Ramón Sota Ocejo (23 April 1938 – 28 August 2012) was a Spanish 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 wi ...

er. Sota was born in

Pedreña Pedreña is a village in the municipality of Marina de Cudeyo, Cantabria, northern Spain. As of 2010, its population was 1,454. Although located from Santander by road, it lies on a peninsula only about across the bay from Santander, separated ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

. He won many professional tournaments around the world including some of the major national opens around Europe that formed the basis of 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 ...

when it was formed in 1972. Those wins included his own national open, three

Portuguese Open The Open de Portugal, previously the Portuguese Open, is an annual professional golf tournament, currently played on the Challenge Tour. History It was first played in 1953, and was part of the European Tour's schedule from 1973 to 2010. After a ...

s and the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

. He recorded several victories farther afield, including winning the

Brazil Open The Brasil Open was a tennis tournament held annually in São Paulo, Brazil. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series, and was one of the main events in the Brazilian tennis calendar alongside ATP Tour 500 Rio Open. Since 2004, it was a part of t ...

in 1965. He was also Spanish professional champion four times. In 1965, Sota finished 6th at the U.S. Masters, which at the time was the best performance in the tournament by any European. He finished 10th on the European Order of Merit in 1971, the year prior to the official start of the new European Tour. He only competed on the tour for one season, in 1972. During that season's Double Diamond International he became the first player ever to be penalised for slow play in Britain. The humiliation he felt following the incident led him to retire shortly afterwards, although he did return to play on the

European Seniors 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 insur ...

for a few years in the mid 1990s. Sota started the Club de Golf Ramon Sota in

Marina de Cudeyo Marina de Cudeyo is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 5,000 inhabitants. Its capital is Rubayo. Towns * Rubayo (capital) *Pedreña Pedreña is a v ...

, which has a 9-hole par–3

course Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

and a golf school. He was also the uncle of Spain's most successful golfer,

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...

. Sota died in August 2012 of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

Tournament wins

:''This list may be incomplete'' *1956 Spanish Professional Championship *1959 Spanish Professional Championship *1960 Spanish Professional Championship *1961 Spanish Professional Championship *1963 Spanish Open,

*1965

*1966

Dutch Open Dutch Open may refer to: * Dutch Open (tennis), an ATP tennis tournament from 1957 to 2008 * Dutch Open (golf), an annual golf tournament on the European Tour * Dutch Open (badminton) * Dutch Open (darts) {{disambig ...

, Puerto Rico Open *1969

, Madrid Open *1970

*1971 Algarve Open,

Italian Open Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf) The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. I ...

Results in major championships

''Note: Sota only played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first ma ...

and

The 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 t ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

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 Spain):

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

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 ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

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 of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 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 J ...

* Joy Cup (representing the Rest of Europe): 1958 * Double Diamond International (representing Continental Europe): 1972 (captain)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sota, Ramon Spanish male golfers European Tour golfers European Senior Tour golfers Golfers from Cantabria 1938 births 2012 deaths