Alexander Čejka (born 2 December 1970) is a Czech-German professional golfer. Čejka was born in Mariánské Lázně,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He left the country with his parents as a refugee at the age of nine, eventually settling in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where he lived for many years, becoming a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

citizen. Čejka lives in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and also has a home in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Professional career

Čejka turned professional in 1989 and played on the European Tour from 1992 to 2002. His biggest tournament win was the Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucía at Islantilla Golf Club in 1995. That year he came 6th on the European Tour's Order of Merit. Since 2003 he played mainly on the U.S. based

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. In 2003 he reached as high as No. 33 in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

. Čejka took a five-shot lead into the final round of the 2009 Players Championship after rounds of 66, 67 and 72. He shot a 42 on the front nine, however, en route to a 79 and an eight-stroke loss to Henrik Stenson. He represented Germany in the

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 name is ...

12 times, including in 2011 at Mission Hills Haikou in Hainan Island, teaming with partner Martin Kaymer to tie for second, two strokes behind the winning United States team of

Matt Kuchar Matthew Gregory Kuchar (born June 21, 1978) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and formerly the Nationwide Tour. He has won nine times on the PGA Tour. Kuchar briefly enjoyed success in the early 2000s before suffering a ...

and Gary Woodland. Čejka teamed with Kaymer in four World Cup appearances. In 2012 Čejka finished 177th on the PGA Tour and moved to the Web.com Tour. He finished 64th in 2013, then 6th in 2014 to earn a return to the PGA Tour. Čejka won his first PGA Tour event in his 287th Tour start, the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Puerto Rico Open. Two players bogeyed the 18th hole ensuring a five-man playoff; Čejka won with a birdie at the first playoff hole. He is the first golfer born in the Czech Republic to win a PGA Tour event and first non-American to win the Puerto Rico Open. At the time, he was also the third oldest first-time winner on the

since 1970. Alex Cejka at 2015 PGA Championship

He competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. With most of the sports world on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Čejka played on the Arizona-based Outlaw Tour, one of the few professional golf tours in operation during the pandemic, where he won two events. In May 2021, Čejka won his first tournament on the PGA Tour Champions at the Regions Tradition. Čejka won this major tournament in a playoff over Steve Stricker. Three weeks later, Čejka won his second PGA Tour Champions major tournament of 2021 at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. Čejka shot a final-round 67 Sunday to beat Tim Petrovic by four shots. In July 2023, Čejka won the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl in Wales on a blustery day with wet conditions. Čejka defeated

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three men's major golf championships, major championships: The Open Championship in 2 ...

in a playoff to win the title. This was the third win of his senior PGA Tour Champions career, with all three coming at major championships.

Professional wins (18)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

European Tour wins (4)

Web.com Tour wins (1)

''*Note: The 2014 Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.''

Challenge Tour wins (4)

''*Note: The 1993 Audi Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.'' Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

Outlaw Tour wins (2)

*2020 Arrowhead Classic, Parker Open

Other wins (2)

*1990 Czech Open *1992 Czech Open

PGA Tour Champions wins (3)

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (2–0)

European Senior Tour wins (3)

European Senior Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Senior major championships

Wins (3)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order'' DQ = disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

Alfred Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championsh ...

(representing Germany):

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

(representing Germany):

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe):

(winners),

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cejka, Alex German male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Olympic golfers for Germany Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Winners of senior major golf championships Korn Ferry Tour graduates Expatriate golfers in the United States People from Mariánské Lázně Golfers from Munich Golfers from Las Vegas Czechoslovak emigrants to Germany 1970 births Living people German people of Czech descent