Robert Anthony May (born October 6, 1968) is an American

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 is most notable for losing to

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

in a three-hole playoff for the

2000 PGA Championship The 2000 PGA Championship was the 82nd PGA Championship, held August 17–20 at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. It was the second time for the event at Valhalla, which hosted four years earlier in 1996. Tiger Woods won his second ...

Valhalla In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvang ...

Early life and amateur career

May was born on October 6, 1968. He attended Los Altos High School in

Hacienda Heights, California Hacienda Heights () is an unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated bedroom community, suburban community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the community had a total population of 54,191, up from 54 ...

, and was featured in the Faces in the Crowd section in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' at age 16 in 1984. He played college golf at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in Stillwater, and was a member of the American

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

team in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

before turning professional later that year.

Professional career

May joined the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. He did not win on the Tour, but he finished second three times, including a playoff loss to

at the

, and most recently at the 2006 B.C. Open at

Turning Stone Resort & Casino Turning Stone Resort Casino is a Native American resort casino owned and operated by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York (OIN) in Verona, New York. The facility opened on July 20, 1993, and offers golf amenities (on- and off-site golf course ...

, where he lost by one to John Rollins. However he won the 1999 Victor Chandler British Masters 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 career was curtailed by a back injury in 2003, and in 2006 he played the PGA Tour on a Major Medical Exemption. After the 2007 season, he lost his PGA Tour card. From 2008 through 2010, May played primarily on the Nationwide Tour (now the

Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

) along with some PGA Tour events. He lost his status on the minor-league tour after missing 15 of 25 cuts in 2010; he played in only eight tournaments in 2011 and just twice in 2012. May was in the top 50 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

for much of 2000 and 2001.

Professional wins (1)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1) Ben Hogan Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Canceled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament

Results in senior major championships

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

(winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Bob American male golfers Oklahoma State Cowboys golfers PGA Tour golfers European Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from California Sportspeople from Lynwood, California Golfers from Las Vegas 1968 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen