Robert Anthony Gamez (born July 21, 1968) is an American

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 currently 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 ...

. Gamez was born in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and is of Mexican descent. He attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

where he was a member of the golf team. He played on the 1989 Walker Cup Team and

dropped out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

of university to turn professional later that same year. Gamez has had what can be described as a hot and cold career as a professional golfer. He started out winning two tournaments in his rookie season on the Tour, including his first event, the Northern Telecom Tucson Open. Only three others:

Marty Fleckman Martin Alan Fleckman (born April 23, 1944) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Fleckman credits Byron Nelson, Carl Lohren, and Jim Hardy with teaching him how to play g ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

Ben Crenshaw Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952) is a retired American professional golfer who has won 19 events on the PGA Tour, including two major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1984 and 1995. He is nicknamed ''Gentle Ben''. Professiona ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, and

Garrett Willis Garrett Michael Willis (born November 21, 1973) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. Willis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended East Tennessee State University where he was member of ...

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 ...

, have won their first PGA Tour event as a member of the PGA Tour. He is possibly best known for holing his second shot from the fairway on the tough 18th hole in the final round at the

Nestle Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florida ...

in March

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 ...

, giving him a one stroke win over

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 ...

. A commemorative plaque has since been placed in the fairway on the 18th hole at Bay Hill to mark the spot from which Gamez holed his 7-iron from . From 1991 to 1997, Gamez had six runner-up finishes and one third place finish on the PGA Tour. In

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 ...

, Gamez was injured in a car accident at the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast ...

and his career started to decline. Between 1998 and

, he failed to finish in the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list. His career hit a low point in 2001, when he failed to qualify for the Tour. Then he began to enjoy a resurgence in his career. He finished in the top-125 every year between 2002–2005 including a T-5 at the

Bank of America Colonial The Colonial National Invitation, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Charles Schwab Challenge since 2019, is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth at Colonial Country Club, which organize ...

in 2004 and a win at the 2005

Valero Texas Open The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Val ...

. It was his first win in 15 years, 6 months (394 events), a PGA Tour record. His best finish in a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

is T-12 at the 1990

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

. Gamez hosts an annual tournament in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

for the benefit of the Team Gamez Foundation. He lives in

. He has not played a full season on any tour since 2008.

Amateur wins (3)

*1985 Southern Nevada Amateur *1988 Clark County Amateur *1989

Porter Cup The Porter Cup is a 72-hole, medal-play elite amateur golf tournament held annually at the Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, New York. It was first played in 1959 and over the years has hosted some of the biggest names in golf. Past champions ...

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

Other wins (1)

Other playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (1990 U.S. Open – 1990 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

"T" = Tied

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamez, Robert American male golfers Arizona Wildcats men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from Orlando, Florida Golfers from Nevada American sportspeople of Mexican descent Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley 1968 births Living people