Michele Reale (born 14 June 1971) is an Italian professional

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 ...

er. Reale was born in

Biella Biella (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the northern Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the Province of Biella, province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. Having won the Italian Under 20 Championship as an amateur in 1991, 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 ...

the following year. Reale played in three tournaments on the second tier European

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 ...

in 1992, before making his first attempt at qualifying for the top level

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 ...

. He got through to the final stage of

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 ...

, but had to settle for a place on the second tier for 1993. He failed to graduate through qualifying school in each of the next four years, but his performances on the Challenge Tour steadily improved, culminating in 1997 when he won twice on his way to the top of the rankings, and a place on the European Tour for 1998. Unfortunately, during his rookie season on the European Tour, Reale contracted

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

, and wound up back at qualifying school at the end of the year. This time he was successful, but in 1999 again enjoyed a fruitless season at the highest level, and returned to the Challenge Tour for 2000. He finished that season in 5th place on the rankings, to gain promotion back to the European Tour. He has since spent most of his career on the Challenge Tour, visiting qualifying school every year, with success in 2001 and 2005, but has failed to improve on his début showing of 120th on the European Tour Order of Merit.

Professional wins (5)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Challenge Tour playoff record (2–1)

Other wins (3)

*1991 Italian Under 20 Championship (as an amateur) *1992 Italian PGA Championship *1994 Italian Under 25 Championship

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

(representing Italy): 1990 (winners)

References

External links