Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (born 13 October 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He has played 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 ...

, winning seven times, and 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 ...

Early life

Fernández-Castaño was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. He started playing golf at the age of three and had a successful amateur career, winning the 2003 Spanish Amateur Open Championship and achieving the first place in the Spanish amateur ranking in the same year. He represented Spain and Europe in several amateur team competitions, and was in the winning European team at the 2003 and 2004

Palmer Cup The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The teams consist of 12 men and 12 ...

. He turned professional at the end of 2004 after completing Stage One of 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 ...

, finishing eighth at the Finals at San Roque Golf Club where he secured his card for the 2005 season.

Professional career

In his 2005 rookie season on the Tour, he won the

KLM Open The Dutch Open is an annual golf tournament played in the Netherlands, and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the Tour was inaugurated in 1972. History and sponsorship Founded in 1912, the tournament began as the Dutch Open, be ...

and the

Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year 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 ...

award. In 2006 he won the

BMW Asian Open The BMW Asian Open was a men's professional golf tournament that was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour. The event was founded in 2001, as part of the European Tour's drive to expand into Asia, and China in particular. The firs ...

, which was co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wo ...

. In 2007 he won his third European Tour tournament, the Italian Open. He has finished within the top 60 of the Order of Merit in each of his nine seasons on tour to date. He had one win on tour in 2008 at the Quinn Insurance British Masters. He finished runner-up at the 2009 Estoril Open de Portugal after losing in a playoff to Michael Hoey. He would finish runner-up next week to

Scott Strange Scott Strange (born 7 April 1977) is an Australian professional golfer who competes on the European Tour, OneAsia Tour and the Asian Tour. Prior to turning Professional, Strange frequently represented the Western Australia amateur team in Aus ...

at the Volvo China Open. He finished second for the third straight week at the Ballantine's Championship, where he lost to

Thongchai Jaidee Thongchai Jaidee ( th, ธงชัย ใจดี; , born 8 November 1969) is a Thai professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He formerly played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour. On the Asian Tour, he holds the record for ...

in a 3-way playoff in extremely tough conditions in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He ended the season ranked 17th on the

Race to Dubai 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 ...

. In May 2009 he reached the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. In November 2011, he won the

Barclays Singapore Open The Singapore Open was a golf tournament in Singapore that was predominantly part of the Asian Tour schedule. The event was held at Sentosa Golf Club since 2005 and since 2017 had been part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to four non-ex ...

in a playoff. He had previously missed over six months of the season due to a back injury. Fernández-Castaño won his sixth career European Tour title in September 2012 at the BMW Italian Open. This was also the second time that he had won at this event. Fernández-Castaño overcame a one shot final round deficit to prevail by two strokes over

Garth Mulroy Garth David Mulroy (born 8 July 1978) is a South African professional golfer. Amateur career Mulroy was born in Durban. He attended college in the United States at North Carolina State University, where he was an NCAA Division I All-American. ...

after a final round of 64. In early 2013, Fernández-Castaño played several events on the

, finishing third in the

Arnold Palmer 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 ...

on a sponsor's exemption and reaching the 27th place in the Official World Golf Ranking, his best to date. He earned enough money to be eligible for Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour, which he accepted. This allowed him unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the 2013 season. He also finished 10th in the U.S. Open, and concluded the season with more points than the 125th PGA Tour player to earn a place as a full member for 2014. On the European Tour he won the BMW Masters and finished six times in the top-10, missing only one cut in 21 events; he ended the season ranked 7th on the

, his best ever performance to date. The following season Fernández-Castaño decided to focus on the PGA Tour, playing most of his events in the United States. His best result and only top-10 of the year was in July at the

RBC Canadian Open The Canadian Open (french: L'Omnium Canadien) is a professional golf tournament in Canada. It is co-organized by Golf Canada (formerly known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association) and the PGA Tour. It was first played in 1904, and has been hel ...

, where he finished tied for the 4th place. The 2015 season of the PGA Tour proved to be less successful. He missed 15 cuts in 28 events played, finishing only 165th in the Fedex Cup ranking; between September and October he entered the Web.com Tour Finals in an attempt to save his PGA Tour membership, but failed to make an impact and ultimately lost his tour card. Without his PGA Tour status, Fernández-Castaño decided to stay in the United States in 2016 and play the

Web.com Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. Th ...

hoping to quickly regain access to the major tour. He played 22 events in the regular season with two top-10 finishes, finishing only 64th. Entering for the second year in a row into the Web.com Tour Finals, he managed this time to graduate to the PGA Tour.

Amateur wins

*2003 Spanish International Amateur Championship

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (7)

''*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to weather.''
¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (4–2)

Other wins (1)

*2005 Madrid Federation Championship (Peugeot Tour, Spain)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2012 Open Championship – 2013 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

(representing Spain): 2001, 2003 (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. Eise ...

(representing Spain): 2002 *

Jacques Léglise Trophy The Jacques Léglise Trophy is an annual amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It was first played in 1977, as a one-day match before the Boys Amateur Championship, but since 1996 it has b ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2002 (non-playing captain) *

(representing Europe): 2003 (winners), 2004 (winners) * Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2004 *

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 1 ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2004 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 Spain): 2006, 2009 *

Seve Trophy The Seve Trophy was a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representing Continental Europe. The tournament was played in years when there is no Ryder ...

(representing Continental Europe): 2007, 2009,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

(winners) *

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Europe):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

* EurAsia Cup (representing Europe):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez-Castano, Gonzalo Spanish male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Florida Golfers from Madrid People from Key Biscayne, Florida 1980 births Living people 20th-century Spanish people 21st-century Spanish people