Michael George Wilfred Hoey (born 13 February 1979) is a retired Northern Irish

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 ...

who played 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 ...

and the

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 ...

Amateur career

Hoey was born in

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated ...

but played much of his early golf at Shandon Park Golf Club in East Belfast. He won the British Amateur Championship in 2001 and was a member of the victorious 2001 Great Britain & Ireland

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. As British Amateur Champion, he was invited to play in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

in 2002, where he missed the cut by a single stroke. He turned professional later that year. He played his collegiate golf at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

Professional career

Until 2009, Hoey had struggled to secure his place on the main

and had mostly competed in the second tier

where he has three tournament victories, the 2005 BA-CA Golf Open, the 2007 Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata, and the 2008 Banque Populaire Moroccan Classic. He finished 8th on the end of season rankings in 2005, which gave him automatic promotion to the European Tour. Following a largely unsuccessful début season in 2006, he returned to the Challenge Tour the following year. He regained his playing privileges on the European Tour for the 2009 season at final

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 ...

. Early in 2009, Hoey finished runner-up to Retief Goosen in the Africa Open on the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...

. Then in April, he claimed his first European Tour title, at the Estoril Open de Portugal where he defeated Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño on the third hole of a sudden death playoff. The win also gave him a one-year exemption on the European Tour. He won twice in 2011, including his most prestigious title to date at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He picked up his fourth victory on the European Tour in 2012 at the Trophée Hassan II. In July 2013, Hoey won his fifth European Tour title at the M2M Russian Open, prevailing by four strokes from Alexandre Kaleka and Matthew Nixon. His victory was set up by a third round score of 65, which took him into the lead heading into the final round. Hoey represented Ireland, alongside Gareth Maybin at the 2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup where they finished in 24th position. In February 2022, Hoey announced his retirement from professional golf, becoming a referee on the European Tour.

Amateur wins

*1998 Irish Amateur Open Championship *2001 Amateur Championship

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (5)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

Challenge Tour wins (4)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = disqualified
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur * European Youths' Team Championship (representing Ireland): 1998, 2000 * European Amateur Team Championship (representing Ireland):

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Palmer Cup The Palmer Cup is a 1200–1215 CE goblet from northern Syria or Jazira region, Jazira, and an example of early Islamic glass. It is sometimes described as "Ayyubid", since it corresponds to the time when the Ayyubids disputed control of areas of ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

(winners) Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing Ireland):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...