Ross Ian Thomas McGowan (born 23 April 1982) is an English 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. He has won twice 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 ...

, the 2009 Madrid Masters and the 2020 Italian Open.

Early life and amateur career

McGowan was born in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

, Essex, and grew up in

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, London, Sutton, south-west of Croydon, north of Reigate, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Dow ...

, Surrey and educated at

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a benevolent institution which provided a boarding school education for sons of poor or deceased members ...

. With the assistance of College Prospects of America, he went to university in the United States and played collegiate golf at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. McGowan won the 2006

English Amateur The English Amateur is the national amateur match play golf championship of England. It has been played annually since 1925 (except for war years) and is organised by England Golf. The English Men's Amateur Championship is contested through tw ...

, where he defeated

Oliver Fisher Oliver James Fisher (born 13 September 1988) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He also played in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series. Early years and amateur career Fisher was born in Chingford, London. He ...

in the final by the score of 5&4. Shortly after that he turned professional.

Professional career

McGowan led the 2007

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 ...

Rankings going into the

Apulia San Domenico Grand Final The Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final is the season-ending tour championship on the Challenge Tour. The field currently consists of the top 45 players on the Challenge Tour rankings vying for twenty European Tour cards. It has been played annually s ...

, thanks to two wins and three runner-up finishes during the year. Having finished in a tie for 28th place in the final event of the season, he dropped to second place on the money list, as

Mike Lorenzo-Vera Michaël Lorenzo-Vera (born 28 January 1985) is a French former professional golfer who played on the European Tour. Career Lorenzo-Vera was born in Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in South-West France. After turning professional in 2005, Lorenz ...

won the tournament and jumped to the top of the Challenge Tour's money list. Courtesy of his final Challenge Tour Rankings position in 2007, McGowan graduated to the

for the 2008 season. He moved into the top 100 of the

Official World Golf Rankings 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 ...

in January of that year, and in June played in his first major championship, the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He made the halfway cut and eventually finished in 77th place. McGowan won his first European Tour event in 2009 at the Madrid Masters, most notably for shooting 12 under par 60 in the third round. He finished at −25, winning by three strokes over

Mikko Ilonen Mikko Ilonen (born 18 December 1979) is a retired Finland, Finnish professional golfer who played on the European Tour, winning five times. He is considered to be the most successful golfer from Finland. Career Ilonen was born in Lahti, Finland. ...

. McGowan finished second at the inaugural

Dubai World Championship The DP World Tour Championship is a golf tournament on the European Tour and is the climax of the Race to Dubai. It is contested on the Greg Norman-designed Earth course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The title spo ...

, and was ranked 12th in the

Race to Dubai 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 ...

. Following this McGowan suffered injuries and his form slumped. He lost his full playing rights at the end of the 2011 season. From 2012 to 2015 he played on the

and 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 ...

. He showed a return to form in 2015, winning for the first time on the Sunshine Tour in April at the Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open, finishing two strokes ahead South African golfer

Daniel van Tonder Daniel van Tonder (born 12 March 1991) is a South African professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour and the Sunshine Tour. Professional career Van Tonder turned professional in 2011 and played on the Sunshine Tour. He has won 12 times ...

. In May he was runner-up in the

D+D Real Czech Challenge D, or d, is the fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History T ...

, a stroke behind Jens Fahrbring. At the end of the year he finished tied for 4th in the 2015 European Tour Qualifying School final stage at PGA Catalunya Resort to regain his

card for 2016. In 2016, McGowan made 6 cuts from 18 events and lost his place on the European Tour. At the end of 2017, he again gained a place on the European Tour through the

European Tour Qualifying School The European Tour Qualifying School is an annual golf tournament which enables professional golfers to gain a place on the European Tour and its official development tour, the Challenge Tour. The European Tour Qualifying School In professiona ...

. 2018 was another disappointing season on the main tour and he returned to the

for 2019. In May 2019, he won the

, his first win on the Challenge Tour since 2007. As a Challenge Tour winner in 2019, McGowan was able to get an entry to a number of

events in 2020. In October, he won the Italian Open by one shot over

Laurie Canter Laurence Richard Canter (born 3 November 1989) is an English professional golfer who has been ranked inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. He has been a member of the European Tour, and also played on LIV Golf, the Asian Tour, and ...

and Nicolas Colsaerts. It was his first European Tour victory in over 11 years.

Amateur wins

*2006

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (2)

Sunshine Tour wins (1)

Sunshine Tour playoff record (0–1)

Challenge Tour wins (3)

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–1)

MENA Golf Tour wins (2)

Results in major championships

''Note: McGowan never played 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 ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

(representing England):

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 19 ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2006 (winners)

References

External links

* *
Ross McGowan
at the

Athletics official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGowan, Ross English male golfers Tennessee Volunteers men's golfers European Tour golfers Sunshine Tour golfers Sportspeople from Basildon People from Banstead People educated at Epsom College 1982 births Living people 21st-century English sportsmen