Stuart Little (born 1 August 1967) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 who played on the European Tour.

Career

A left-handed golfer, Little qualified for the European Tour through Qualifying School in 1991 and 1992 and 2004 – and twice through the Challenge Tour – in 2001 and 2003.

Challenge Tour

After the 1991 and 1992 seasons where he both finished ranked 148th, he dropped down to the Challenge Tour, where he won the Rolex Trophy at Golf Club de Geneve in Switzerland twice, in 1994 and 2001. He was also runner-up at the 1994

Challenge Chargeurs The Challenge Chargeurs was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, held 1992–1995 in France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, ove ...

, 2001 Open Golf Montecchia - PGA Triveneta, 2001

Zambia Open The Zambia Open is a men's professional golf tournament played in Zambia, that has been part of the Sunshine Tour since 1996, and was co-sanctioned by the European-based Challenge Tour from 2001 to 2004. It was also an event on the Challenge Tour ...

and lost a playoff at 2000

Norwegian Challenge The Norwegian Challenge was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played in Norway. It was founded in 1994 and was the leading men's tournament in Norway, which does not host a European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World ...

. Little finished 14th in the 2001 Challenge Tour rankings to get promoted back up to the European Tour. However, he failed to make an impact on the

2002 European Tour The 2002 European Tour was the 31st season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. The season was made up of 44 tournaments counting towards the Order of Merit, which included the four major championships and three ...

and found himself back on the 2003 Challenge Tour, where he was runner-up behind Darren Clarke at the

Northern Ireland Masters The Northern Ireland Masters is a professional golf tournament that was played at Clandeboye Golf Club in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. It was originally played as a one-off event on the Challenge Tour in September 2003. Darren Clarke won the ina ...

, a one-off tournament played in September 2003 at Clandeboye Golf Club in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Finishing a career best of 8th in the 2003 Challenge Tour rankings, he was back on the European Tour 2004. To stay there in 2005 he had to come through the Qualifying School process, which he did by first finishing in a share of fourth place at Oliva Nova in stage two and then taking the 28th card available from the Final Stage at San Roque after six consistent rounds in the 70s.

European Tour

The

2005 European Tour The 2005 European Tour was the 34th golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972. The season began with three tournaments held in late 2004 and consisted of 47 official money events, which was a new record total. This included fou ...

was his most successful season. He was runner-up at the

Abama Open de Canarias The Abama Open de Canarias was a golf tournament on the European and Challenge Tours which was only played in 2005, and was last of four dual ranking events that year. It was held at the Abama Golf Club in Tenerife, Spain, during the same week in ...

, the last of four dual ranking events on the European and Challenge Tours that year. He also finished top-10 at 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 ...

Omega European Masters The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with Eu ...

and

Telecom Italia Open The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It was founded in 1925 and, except for 1933 and during World War II, was played annually until 1960. After an eleven-year hiatus, it returne ...

, and rose to around 250 on 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 "rolli ...

. He ended the season 63rd on the Order of Merit, 55 places above his previous best position. Little credited his improvement to a decision early in 2005 to switch to a new coach in Gary Nicol and sports psychologist Dr Karl Morris. 2006 and 2007 saw only one top-10, at the 2007

Open de España The Acciona Open de España (formerly the Spanish Open) is the national open golf championship of Spain. It was founded in 1912 and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the inception of the Tour in 1972. Except for a five-year peri ...

. Retiring from tour after the 2007 season with € 1,122,724 in career earnings, he represented Great Britain and Ireland at the 2011

PGA Cup The PGA Cup is a men's golf competition for club professionals played between a Great Britain and Ireland team and a United States team. The winning team is presented with the Llandudno Trophy. The competition is run by the British PGA and the PG ...

European Senior Tour

Little joined the qualifying school played in Portugal in late January 2019. First there was a 36-hole stage one event from which Little advanced, joining other leading players and a number of exempt players in the 72-hole final stage. There were just five qualifying places available for the 2019 season, but Little beat Peter Wilson with a birdie at the second playoff hole to secure the fifth and last place on the

2019 European Senior Tour The 2019 Staysure Tour was the 28th season of the European Senior Tour, the professional golf tour for men aged 50 and above operated by the PGA European Tour. The season was officially called the Staysure Tour after UK-based insurance company Sta ...

Professional wins (2)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the halfway cut
''Note: Little only played in The Open Championship.''

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Stuart English male golfers European Tour golfers European Senior Tour golfers Left-handed golfers Sportspeople from Chelmsford 1967 births Living people