia Challenge Waxholm The Telia Challenge Waxholm was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour 1990–1991 and 1996–2007 and the Swedish Golf Tour The Swedish Golf Tour (currently known as the MoreGolf Mastercard Tour for sponsorship reasons), is a developmental pro ...

in Sweden. He also finished second in the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final. Later that year he won the biggest title of his career, 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 his home country. Echenique's first year on the European Tour was highlighted by a second-place finish in the

TCL Classic The TCL Classic was a men's professional golf tournament which was played on a course designed by American Robert Trent Jones, Jr. at Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya on Hainan Island, People's Republic of China four times between 2002 and 2007. ...

as he just did enough to retain his playing privileges for the following season. In 2008, a tie for fourth in the

Celtic Manor Wales Open The Wales Open was a professional golf tournament on the European Tour played at the Celtic Manor Resort. It was played annually from 2000 to 2014, as part of a 15-year deal between the tour and the Celtic Manor Resort, that included staging the 2 ...

and seventh in the

Omega European Masters The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with Eu ...

, along with several other top twenty finishes, enabled him to sit more comfortably in 90th place on the Order of Merit. He was second in the 2000 Llao Llao Match Play, and the 2004

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 ...

. Echenique achieved the biggest result of his career at the 2009

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 ...

, finishing runner-up to

Nick Dougherty Nicholas James Dougherty (born 24 May 1982) is a retired English professional golfer. Dougherty was born in Bootle, Merseyside, and attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, Lancashire. He is a protégé of former professional go ...

. Moving through the field on the final day, Echenique carded a final-round 10-under-par 62, which included an

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

at the par-5 18th hole, contributing to a European Tour record back-nine score of 27.

Amateur wins

* 1997 Los Andes Cup * 1998

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 ...

(Argentina), Junior World Championship (individual winner) (Japan)

Professional wins (7)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Tour de las Américas The Tour de las Américas (TLA) was the principal men's professional golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 2000 through to 2012 when it was superseded by PGA Tour Latinoamérica. History Top level tournament golf in Latin Ameri ...

TPG Tour wins (2)

Argentine wins (3)

* 2001 Llao Llao Match Play * 2004 Salta Open * 2014 Bridgestone America's Golf Cup (with

Emilio Domínguez Emilio may refer to: * Emilio Navaira, a Mexican-American singer often called "Emilio" * Emilio Piazza Memorial School, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State * Emilio (given name) * ''Emilio'' (film), a 2008 film by Kim Jorgensen See also * Emílio (dis ...

)

Team appearances

Amateur * Los Andes Cup: 1997 (winners) *

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 Argentina):

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 ...

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 Argentina):

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 ...

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Echenique, Rafael Argentine male golfers PGA Tour Latinoamérica golfers European Tour golfers Argentine people of Basque descent People from San Luis, Argentina 1980 births Living people