Thomas Levet | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Full name | Thomas Jean Roger Levet |
Born | 5 September 1968 Paris, France |
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Sporting nationality | France |
Residence | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S. |
Spouse | Caroline (m. 1998) |
Children | 3 |
Career | |
Turned professional | 1988 |
Current tour(s) | European Senior Tour |
Former tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour |
Professional wins | 15 |
Highest ranking | 41 (2 January 2005) [1] |
Number of wins by tour | |
European Tour | 6 |
European Senior Tour | 3 |
Other | 6 |
Best results in major championships | |
Masters Tournament | T13: 2005 |
PGA Championship | T51: 2009 |
U.S. Open | T18: 2002 |
The Open Championship | T2: 2002 |
Thomas Jean Roger Levet (born 5 September 1968) is a French professional golfer who is a member of the European Tour and former member of the PGA Tour.
Levet was born in Paris, France. He turned professional in 1988 and won the French PGA Championship that year. He first qualified for the European Tour for the 1991 season and spent the next six years on the tour, splitting time with the PGA Tour in 1994. He made only three cuts on the European Tour in 1996 and fell to the second-tier Challenge Tour. He regained his European Tour card in April 1998 by winning the Cannes Open, to which he had gained access through the French Golf Federation.
In 2002, he finished second at The Open Championship at Muirfield, being one of four players in a playoff. He had a good chance to win, but bogeyed the final hole of the four-hole playoff to fall into sudden death with Ernie Els, where he again bogeyed to lose to Els.
After spending 2003 on the PGA Tour, he returned to the European Tour in 2004. He claimed the most prestigious title of his career at the Scottish Open, and was a member of the winning 2004 European Ryder Cup Team. Levet ended the season 5th on the Order of Merit, and returned to the PGA Tour in 2005.
Levet suffers from severe vertigo, which almost forced him out of the game, [2] however he has made strides to overcome the condition, and has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.
In 2008 he won his fourth European Tour title, beating nineteen-year-old Oliver Fisher in a sudden death playoff in the MAPFRE Open de Andalucia.
His fifth win on the European Tour came at the 2009 Open de España where he held off a charging Fabrizio Zanotti, who shot a final round 65, by two strokes finishing 18 under par. [3] With this win Levet became the leading Frenchman in terms of European Tour wins.
Levet won his sixth European Tour title in July 2011 when he triumphed in his native country, at the Alstom Open de France by one stroke from Englishman Mark Foster and Dane Thorbjørn Olesen. [4] He became the 7th French player to win the tournament after Jean-François Remésy. While celebrating his victory, Levet jumped into a lake, breaking his shin, and causing him to withdraw from The Open Championship. [5]
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 19 Apr 1998 | Cannes Open | −6 (69-71-65-73=278) | 1 stroke | Phillip Price, Sven Strüver, Greg Turner |
2 | 3 Jun 2001 | Victor Chandler British Masters | −14 (69-69-67-69=274) | Playoff | Mathias Grönberg, David Howell, Robert Karlsson |
3 | 11 Jul 2004 | Barclays Scottish Open | −15 (70-67-69-63=269) | 1 stroke | Michael Campbell |
4 | 30 Mar 2008 | MAPFRE Open de Andalucía | −16 (69-68-68-67=272) | Playoff | Oliver Fisher |
5 | 3 May 2009 | Open de España | −18 (64-67-71-68=270) | 2 strokes | Fabrizio Zanotti |
6 | 3 Jul 2011 | Alstom Open de France | −7 (70-70-67-70=277) | 1 stroke | Mark Foster, Thorbjørn Olesen |
European Tour playoff record (2–2)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2001 | Victor Chandler British Masters | Mathias Grönberg, David Howell, Robert Karlsson | Won with birdie on third extra hole Howell and Karlsson eliminated by par on first hole |
2 | 2002 | The Open Championship | Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, Ernie Els | Els won with par on first extra hole after four-hole aggregate playoff; Els: E (4-3-5-4=16), Levet: E (4-2-5-5=16), Appleby: +1 (4-3-5-5=17), Elkington: +1 (5-3-4-5=17) |
3 | 2004 | Telecom Italia Open | Graeme McDowell | Lost to par on fourth extra hole |
4 | 2008 | MAPFRE Open de Andalucía | Oliver Fisher | Won with par on first extra hole |
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 Oct 2019 | Farmfoods European Senior Masters | −10 (69-69-68=206) | 1 stroke | Markus Brier |
2 | 4 Sep 2021 | Legends Open de France | −13 (67-65-68=200) | 3 strokes | David Morland IV |
3 | 12 Sep 2021 | Scottish Senior Open | −9 (70-69-65=204) | Playoff | Markus Brier |
European Senior Tour playoff record (1–0)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2021 | Scottish Senior Open | Markus Brier | Won with par on first extra hole |
PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2002 | The Open Championship | Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, Ernie Els | Els won with par on first extra hole after four-hole aggregate playoff; Els: E (4-3-5-4=16), Levet: E (4-2-5-5=16), Appleby: +1 (4-3-5-5=17), Elkington: +1 (5-3-4-5=17) |
Tournament | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | CUT | T13 | CUT | |||||||||||
U.S. Open | T18 | CUT | T52 | CUT | T45 | CUT | ||||||||
The Open Championship | CUT | T49 | T66 | T2 | T22 | T5 | T34 | T38 | CUT | |||||
PGA Championship | 71 | CUT | CUT | T51 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
The Open Championship | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 7 |
PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
Totals | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 13 |
Tournament | 2003 |
---|---|
The Players Championship | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match Play | R64 | |||||
Championship | T28 | |||||
Invitational | T32 | T46 | T54 | |||
Champions | T57 |
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.
Amateur
Professional
Theodore Ernest Els is a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is nicknamed "The Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutive ones from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events, the most of any British player, placing him fourth on the all-time list of golfers with most European Tour victories.
Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as a professional, most notably the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters Tournament. García was also the Chairman of Spanish football team CF Borriol.
Lee John Westwood is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, he is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He has also won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. He was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2020 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 and 2020 Race to Dubai. He has frequently been mentioned as one of the best golfers without a major championship victory, with several near misses including three runner-up finishes.
Pádraig Peter Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in the top-10 of the world rankings, and reached a career-high ranking of the third spot in July 2008. Harrington was a member of six consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. In 2024, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Jesper Bo Parnevik is a Swedish professional golfer. He spent 38 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2000 and 2001.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez Rodríguez is a Spanish professional golfer. He has won 21 times on the European Tour, holds the records for the most starts on the European Tour and being the first player over 50 to win on the European Tour and has been a member of two victorious Ryder Cup teams.
Luke Campbell Donald MBE is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour.
Paul Alexander Casey is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Paul Andrew Broadhurst is an English professional golfer. He won six times on the European Tour and played in the 1991 Ryder Cup. Since turning 50, he has had success in senior events, winning the 2016 Senior Open Championship and the 2018 Senior PGA Championship.
Thomas Bjørn is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also became the first Dane to qualify for a European Ryder Cup team. He captained the winning European side at the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Graeme McDowellMBE is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. In 2022, he joined LIV Golf. McDowell has also represented Ireland at the World Cup and he has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team on four occasions. He has appeared in the top-10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, with a highest ranking position of 4th.
Jean van de Velde is a French professional golfer, who formerly played on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is best known for his runner-up finish at the 1999 Open Championship, where he lost a three-shot lead on the final hole.
Francesco Molinari is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a successful season in which he won the 2018 BMW PGA Championship, his fifth win on the European Tour, and the Quicken Loans National, his first PGA Tour win. At the end of the season, Molinari won 5 out of 5 points as Europe won the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Oliver James Fisher is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He also played in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Jason Christopher Dufner is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour where he is a five-time winner. He has won one major championship, the 2013 PGA Championship. He was also runner-up in the 2011 PGA Championship, losing a playoff to Keegan Bradley. Dufner was ranked in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking for 50 weeks; his career-high ranking is sixth in September 2012.
Ross Daniel Fisher is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he has won five times, including the 2009 Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin Golf Club in Spain.
Alexander Norén is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has won ten tournaments on the European Tour, including the BMW PGA Championship, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the British Masters, HNA Open de France and the Nedbank Golf Challenge. He was a member of the winning 2018 European Ryder Cup team.
Jacob Thorbjørn Olesen is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he has won eight times including the 2016 Turkish Airlines Open and the 2018 Italian Open. He has also won two important pairs events, representing Denmark; the 2016 World Cup of Golf with Søren Kjeldsen and the 2017 GolfSixes with Lucas Bjerregaard.
Bernd Klaus Wiesberger is an Austrian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and formerly on the LIV Golf League. He finished the 2019 European Tour season in third place on the Race to Dubai standings, his best finish to date.