Tour Players

Burhill Golf Club is delighted to be associated with the following Tour Players.

Paul Casey
Paul Casey is an Honorary Member of Burhill Golf Club and burst onto the professional scene in 2000 following an extremely successful amateur career capturing the English Amateur title and achieving a record individual performance at the 1999 Walker Cup in Nairn, Scotland. Paul won a maximum of 4 points in the bi-annual match becoming only the third player to record four victories without a defeat. Whilst at college in Arizona he became the first player to win three successive Pac-10 Championships and in 2000 he beat the scoring record held by Tiger Woods.
During his first full year on Tour, Paul claimed a maiden victory at the Gleneagles Scottish PGA on his way to finishing 22nd in the order of Merit. That performance saw him named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year a title held by three Burhill Professionals; Pip Elson 1973, Gary Orr 1993 and Paul Casey 2001.
Paul has continued to progress up the world rankings and has notched up 8 European Tour victories in 8 years on Tour, achieving 3rd in the World Rankings. He claimed his breakthrough victory on the US PGA Tour, at the Shell Houston Open in 2009, before the biggest victory of his career at The European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. A club where he also stormed to victory at the HSBC World Matchplay Championship in 2006, beating the world’s elite.
Paul has been a member of the last 3 Ryder Cup sides, notably, the successful 2004 and 2006 teams as well as 3 victories in the Seve Trophy. Paul claimed yet another team title in 2004 when he paired up with Luke Donald to win the World Cup of Golf. A good start to the 2011 season was stalled by niggling injuries. However, some good form towards the end of the year suggested a return to challenging for top honours may not be too far away.  

Gary Orr
Has had two European Tour Victories, both coming in 2000, capturing the Algarve Portuguese Open and the Victor Chandler British Masters, going on to finish 10th on the Order of Merit. Gary came close to capturing his third European Tour title at The 2009 European Open, only to be denied by a shot. He represented Scotland at all levels as an amateur and turned professional in 1988 becoming an assistant here at Burhill GC.
Gary graduated to The European at Qualifying School in 1992 and was named Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year after finishing 30th on the Order of Merit the following year. Gary has represented Scotland in the Alfred Dunhill Cup (1998, 1999, 2000), the World Cup in 2000 and GB&I in the Seve Trophy in 2000.
Gary is an Honorary Member of Burhill Golf Club.

Jamie Elson
Son of the Burhill Director of Golf, Pip Elson, who was winner of the 1973 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, Jamie attended Augusta State University between 1998 and 2002, where he developed into a player who would become a vital cog in the 2001 Walker Cup team which defeated America 15-9. Turned professional in March 2003, and claimed his maiden title in his third start on the Challenge Tour at the Volvo Finnish Open. Added another six top ten finishes to finish tenth in the Challenge Tour Rankings and graduate to The European Tour. Represented England at Boys, Youth and Senior levels between 1997 and 2002, and was part of the winning Palmer Cup team in 2000. Was also part of the winning Great Britain and Ireland team against the Continent of Europe for the St Andrews Trophy in 2002 and, that same year, represented England in the Eisenhower Trophy. After recently struggling with his game, he secured a return to The European Tour via the 2009 Qualifying School – Final Stage, where he took the 15th card.
In 2011, three top 5 finishes in the first half of the season saw Jamie comfortably positioned in the Order of Merit. However, a loss of form during the final few months saw him finish the year just outside automatic qualification for 2012. A return to the Final Qualifying Tour School saw him dramatically hole a 40ft putt on the last green of the final round to secure his playing card for the 2012 season. In the second tournament of the 2012 season, the Johannesberg Open, Jamie posted a superb last round 63, 9 under par, to finish in 2nd place. he lost by just one shot to Branden Grace, but earned a cool 150,000 euros.

Nick Job
Job turned professional in 1965 and joined the European Tour in its first official season in 1972. He finished in the top one hundred on the European Tour Order of Merit twelve times, with a best ranking of 26th in 1981. His best tournament result on the European Tour came at the 1978 Greater Manchester Open, where he lost to Brian Barnes in a playoff.

Since turning fifty he has won five times on the European Seniors Tour. Nick also worked as a club professional at Richmond Golf Club, London, for many years and represented Great Britain and Ireland in four PGA Cups and also served as a Committee Member and Captain of the Southern PGA and the Surrey PGA. Returned to the committee room at the start of 2007, when he joined the Senior Tour Committee.

Neil Coles MBE
Neil Coles is only the second man (after Sam Snead) to win a professional golf tournament in six different decades, starting in the 1950s and extending into the 21st century.
He won thirty-one events in his regular career, including seven after the European Tour was officially established in 1972. The European Tour's official site states that Coles won twenty-five times on the tour, meaning that 25 of the tournaments he won are regarded as having equivalent status to official European Tour events. His last European Tour win came in 1982.
While he never became one of the leading stars of global golf due to a fear of flying, and did not win a major championship, Coles was remarkable for his consistency, and even more for his durability. He was five times a top-ten finisher in the Open Championship, finishing third in 1961 and second in 1973. He led the British Order of Merit in both 1963 and 1970, and maintained a top-ten position in the Merit list for almost every year of the 1960s and 1970s decades. He was ranked 7th in the world on the inaugural Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in December 1968, a position he regained at the end of 1970.
He finished in the top ten on the European Seniors Tour's order of merit eight times between 1992 and 2000. In 2002, during which season he turned sixty eight, he finished eleventh. In that year he won the Lawrence Batley Seniors Tournament at the age of 67 years and 276 days, more than four years older than any previous winner of a Seniors professional golf tournament. He also had a third place finish in 2003. His final win tally on the Senior Tour was nine. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.
Neil Coles is currently (January 2007) the chairman of the PGA European Tour's board of directors. He is also a golf course architect designing courses such as Chartham Park and also the PGA courses at Catalunya in Girona, Spain, home of this years Final Tour School qualifying event.

Daniel Gaunt
Daniel turned professional in 1999 and has played on many different Tours since. Gaunt qualified for the European Tour via qualifying school at the end of 2003. He was unable to retain his card, and has played predominantly on lower level tours since 2005. He has won several events on those tours including 4 victories on the PGA EuroPro Tour and is currently leading the Europro Tour for 2010. Daniel has also won four events on the Pro 66 Tour including a course record 60 this year at our very own Old Course beating previous course record holder, Retief Goosen, by 2 shots.
In July 2010 Gaunt received an invite to the English Challenge on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour which he won on the 18th green of the final round which gave him a year's exemption on that tour. After his first full year playing on the main European Tour, Dan just missed out on retaining his playing rights for 2012 and unfortunately missed out at tour school. 2012 will see him playing a combination of European Tour and Challenge tour events.