Rory Sabbatini

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Rory Sabbatini
Rory Sabbatini 2008 US Open cropped.jpg
Sabbatini in 2008
Personal information
Full nameRory Mario Trevor Sabbatini
NicknameThe Boy from Bratislava, The Silver Slovak [1]
Born (1976-04-02) 2 April 1976 (age 48)
Durban, South Africa
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Sporting nationalityFlag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Flag of England.svg  England (1998)
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia (since 2019)
ResidenceDurban, South Africa
Career
College University of Arizona
Turned professional1998
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins9
Highest ranking 8 (23 September 2007) [2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T2: 2007
PGA Championship T39: 2008
U.S. Open T30: 2011
The Open Championship T16: 2019
Medal record
Representing Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Individual

Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini (born 2 April 1976) is a South African-Slovak professional golfer. [3] [4] Sabbatini won six times on the PGA Tour between 2000 and 2011 and was runner-up in the 2007 Masters. He spent 21 weeks in the world top-10 in late-2007 and early-2008, with a high of 8th. Sabbatini won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, representing Slovakia.

Contents

Early life

Sabbatini was born in Durban, South Africa, and has Italian, Scottish and Irish ancestry. [5] He started playing golf at age 4, but concentrated on it from age 12. He was recruited by the University of Arizona, turned professional in 1998 and joined the PGA Tour in 1999. He was the youngest member of the tour that year.

Professional career

During the first decade of the 2000s, Sabbatini had five PGA Tour wins; he finished 2006 placed 12th on the money list. In September 2007, he reached the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time, [6] He spent 21 weeks in the top-10 between September 2007 and March 2008, with a high of 8th. [7] [8]

Sabbatini tied for second at the 2007 Masters Tournament [9] and the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He won the Par 3 Contest at the 2008 Masters Tournament. [10]

Sabbatini has represented South Africa in the World Cup six times and won the event with Trevor Immelman in 2003.

In his first Presidents Cup appearance in 2007, Sabbatini had a 0–3–1 record, as the International team was defeated by the United States team.

In May 2009 Sabbatini captured his fifth PGA Tour title by winning the HP Byron Nelson Championship by two strokes over Brian Davis. He broke the tournament record for scoring with a score of 269 (−19), beating the previous record of 270 (−18). [11]

In March 2011 Sabbatini won his sixth PGA Tour Title at The Honda Classic with a one stroke victory over South Korea's Yang Yong-eun. Sabbatini entered the final round with a five stroke lead over the rest of the field, helped by a course record-equalling 64 on day two. He started his final round in solid fashion with an early birdie at the 3rd hole, however as the round progressed he made bogeys at the 9th and 14th, meaning that Yang was able to cut that lead to just one, with a spectacular tee shot on the par-three 15th that landed 18 inches past the pin. On the next hole though, Sabbatini holed a clutch birdie putt to tighten his grip on the title and played out the 17th and 18th in even-par to hold on for a one stroke victory. This win also secured him a place at the 2011 Masters Tournament.

On 15 December 2019, Sabbatini won the QBE Shootout with partner Kevin Tway. [12]

Sabbatini qualified to represent Slovakia at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal.

Controversy

In the final round of the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, apparently frustrated by the slow pace of play by his partner, Ben Crane, Sabbatini finished the 17th hole and walked over to the next tee, leaving Crane behind to complete the hole by himself. He received heavy criticism, and some sympathy, and later apologised for the incident. [13]

Sabbatini also made waves following the Wachovia Championship in May 2007 when, after leading the field by one stroke after day three and then giving up five strokes to Tiger Woods to lose the tournament on Sunday, he proclaimed that Woods was "more beatable than ever." [14] In the final round of the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, he had a fan removed who heckled him with questions about Tiger Woods. [15] Then, in December of the same year, more controversy was stirred when he withdrew from the Target World Challenge, an off-season event hosted by Tiger Woods, becoming the only player in history to withdraw from that event. [16]

In 2011, Sabbatini created more controversy when at the Northern Trust Open, after hitting his ball in the rough, a volunteer helped to locate the ball, but Sabbatini, thinking that the volunteer had moved his ball, yelled at him. He later apologised to avoid being penalised. [17] Later in 2011, at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Sabbatini got into a heated, profanity-laced argument with playing partner Sean O'Hair for undisclosed reasons. His penalty was also undisclosed because of the PGA Tour's policy.

Citizenship change

In December 2018, Sabbatini became a citizen of Slovakia, the home country of his wife and stepson. [18] Sabbatini's wife's cousin is the vice president of the Slovak Golf Association. Initially, there was speculation that the move was made in order for Sabbatini to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, but he said it was to help grow the game in that country. The Olympics use the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) for qualification and the 201st-ranked Sabbatini would not have qualified for South Africa with ten others ahead of him. Sabbatini also has a UK passport and US citizenship. [19]

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (6)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
13 Sep 2000 Air Canada Championship −16 (68-68-67-65=268)1 stroke Flag of New Zealand.svg Grant Waite
29 Jun 2003 FBR Capital Open −14 (68-66-68-68=270)4 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Joe Durant, Flag of the United States.svg Fred Funk,
Flag of the United States.svg Duffy Waldorf
319 Feb 2006 Nissan Open −13 (67-65-67-72=271)1 stroke Flag of Australia (converted).svg Adam Scott
427 May 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial −14 (70-67-62-67=266)Playoff Flag of the United States.svg Jim Furyk, Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer
524 May 2009 HP Byron Nelson Championship −19 (68-64-65-64=261)2 strokes Flag of England.svg Brian Davis
66 Mar 2011 The Honda Classic −9 (71-64-66-70=271)1 stroke Flag of South Korea.svg Yang Yong-eun

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2004 Buick Classic Flag of Spain.svg Sergio García, Flag of Ireland.svg Pádraig Harrington García won with birdie on third extra hole
Harrington eliminated by par on second hole
2 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Flag of the United States.svg Jim Furyk, Flag of Germany.svg Bernhard Langer Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (3)

Legend
World Golf Championships (1)
Other wins (2)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
116 Nov 2003 WGC-World Cup
(with Flag of South Africa.svg Trevor Immelman)		−13 (70-69-63-73=275)4 strokesFlag of England.svg  England − Paul Casey and Justin Rose
210 Sep 2019 Penati Slovak Open −7 (69-70=139)Playoff Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Ondřej Lieser
315 Dec 2019 QBE Shootout
(with Flag of the United States.svg Kevin Tway)		−31 (58-67-60=185)2 strokes Flag of the United States.svg Jason Kokrak and Flag of the United States.svg J. T. Poston

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Masters Tournament CUTCUTCUTT36T2CUTT20
U.S. Open CUTCUTCUTT71CUTT51T58CUT
The Open Championship T54T53T66CUTT26CUTCUTCUT
PGA Championship 77CUTCUT68CUTT74CUTCUTT39T67
Tournament201020112012201320142015201620172018
Masters Tournament CUTCUTCUT
U.S. Open CUTT30CUT
The Open Championship T54
PGA Championship CUTT74CUTCUTCUT
Tournament20192020
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship T66
U.S. Open T43T59
The Open Championship T16NT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament 010112103
PGA Championship 000000167
U.S. Open 000000136
The Open Championship 000001106
Totals0101134922

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
The Players Championship CUTCUTCUTCUTT42CUTCUTT44T27CUT
Tournament2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
The Players Championship T39T26CUT71T38T6T30T35
Tournament20202021
The Players Championship CT67
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament2002200320042005200620072008200920102011
Match Play R64R16R64R32R64R64R64
Championship T21T41T35T70T53T28
Invitational T51T2T28T36T2T27T45T48
Champions T45T29
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Slovakia's silver medalist, Rory Sabbatini, may see his PGA Tour season come to an abrupt end". Golf Digest. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Week 38 2007 Ending 23 Sep 2007" (pdf). OWGR . Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  3. ↑ "Rory Sabbatini je slovenský občan (Rory Sabbatini is a Slovak citizen)" (in Slovak). 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  4. ↑ "Rory Sabbatini now playing for Slovakia". USA Today . 11 January 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  5. ↑ George, Dave (4 March 2011). "Commentary: Instigator Rory Sabbatini speaks loudly, carries a big shtick". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 26 July 2013. In a Golf Magazine article posted on Rory's personal website, this South African of Italian, Irish and Scottish ancestry refers to himself as Jekyll and Hyde – intense and aggressive on the course and easy-going everywhere else.
  6. ↑ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
  7. ↑ "Players who have reached the Top Ten in the Official World Golf Ranking since 1986". European Tour Official Guide 09 (38th ed.). PGA European Tour. 2009. p. 558. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  8. ↑ Official World Golf Ranking – 23 September 2007
  9. ↑ "Golf Major Championships".
  10. ↑ "Nation watches Sabbatini 'win' Par 3 Contest". ESPN. Associated Press. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  11. ↑ "Sabbatini Wins Byron Nelson After His Birdie on No. 16 Blunts a Late Charge". The New York Times . Associated Press. 24 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  12. ↑ "Rory Sabbatini and Kevin Tway win QBE Shootout". Associated Press News. 15 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  13. ↑ "Sabbatini apologizes to Crane after snapping". ESPN . 14 June 2005. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  14. ↑ Hack, Damon (11 May 2007). "Sabbatini's Goal Is to Win Tournaments, Not Friends". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  15. ↑ "Sabbatini has fan kicked off course". Golf.com. Associated Press. 5 August 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  16. ↑ "Agent: Last-place Sabbatini withdraws due to shin splints". ESPN. Associated Press. 16 December 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Report: Rory Sabbatini in trouble". ESPN. Associated Press. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  18. ↑ "V Tokiu by sme mali mať ďalšieho športovca. Sabbatini sa stal občanom Slovenska".
  19. ↑ Hoggard, Rex (9 January 2019). "Sabbatini says his new Slovak citizenship isn't about the Olympics". Golf Channel.
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