Neil Coles

Who is Neil Coles?

Neil Chapman Coles, MBE is an English professional golfer. As of 2005, Coles is only the second man to win a professional golf tournament in six different decades, starting in the 1950s and extending into the 21st century.

Coles was born in England. 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, 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, although arguably his closest chances came in 1970 and 1975. 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. Even at the peak of his career he made few appearances in the U.S. because of his fear of flying.