Neil Coles

Neil Coles

Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. As of 2005, Coles is only the second man (after Sam Snead) to win a professional golf tournament in six different decades, starting in the 1950s and extending into the 21st century.

Coles was born in England. He won thirty-one events in his regular career, including seven after the European Tour was officially established in 1972. The European Tour's official site states that Coles won twenty-five times on the tour, meaning that 25 of the tournaments he won are regarded as having equivalent status to official European Tour events . His last European Tour win came in 1982.

While he never became one of the leading stars of global golf, and did not win a major championship, Coles was remarkable for his consistency, and even more for his durability. He was five times a top-ten finisher in the Open Championship, finishing third in 1961 and second in 1973, although arguably his closest chances came in 1970 (when he led after a first-round 65 and was only 3 off the lead going into the final round) and 1975 (where he followed second and third rounds of 69 and 67 with a 74 at Carnoustie, when a 70 would have earned him the Claret Jug). He led the British Order of Merit in both 1963 and 1970, and maintained a top-ten position in the Merit list for almost every year of the 1960s and 1970s decades. He was ranked 7th in the world on the inaugural Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in December 1968, a position he regained at the end of 1970. Even at the peak of his career he made few appearances in the U.S. because of his fear of flying.

He finished in the top ten on the European Seniors Tour's order of merit eight times between 1992 and 2000. Coles was the winner of the inaugural Senior British Open Championship. In 2002, during which season he turned sixty eight, he finished eleventh. In that year he won the Lawrence Batley Seniors Tournament at the age of 67 years and 276 days, more than four years older than any previous winner of a Seniors professional golf tournament. He also had a third place finish in 2003. His final win tally on the Senior Tour was nine. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.

Coles is currently (January 2007) the chairman of the PGA European Tour's board of directors. He is also a golf course architect designing courses such as Chartham Park.