Loren Lloyd Roberts (born June 24, 1955) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

, who has played 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 k ...

and the

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

Early life

Roberts was born in

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

. He competed for San Luis Obispo Senior High School and California Polytechnic State University. In 1975, he turned professional after his sophomore season due to the university's dropping its

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division II golf team.

Professional career

In the late 1970s, Roberts worked for Dennis Pogue as an assistant pro at San Luis Obispo Golf and Country Club as well as Morro Bay Golf Course. He won the Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship of 1979 and was second in 1980. The first professional tour where he briefly competed was the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

, after his 1979 PGA victory. On his fifth attempt, Roberts earned his

card at the PGA Tour Qualification Tournament in 1980 for the 1981 season. He returned to the tournament in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987, earning his card every year except 1981. He did not get his first win on the PGA Tour until 1994 at age 38, yet it sparked a nine-season run of eight victories. His career earnings are over $15 million. He is known as "Boss of the Moss" for his putting skills. He has featured in the top 20 of the

Official World Golf Rankings 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 "rolli ...

. Roberts' best finish in a major was tie for 2nd place at the 1994 U.S. Open. He contended in an 18-hole playoff with

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

and

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events ...

. Montgomerie was eliminated. An additional pair of sudden-death holes gave Els the title. Roberts played for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 1995 Ryder Cup, 1994 and 2000

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

s, and 2001 UBS Warburg Cup. He was 3–1 at the Ryder Cup, 4-2-1 at the Presidents Cups, and 1–2 at the UBS Warburg Cup. Of the four team events, only the Ryder Cup team lost. He was a co-assistant captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup which was also defeated by the European team. After concentrating on the Champions Tour in 2006, Roberts went without a PGA Tour card for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, passing on using his exemption for being among the top 50 in career earnings. He used the exemption for the 2009 season.

Senior career

In 2005, Roberts joined the Champions Tour. His first senior win came in his third event at the

JELD-WEN Tradition The Tradition (known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is an event on the PGA Tour Champions. First staged in 1989, the PGA Tour recognizes the event as one of the five senior major golf championships. Unlike the U.S. Senior Ope ...

, one of five senior majors. He defeated

Dana Quigley Dana C. Quigley (born April 14, 1947) is an American professional golfer. Quigley was born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1969 and turned professional in 1971. Quigley's career in regular tourn ...

in a two-hole sudden-death playoff. In 2006, Roberts became the first golfer to open a Champions Tour season with three wins. Later that season he won his second senior major by beating

Eduardo Romero Eduardo Alejandro Romero (17 July 1954 – 13 February 2022) was an Argentine professional golfer. Nicknamed "El Gato" ("The Cat"), he won over 80 professional tournaments around the world, including eight on the European Tour and five on the C ...

in a playoff at the

Senior British Open The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...

. He won the Byron Nelson Award for lowest average stroke total per round. In 2009, he won his second Senior British Open title after beating

Fred Funk Frederick Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Early life Fred Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He tried several sports, and even boxed for eight years for a junio ...

and

Mark McNulty Mark William McNulty (born 24 March 1953) is a Zimbabwean-Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for ...

in a playoff. He won a month later in August at the

Boeing Classic The Boeing Classic is a professional golf tournament in Washington on the PGA Tour Champions, founded in 2005. The 54-hole event is played annually in late August in Snoqualmie, east of Seattle. It was titled the "Boeing Greater Seattle Classi ...

, where he denied

Mark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American professional golfer. He was a tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World ...

his first Champions Tour victory, defeating him by one stroke after making birdie on the final hole. The GWAA voted him Player of the Year. He broke 54-hole tournament record for lowest score in relationship to par (25-under) and most birdies (26) as well as sharing lowest score (191). The marks were set largely due to scoring a career-best 61 in the final round of his 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai win.

Other achievements

Roberts hosts the annual Loren Roberts Celebrity Pro-Am in May at Spring Creek Ranch in

Collierville, Tennessee Collierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. With a population of 51,324 in the 2020 census, Collierville is the third largest municipality in the county after Memphis ...

. Its first year was 1995. The benefitting charity is

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center Le Bonheur Children's Hospital is a 255-bed, tertiary care children's hospital located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Le Bonheur has more than 700 medical staff representing 40 pediatric specialties. Approximately 170 patients per day are admi ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Roberts was named Professional co-Athlete of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and 2007. He was inducted into the Cal Poly-SLO Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. The Tennessee Golf Foundation inducted him into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. He has been a resident of

Germantown, Tennessee Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,333 at the 2020 census. Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east-southeast. Germantown was founded in 1841 by mostly German emigrants. Th ...

, since the 1980s. Roberts wrote ''Focus: The Name of the Game'' with fellow PGA Tour golfers Scott Simpson and

Larry Mize Lawrence Hogan Mize (born September 23, 1958) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour. He is well known for one career-defining shot – a chip from off the green at the 11th hole at ...

. The 128-page book was published by J. Countryman in 1999.

Professional wins (25)

PGA Tour wins (8)

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

Other wins (5)

''This list may be incomplete.'' *1979 Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship *1992 Ben Hogan Pebble Beach Invitational *1997

Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational The TaylorMade Golf Pebble Beach Invitational is a non-tour professional golf tournament. The event debuted in 1972. The 2019 purse was $300,000 with $60,000 going to the individual winner. There is also a team competition. Professionals from the P ...

*1999

Tennessee Open The Tennessee Open is the Tennessee state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Tennessee Golf Association. It has been played annually since 1949 at a variety of courses around the state. Winn ...

*2010 Straight Down Fall Classic (with Michael Rowley)

Champions Tour wins (13)

Champions Tour playoff record (3–2)

Results in major championships

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

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1991 U.S. Open – 1995 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (2000 Masters – 2000 Open Championship)

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 (4)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2017.'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
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 identif ...

U.S. national team appearances

''This list may be incomplete.'' Professional * Ryder Cup:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

(winners),

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

(winners) * UBS Warburg Cup: 2001 (winners)

References

External links

* *
Tournament press conferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Loren American male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Winners of senior major golf championships Golfers from California Golfers from Tennessee People from San Luis Obispo, California People from Germantown, Tennessee 1955 births Living people