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Rafael Alarcón (golfer)

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Rafael Alarcón
Personal information
Full nameRafael Alarcón Menchaca
Born (1958-08-05) 5 August 1958 (age 66)
Guadalajara, Mexico
Sporting nationality Mexico
ResidenceGuadalajara, Mexico
Children3
Career
CollegeOklahoma State University
Turned professional1980
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Nike Tour
Canadian Tour
Tour de las Américas
Professional wins3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenT52: 1985
The Open ChampionshipDNP

Rafael Alarcón (born 5 August 1958)[1] is a Mexican professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour.

Early life

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Alarcón was born and raised in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, playing golf from young age at Guadalajara Country Club, one of the oldest golf clubs in Mexico.[2]

Amateur career

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He played on two NCAA Division I Championship winning teams, 1976 and 1978, and was a three-time All-American while attending Oklahoma State University. In 1976 he lost in a playoff to Jim Nelford at the Canadian Amateur Championship. In 1977, he was runner-up at the Western Amateur, losing in the final. Three years after his playoff loss at the Canadian Amateur, he won the championship at Brantford Golf Club, Ontario, and another important amateur tournament in North America, the Southern Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst.

Alarcón represented Mexico three times in the Eisenhower Trophy, the first time in 1974 at age 16. In 1980, at Pinehurst Country Club, North Carolina, the Mexican team finished 9th.[3][4]

Professional career

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Alarcón turned professional after the 1980 amateur season and played in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In 1981, he finished runner-up to Tim Simpson at the unofficial European Tour approved event Cacharel World Under-25 Championship in Nimes, France.

His first professional win abroad came in 1984 at the Indian Open on the Asia Golf Circuit.[5]

Alarcón qualified for the 1983 PGA Tour season.[1][6] Alarcón never won on the PGA Tour, to match Cesar Sanudo and Victor Regalado, who, at the time of Alarcon's active career, were the only native Mexican golfers to have done so. Alarcón's best finish was tied 19th at the 1997 Kemper Open.

Two years in a row, 1995 and 1996, Alarcón finished runner-up in a tournament on the American second-tier Nike Tour, later named the Korn Ferry Tour, namely the Nike Monterrey Open, played in his home country of Mexico. In 1995, winner Stuart Appleby needed seven extra playoff holes to beat Alarcón.

Alarcón won the 1990 Mexican PGA Championship and led the Mexican PGA Tour in earnings 1989−1992.[7]

Alarcón represented Mexico seven times in the World Cup and twice in the Dunhill Cup. In the 1995 World Cup of Golf at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, the Mexico team of Alarcón and Esteban Toledo finished tied 10th, eight strokes from second place.

On 1 December 1997, Alarcón won the Compaq World Putting Championship by Dave Pelz at the Bonnett Creek Golf Club at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. He beat Spike McRoy on the second sudden-death playoff hole, winning a first prize of $250,000. Second prize was $50,000.[8]

At 43 years of age, in 2001, Alarcon won the Venezuela Open on the Tour de las Américas.[9]

Private life, awards

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After mainly retiring from competition play in 1997, Alarcón made a few tournament appearances in Latin America and worked as a coach for Lorena Ochoa.[10] When Ochoa, also a Guadalajara native, was 11 years old, she approached Alarcón and asked him to coach her. During his time as her coach, she won 27 LPGA Tour titles, including two majors and reached number one on the Women's World Golf Rankings, before she retired at 28 years of age.[11][12] After her retirement, he has been coaching at Lorena Ochoa's Golf Academy.[13]

Alarcón also worked as a golf course designer, together with Carter Morrish at Alarcon Morrish Golf Course Design.[14]

Alarcón was appointed Jalisco State Golfer of the Century. He was awarded the National Prize for Sports, received on 20 November 2009 from the President of Mexico during a ceremony at the official presidential residence.[4][15]

Amateur wins

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Professional wins (3)

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Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 18 Mar 1984 Indian Open −13 (70-68-71-70=279) 3 strokes United States Richard Cromwell, Taiwan Lai Chung-jen

Asia Golf Circuit playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 1985 Taiwan Open Taiwan Lu Liang-Huan, Taiwan Hsieh Yu-shu Lu won with par on sixth extra hole
Hsieh eliminated by par on first hole

Tour de las Américas wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 18 Nov 2001 Movilnet Venezuela Open −12 (71-68-66-63=268) 1 stroke Brazil Alexandre Rocha

Other wins (1)

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  • 1990 Mexican PGA Championship

Playoff record

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Nike Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1995 Nike Monterrey Open Australia Stuart Appleby Lost to birdie on seventh extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
U.S. Open T62 T52 CUT CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Note: Alarcón only played in the U.S. Open.

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Rafael Alarcón Bio". Yahoo Sports.
  2. ^ "The Maestro Behind Lorena's Success". Golf Digest. 15 November 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  3. ^ "World Amateur Team Championships – Men's Records". International Golf Federation. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b ""El golf mexicano en su mejor época": Alarcón" ["Mexican golf at its best": Alarcón] (in Spanish). México Golf Tour. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Alarcon wins Indian title". The Straits Times, Singapore. 19 March 1984. p. 25. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Rafael Alarcón, promotor del golf mexicano" (in Spanish). 28 April 2020.
  7. ^ Lemon, Del (2001). The Story of Golf in Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press´. p. 311. ISBN 0-8061-3300-7. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  8. ^ Smits, Garry (4 December 1997). "PGA Tour Dominates Putting Event". The Florida Times Union. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  9. ^ Diaz, Carlos (20 November 2001). "Rafael Alarcon with -12 champion in Venezuela". El Universal, Mexico. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Lorena Ochoa retired from pro golf at age 28, but she still has big ambitions". latinbusinesstoday.com. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  11. ^ "Lorena Ochoa Facts". JockBio.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Who is Rafael Alarcon?". Golfweek, USA Today Sports media Group. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  13. ^ Zaldivar, Gabe (29 September 2020). "Lorena Ochoa Discusses Success, Retirement and the Future of Golf in Mexico". SI En Fuego. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Our team, Rafael Alarcon & Carter Morrish". alarconmorrish.com/. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  15. ^ "National Prize of Sports 2009". gettyimages.com/. Getty Images. 20 November 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Foreign Champions of 1976, Men Amateurs, Mexico". Golf Digest. February 1977. p. 133.
  17. ^ "Foreign Champions of 1977, Men Amateurs, Mexico". Golf Digest. February 1978. p. 135.
  18. ^ "Foreign Champions of 1978, Men Amateurs, Mexico". Golf Digest. February 1979. p. 127.
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