Simon Thornton (born 18 March 1977) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er. He won the 2013 Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open 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 fi ...

Career

Thornton was a late starter to golf, only taking up the sport in his late teens and turning professional at the advanced age of 28. He began as an assistant club professional at Royal County Down, playing in regional Irish PGA events, where his achievements included recording four straight monthly wins with the Ulster Golfers Alliance. He began playing on the

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 T ...

in 2009, finishing 51st before earning his

card at

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 ...

at the end of the season. His debut season on the full tour was unsuccessful, and he returned to the Challenge Tour for 2011, finishing in 12th position to secure a quick return to the European Tour. In June 2013 won the Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open in France, beating

Tjaart van der Walt Tjaart van der Walt (born 25 September 1974) is a South African professional golfer. Career Like many top golfers, van der Walt received a golf scholarship to study in the United States, attending Central Alabama Community College. He turned ...

at the first hole on a sudden-death playoff. His win gave him an exemption of the European Tour until the end of 2014. 2014 was, however, a poor season and in 2015 he played a mixture of European Tour and Challenge Tour events but failed to retain his card on either tour.

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (1)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

Challenge Tour wins (1)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

PGA EuroPro Tour wins (2)

Other wins (4)

*2005 Ulster PGA Championship *2011

Irish PGA Championship The Irish PGA Championship, formerly the Irish Professional Championship and colloquially known as the Irish Professional Close or National Championship, is a golf tournament that is played annually in Ireland since 1907. It is one of the oldest ...

*2018

*2020

Team appearances

Professional * PGA Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Simon Irish male golfers European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Bradford Sportspeople from County Down People from Newcastle, County Down 1977 births Living people