Sukree Onsham (born 8 October 1944) is a professional golfer from Thailand. He was the most successful Thai golfer of his era.

Professional career

Onsham started his career as the club professional for

Royal Bangkok Sports Club The Royal Bangkok Sports Club (RBSC, th, ราชกรีฑาสโมสร) is an exclusive sports club in Bangkok, Thailand, best known to the public for its horse racing venue. Founded in 1901, it was the first racecourse in the country a ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

. He participated in the World Cup in 1969. Onsham was the first man from Thailand to play in the Masters, playing in the

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 ...

and

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 ...

events. He missed the cut both years. He is often referred to as the first non-white person to play at the Masters; this is false. The Japanese golfers Torakichi Nakamura and

Koichi Ono , born Son Shi-Kin in Dalian, Manchuria (now China), was a Japanese professional golfer. He was one of the leading golfers on the Japanese circuit during the 1950s, winning the Japan Open Golf Championship three times and representing Japan on fo ...

played in the 1958 Masters Tournament well before Onsham. Also several other players from Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines played in the event during the 1960s. Onsham had much success in 1972 on the international circuit. Early in the year at the Malaysian Open, he finished one behind Japan's

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

, tying

Walter Godfrey Walter Hindes Godfrey, CBE, FSA, FRIBA (1881–1961), was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator. He was ...

and American

Marty Bohen Martin Joseph Bohen (born 1942) is an American professional golfer. Bohen turned professional in 1965 and tried out unsuccessfully for the PGA Tour several times during the 1960s. In the interim, he worked as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas and ...

for second. On 23 October 1972, Onsham finished runner-up to American

Bob Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey *Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player *Rob Murphy (ice ...

at the 1972

Wills Masters The Wills Masters was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1963 to 1975. The Wills Classic had been held in Australia from 1960 and 1962. Total prize money from 1963 to 1965 was A£4,000. In 1966 and 1967 it was A$8,000 ...

, an event on the Australian Tour held outside of Sydney. Two weeks later he posted another runner-up in Australia at the

Dunlop International The Dunlop International was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1965 to 1972. Prize money in 1965 was A£4,000, A$8,000 in 1966 in 1967, A$15,000 in 1968 and A$25,000 from 1969 to 1972. A few weeks after the conclusion ...

, four shots behind

Tony Jacklin Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is a retired English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captain ...

, finishing tied for second with David Graham. That year he also placed third at the

Japan Open Golf Championship The is Japan's national open golf championship. Founded in 1927, it is one of the oldest professional golf tournaments in Japan. The Japan Open is one of the three richest tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, with a prize fund of ¥210 million i ...

. Two years later, Onsham won an event, the Malaysian Dunlop Masters, defeating

Ted Ball Edward A. Ball (4 November 1939 – 17 April 1995) was an Australian professional golfer. He won several dozen significant tournaments in his career. Golf career Ball was born in Hornsby, New South Wales. He had a decorated amateur career, i ...

and Malaysia's Bobby Lim by two shots. Onsham's career began to wind down in the 1980s, however, he did have some success that decade. He finished runner-up at the 1981 Indonesia Open. A young

Payne Stewart William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won eleven PGA Tour events, including three major championships, the last of which came just a few months before his death in an airplane acci ...

made a 20 foot birdie putt to defeat him and Taiwanese golfers Hsu Chi-San and

Chen Tze-chung Chen Tze-chung (; born 24 June 1958) is a Taiwanese professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour, the Japan Golf Tour, the Asian Golf Circuit, the Asian Tour and the European Tour. In the U.S., he is often referred to as T.C. Chen. His older ...

on the first playoff hole. As of 1988, he was a golf instructor. Onsham also represented Thailand multiple times in the World Cup. As a senior, he played on the

European Senior Tour The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insu ...

and Japan Seniors Tour from 1998 to 2000.

Professional wins

*1974 Malaysian Dunlop Masters *1983 Maruman Classic

Team appearances

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 Thailand): 1969,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

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. ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onsham, Sukree Sukree Onsham 1944 births Living people