Seve Benson (born 4 November 1986) is an English

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 ...

. Benson was born in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, Surrey, and was named after European golfing legend

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 ...

. As an amateur, he was a member of the

English Golf Union England Golf is the governing body for male and female amateur golf in England. It represents over 1,900 golf clubs with over 740,000 members and is affiliated to The R&A, the joint global governing body of golf. It was formed in 2012 as a ...

's Elite A Squad, and won the Russian and Qatar amateur open championships. He went on to make the cut at each of those countries professional championships while still an amateur, finishing tied 58th in the

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

, and tied for 10th in the

Russian Open The Russian Open was a golf tournament on the European Tour. The event was established in 1993, and was first held at the Moscow Country Club in Nakhabino, just outside Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia. History Originally contested over the ...

. Having turned professional towards the end of 2007, Benson attempted to win a place 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 fif ...

. He reached final stage 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 ...

, but missed the 72 hole cut. However, by getting through to the final stage, he had already done enough to enable him to play on the second tier

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

in 2008. Benson claimed his first professional win in May 2008 at the opening event of the

PGA EuroPro Tour The PGA EuroPro Tour was a men's developmental professional golf tour. It was created in 2002 by the merger of two development tours, the EuroPro Tour and the PGA MasterCard Tour, as the Professional Golfers' Association and Barry Hearn's Match ...

season. Later the same month he won for the first time on the Challenge Tour, at the

Piemonte Open The Piemonte Open was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played near Turin, in Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1 ...

, where he set a new course record in the 3rd round. He also won the

Ypsilon Golf Challenge The Ypsilon Golf Challenge was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour that was played in 2008 at Ypsilon Golf Resort in Liberec, Czech Republic. It was hosted by European Tour player Alex Čejka and won by England's Seve Benson, who defeated ...

in August, where he triumphed in a playoff, and finished 6th on the end of season money list, to graduate to the European Tour for 2009. He was the last golfer to retain his card at the end of the 2009 season, finishing 120th 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 fif ...

. After suffering injury in 2010, he played 2011 on a medical exemption, but was unable to retain his card and returned to the Challenge Tour.

Amateur wins

*2006 Russian Amateur Open Championship, Tailhade Cup (Argentina) *2007 Qatar Amateur Open Championship

Professional wins (4)

Challenge Tour wins (3)

Challenge Tour playoff record (2–0)

PGA EuroPro Tour wins (1)

References

External links