Carl Mason

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Carl Mason
Personal information
Full nameStuart Carl Mason
Born (1953-06-25) 25 June 1953 (age 70)
Buxton, Derbyshire, England
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Sporting nationality England
ResidenceAdderbury, Oxfordshire, England
SpouseBeryl
Career
Turned professional1973
Current tour(s)European Senior Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins31
Highest ranking83 (8 January 1995)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour2
European Senior Tour25 (1st all-time)
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipT4: 1980
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year
1974
European Seniors Tour
Rookie of the Year
2003
European Seniors Tour
Order of Merit winner
2003, 2004, 2007

Stuart Carl Mason (born 25 June 1953) is an English professional golfer.

Mason was born in Buxton, Derbyshire. He won several amateur tournaments before turning professional and becoming something of a journeyman on the European Tour. After twenty years of trying he finally won on tour for the first time in 1994.[2] His biggest successes, however, came after turning 50. He picked up 25 tournament victories on the European Senior Tour and headed the Order of Merit three times, becoming the leading career money winner on the tour.[3]

Career[edit]

Regular career[edit]

Mason turned professional in 1973, following an outstanding amateur career playing out of Goring & Streatley Golf Club, and was a rookie on the European Tour the following year. He finished in 67th place on the Order of Merit that year and was a recipient of the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award. He made the top 100 on the European Tour Order of Merit twenty three years in a row up to 1996, with a best ranking of 19th in 1994. In 1980, he finished tied for 4th with Jack Nicklaus in The Open Championship held at Muirfield.

Despite those successes, Mason only won twice on the European Tour, both times in 1994. His first victory came at the 455th attempt, in the Turespana Masters Open de Andalucia, and the second in the Scottish Open just a few months later.[4] He also won three times on the Safari Circuit in Africa.

European Senior Tour[edit]

After a spell working for the PGA European Tour as a tournament referee, he joined the European Seniors Tour on turning fifty. He was immediately successful as a senior, winning four of his first eleven events and topping the Order of Merit in 2003 and 2004. He was Order of Merit runner-up in each of the following two seasons before recapturing the top spot in 2007. That year, after winning the European Senior Masters, he surpassed Tommy Horton as the highest career money earner on the European Seniors Tour.[5] The next week he won the PGA Seniors Championship, and went on to finish the 2007 season with earnings of €412,376, a new record for money won in a season on the tour, breaking his previous record of €354,775 set in 2004. In 2010, he won his 23rd EST event, which placed him in a tie with Tommy Horton for the most EST wins.[6] In May 2011, Mason who his 24th event, the OKI Open de Espana Senior.[3] He won his 25th event at the Benahavis Senior Masters in October 2011.

Amateur wins[edit]

Professional wins (30)[edit]

European Tour wins (2)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 27 Feb 1994 Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucía −10 (67-70-71-70=278) 2 strokes Spain José María Olazábal
2 9 Jul 1994 Bell's Scottish Open −15 (67-69-61-68=265) 1 stroke England Peter Mitchell

Safari Circuit wins (2)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 25 Mar 1984 Zambia Open −12 (69-70-69-72=280) 2 strokes England Roger Chapman
2 1 Mar 1987 555 Kenya Open −9 (72-68-67-68=275) Playoff England Gordon J. Brand, England Roger Chapman,
England Martin Poxon

Other wins (2)[edit]

  • 1975 Lusaka Open
  • 1999 Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship

European Senior Tour wins (25)[edit]

Legend
Tour Championships (1)
Other European Senior Tour (24)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 13 Jul 2003 Mobile Cup −10 (69-66-68=203) 1 stroke England Bob Cameron
2 20 Sep 2003 The Daily Telegraph Turismo Andaluz
Seniors Match Play Championship
1 up Republic of Ireland Denis O'Sullivan
3 28 Sep 2003 Merseyside English Seniors Open −8 (71-66-71=208) 1 stroke Scotland Bill Longmuir, Republic of Ireland Denis O'Sullivan
4 12 Oct 2003 Estoril Seniors Tour Championship −11 (64-73-65=202) 8 strokes England Keith MacDonald, Australia Noel Ratcliffe,
Japan Dragon Taki
5 21 Mar 2004 Tobago Plantations Seniors Classic −9 (71-64-72=207) 3 strokes Australia David Good
6 6 Jun 2004 AIB Irish Seniors Open −10 (68-69-69=206) 1 stroke England Nick Job
7 8 Aug 2004 De Vere PGA Seniors Championship −13 (67-71-69-68=275) Playoff Japan Seiji Ebihara, England Jim Rhodes
8 11 Sep 2004 The Daily Telegraph Turismo Andaluz
European Seniors Match Play Championship
(2)
3 and 2 Scotland John Chillas
9 26 Sep 2004 ADT English Seniors Open (2) −3 (71-67-75=213) 3 strokes England Bob Cameron, Scotland John Chillas
10 26 Jun 2005 De Vere Northumberland Seniors Classic −16 (68-63-69=200) 3 strokes Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy
11 3 Jul 2005 Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open −5 (68-69-65=202) 5 strokes New Zealand Bob Charles, Republic of Ireland Denis O'Sullivan
12 10 Sep 2006 European Senior Masters −7 (73-67-69=209) 2 strokes Argentina Horacio Carbonetti
13 17 Sep 2006 Midas Group English Seniors Open (3) −4 (70-71-71=212) 1 stroke Australia Stewart Ginn
14 22 Oct 2006 Estoril Seniors Open of Portugal −9 (64-69-71=204) 4 strokes Australia Stewart Ginn, Scotland Sam Torrance
15 17 Jun 2007 Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open (2) −6 (73-69-68=210) 2 strokes Scotland Ross Drummond, Spain Juan Quirós
16 12 Aug 2007 Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open −16 (65-64-65=194) 6 strokes Argentina Horacio Carbonetti, Italy Costantino Rocca,
England David J. Russell
17 2 Sep 2007 European Senior Masters (2) −6 (71-66-73=210) Playoff Italy Costantino Rocca
18 9 Sep 2007 PGA Seniors Championship (2) −20 (67-67-67-67=268) 6 strokes France Philippe Dugeny, Italy Costantino Rocca
19 21 Oct 2007 OKI Castellón Open de España Senior −17 (66-68-65=199) 4 strokes Argentina Luis Carbonetti
20 10 Aug 2008 Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open (2) −15 (69-61-65=195) 2 strokes Scotland Bill Longmuir
21 28 Jun 2009 De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship (3) −9 (73-70-67-69=279) 3 strokes Paraguay Ángel Franco, South Africa Chris Williams
22 18 Oct 2009 Benahavis Senior Masters −7 (66-72-68=206) Playoff Scotland Gordon Brand Jnr
23 4 Jul 2010 Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open (3) −11 (64-67-68=199) 2 strokes United States Jerry Bruner
24 20 May 2011 OKI Open de España Senior (2) −13 (67-65-68=200) 4 strokes England George Ryall
25 16 Oct 2011 Benahavis Senior Masters (2) −9 (70-65-69=204) 3 strokes England Mark James, England Gary Wolstenholme

European Senior Tour playoff record (3–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2003 Senior British Open United States Tom Watson Lost to par on second extra hole
2 2004 De Vere PGA Seniors Championship Japan Seiji Ebihara, England Jim Rhodes Won with birdie on second extra hole
Rhodes eliminated by par on first hole
3 2007 Sharp Italian Seniors Open England Tony Allen, United States John Benda,
New Zealand Simon Owen
Owen won with birdie on first extra hole
4 2007 European Senior Masters Italy Costantino Rocca Won with birdie on first extra hole
5 2009 Benahavis Senior Masters Scotland Gordon Brand Jnr Won with birdie on second extra hole

Playoff record[edit]

Champions Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 Senior British Open United States Tom Watson Lost to par on second extra hole

Results in major championships[edit]

Tournament 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Open Championship CUT 62 T24 T50
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Open Championship T4 CUT CUT CUT CUT T56 T44 T57
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
The Open Championship T39 T67 CUT T22 CUT

Note: Mason only played in The Open Championship.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances[edit]

Professional

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Week 1 1995 Ending 8 Jan 1995" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ Glover, Tim (28 February 1994). "Mason's memorable end to his 20-year odyssey: A 40-year-old journeyman celebrates long-awaited victory". London: The Independent. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  3. ^ a b Record-breaker Mason makes history in Spain
  4. ^ Glover, Tim (11 July 1994). "Mason chips his way to unqualified success". London: The Independent. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  5. ^ "Mason makes history at Woburn". PGA European Tour. 2 September 2007. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Ace Mase equals record with victory in Switzerland". Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2010.

External links[edit]