José María Olazábal (born 5 February 1966 in Fuenterrabia , Spain) is a professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the PGA European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.
Olazábal burst only the golf scene in 1986, when he finished second on the PGA European Tour order of merit in his first season at the age of twenty. In his first nine seasons, he finished in the top 10 every year except two, including another second place in 1989. He was unable to play in 1995 and 1996 due to a foot injury which it was feared would terminate his career, but he recovered and recorded further top ten placing in the order of merit in 1997, 1999 and 2000. He has more than twenty career titles on this tour.
Both of Olazábal's majors have come in the United States, namely The Masters in 1994 and 1999. He has been highly placed in The Masters on a number of other occasions.
In 2000 Olazábal began to play on the PGA Tour, while also retaining his membership of the European Tour. He had a solid year on the PGA Tour in 2002, when he won nearly two million dollars and came twenty fourth on the money list, but has not duplicated the success he enjoyed in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. As of February 2005, he has six career PGA Tour titles, five of them won before he became a full member of the Tour.
Olazábal was a member of the European Ryder Cup team in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 1999. He had a famous partnership with fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros.
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