José-Filipe Lima (born Philippe Lima; November 26, 1981) is a French-Portuguese

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 ...

. He won the 2004 Aa St Omer Open to gain a place on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

. His best seasons were from 2005 to 2007 when he finished in the top-100 on the European Tour Order of Merit. Successful

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

seasons in 2009, 2013 and 2016 have promoted him back to the European Tour but, on each occasion he has failed to retain his place on the tour. He was runner-up in the 2007

BMW International Open The BMW International Open is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour held in Germany. History Founded in 1989, it was held near BMW's home city of Munich every year until 2012. From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2011 ...

Early life

Lima has Portuguese parents but was born in

Versailles, France Versailles ( , ) is a commune in the department of the Yvelines, Île-de-France, known worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, which is designated an UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the western suburbs ...

and grew up mainly in France. His father worked at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, which was the host course of the

Trophée Lancôme The Trophée Lancôme was a professional golf tournament which was staged in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, France from 1970 to 2003. Gaëtan Mourgue D'Algue, a French golf enthusiast from Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, hoped to popularize the then little-kn ...

until that tournament ceased in 2003, and was his son's first coach. Lima was the top ranked French amateur at the end of 2001 and turned professional the following year. His parents come from the

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim () is a Portugal, Portuguese city in Norte Region, Portugal, Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho River, Minho ...

parish of

Aguçadoura Aguçadoura is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish") and former civil parish located in Póvoa de Varzim. In the census of 2001, it had a population of 4,530 inhabitants and a total area of 3.47 km2. A 2013 law amalgamated it into the ne ...

. Up until the end of 2004 Lima represented France (as Philippe Lima) but he then adopted his parents' nationality, began to use the Portuguese form of his name professionally, and represented Portugal in that year's

WGC-World Cup The World Cup of Golf is a men's golf tournament contested by teams of two representing their country. Only one team is allowed from each country. The players are selected on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking, although not all of the fir ...

Professional career

In 2003 Lima was the fourth ranked player on the third-level Alps Tour, which qualified him to move up to the main developmental tour in Europe, the

, for the 2004 season. In back to back weeks in June 2004 he won the Challenge Tour's Segura Viudas Challenge de España and the Challenge Tour/

co-sanctioned Aa St Omer Open, which won him promotion to the European Tour. After his win in the Aa St Omer Open, Lima played on the

until the end of the 2008 season, his best finish being joint runner-up in the 2007

. After a disappointing 2008 he lost his tour card and in 2009 played mostly

events. He won the ECCO Tour Championship and was runner-up in the Saint-Omer Open and the Allianz Open du Grand Toulouse to finish second in the Order of Merit and a return to the European Tour. 2010 was another poor season with no top-10 finishes. Lima returned to the

where he played in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He did not win any tournaments in 2013 but with three runner-up finishes, in the Mugello Tuscany Open, the Finnish Challenge and the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final, as well as two third-places and a fourth-place, he again finished second in the Order of Merit. His 2014

season was no more successful than 2010 and he again returned to the Challenge Tour. After an unsuccessful 2015 on the

, Lima won the 2016 Najeti Open and was runner-up in the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge to finish 12th in the Order or Merit and gain promotion to the

for the fourth time. However he again failed to find any success on the main tour in 2017 and returned again to the Challenge Tour for 2018. He was runner-up in the 2018

Open de Portugal 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 ...

and finished the season 26th in the Order of Merit. After a poor start to 2019, Lima was joint runner-up in the Euram Bank Open behind Calum Hill in July and won the

Vierumäki Finnish Challenge The Finnish Challenge is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour. It was first played at Golf Talma in Talma, Finland, from 2001 to 2003, but took a hiatus from 2004 to 2011. The 2012–14 editions of the tournament were played at the Kytäjä Golf ...

two weeks later.

Amateur wins

*2001 Coupe Murat (French Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship)

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (1)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Challenge Tour wins (5)

''*Note: The 2009 ECCO Tour Championship was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.''
¹Dual-ranking event with the

²Co-sanctioned by the

Nordic Golf League The Nordic Golf League is one of the third-tier men's professional golf tours, recognised by the European Tour, also known as the Satellite Tours. The top five players on the Order of Merit at the end of each season earn status to play on the seco ...

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

Alps Tour wins (2)

Other wins (1)

*2001

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

(as an amateur)

Results in major championships

''Note: Lima never played in the

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

or the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

(representing France): 1999 *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

(representing France):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

(representing France): 2002 *

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 19 ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2002 Professional *

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 ...

(representing Portugal):

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 ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 ...

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...