Robert Gates Jr. (born December 31, 1985) 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 ...

Early life and education

Gates was born and raised in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. He attended F. W. Buchholz High School, and in his senior year, he led its

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

team in scoring average. Gates was named ''Scholar Athlete of the Year'' for

Alachua County, Florida Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida. History Prehistory and ear ...

. Gates attended

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, graduating in 2008 with a degree in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Career

Gates turned professional after graduation and played on the Gateway Tour in 2008.2010 PGA Tour Media Guide
He also played on the

Canadian Tour PGA Tour Canada, commonly referred to as the Canadian Tour, was a men's professional golf tour headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The United States–based PGA Tour took over operation of the tour on November 1, 2012, at which time it was renamed ...

in 2009, finishing 22nd on the Order of Merit. Gates joined the Nationwide Tour in 2010 after finishing T-42 at the 2009

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 ...

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 ...

. He won in his debut event on Tour, the 2010 Michael Hill New Zealand Open.Gates closes out New Zealand title
/ref> He finished the year 16th on the money list and earned his 2011 PGA Tour card. He missed retaining his tour card by one spot and $1,431;

D. J. Trahan Donald Roland "D.J." Trahan, Jr. (born December 18, 1980) is an American professional golfer. Early life Trahan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Don Trahan. Shortly after being born his parents moved to Hilton Head Island, South Carolin ...

got the 125th and final PGA Tour card for 2012. Gates later regained his Tour Card through Q School. Gates finished outside the top 125 (141st) on the money list in 2012 and earned his 2013 PGA Tour card through Q School. He made only four cuts in 20 events. He played in the Web.com Tour Finals and finished 35th to earn his PGA Tour card for 2014. In 2013–14, he played in only 14 events due to injury, making one cut. He has not played in a PGA Tour event since the 2014

Travelers Championship The Travelers Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Cromwell, Connecticut, a suburb south of Hartford. Since 1984 the tournament has been held at TPC River Highlands. It is managed by The Greater Hartford Community Fou ...

and has a five-event medical extension available upon his return. Gates retired from professional golf in 2018 and started Summit Golf School in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a Special district (United States), special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands ...

. He qualified for the

2025 PGA Championship The 2025 PGA Championship was the 107th edition of the PGA Championship and the second of the men's four Men's major golf championships, major golf championships held in 2025. The tournament was held on May 15–18 at the Quail Hollow Club in Ch ...

and plays out of the Southern Texas section of the PGA.

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Nationwide 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. ...

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently titled as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf ...

Gateway Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

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

Results in World Golf Championships

WD = withdrew

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Bobby American male golfers Texas A&M Aggies men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Texas Golfers from Florida Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas Sportspeople from The Woodlands, Texas 1985 births Living people