Simon Wakefield (born 14 April 1974) is an English

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 ...

Early life and amateur career

Wakefield was born in

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

and is the nephew of former England

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er Bob Taylor. He won the 1996 Tillman Trophy in addition to several county amateur championships.

Professional career

In 1997, he turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

. Early in his career, Wakefield played predominantly on the second tier

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 ...

before winning 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 ...

via

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

at the end of 1999. He failed to retain his tour card during his rookie season and dropped back to the Challenge Tour for 2001. He won his first professional tournament in 2002 at the Tessali Open del Sud, and went on to finish 9th on the Challenge Tour Rankings to graduate back to the European Tour for 2003. Wakefield finished the 2003 European Tour season inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit to retain his card, but was back at the tour school at the end of 2004 having just missed out on keeping his place via the money list. He won his card back, and has secured his place on the European Tour since then with solid performances, although he has yet to win a tournament at the highest level. In 2005, he won his second professional title, the

Dimension Data Pro-Am The Dimension Data Pro-Am, currently titled as the NTT Data Pro-Am, is an annual golf tournament which is played on the South African Sunshine Tour, founded in 1996. The tournament was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first two years. ...

in South Africa.

Amateur wins

*1996 Tillman Trophy

Professional wins (2)

Sunshine Tour wins (1)

Challenge Tour wins (1)

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–2)

Results in major championships

''Note: Wakefield only played in The Open Championship.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, Simon English male golfers European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Newcastle-under-Lyme 1974 births Living people