Scott Pinckney (born March 13, 1989) 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 ...

who has played on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

Web.com 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. T ...

, and

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Amateur career

Pinckney was born in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Me ...

. He attended Boulder Creek High School in

Anthem, Arizona Anthem is a master-planned community partially located within Phoenix and partially located within a census-designated place (CDP), New River. The community is entirely located in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, within the Phoeni ...

and then

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

from 2008 to 2011. He won the 2010

Trans-Mississippi Amateur The Trans-Mississippi Amateur or Trans-Miss Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and was first played in 1901. It is played at a different course each year that are located near o ...

Championships at Denver Country Club after scoring a 6-under par 204 (69-66-66) and then beating Kevin Tway on the second playoff hole. As an amateur he played in the 2011 U.S. Open after tying for top spot in sectional qualifying. He scored 79 and 75 and missed the cut.

Professional career

Pinckney turned professional in July 2011. In the remainder of 2011 he played in a number of

events. He also played in the

Nordea Masters The Scandinavian Masters is an annual golf tournament on the European Tour played in Sweden. In 2020 the tournament became co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour and rebranded as the Scandinavian Mixed, in which both male and female golfers ...

where he finished tied for 35th and the Irish Open where he missed the cut. He finished tied for 24th in 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 professional ...

and earned his card for the 2012 season. He only just made the cut after the 4th round but a last round 65 lifted him from 66th after round 5 to a final 24th. His best result in the 2012 season was tied for 19th in the

Sicilian Open The Sicilian Open was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament. It was played for the first time in 2011. The event was held in Sicily at the Donnafugata Golf Resort & Spa. In 2012 the event was held at Verdura Golf & Spa Resort on ...

. He qualified for the

2012 Open Championship The 2012 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 141st Open Championship, held from 19 to 22 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. Ernie Els won his second Claret Jug, one stro ...

through Local Final Qualifying at West Lancashire where he had a final round of 64 that included two chip-ins on his way to a 7-under par back nine. He then had to go through a playoff to secure his spot in The Open. Pinckney fired a 2-under 68 in the first round but followed up with a 7-over 77 and missed the cut. Pinckney played on the

in 2014 after earning his tour card through

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 finished 13th (excluding the regular-season Top 25) in the 2014

Web.com Tour Finals The Korn Ferry Tour Finals is a series of three golf tournaments that serve as a means of earning PGA Tour membership for the following season ("Tour cards"). The series, which until 2019 consisted of four tournaments, replaced the PGA Tour Qualif ...

to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season. At the 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson, Pinckney put four under-par rounds together which culminated in a final round 66 and a tied for second place in the tournament.

Personal life

Pinckney is a friend of

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in th ...

, the two having met as eight-year-olds during the Doral Junior Publix, a junior tournament held annually in Miami, Florida. Four years later Rory McIlroy stayed with the Pinckney family in Utah for three months, playing various junior events. Pinckney is managed by International Sports Management.

Playoff record

Web.com Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut

References

External links

* * *
Profile on International Sports Management's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinckney, Scott American male golfers Arizona State Sun Devils men's golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Utah Sportspeople from Orem, Utah 1989 births Living people