Per-Ulrik Johansson

Per-Ulrik Johansson
Johansson in August 2019
Personal information
Full namePer-Ulrik Johansson
NicknamePuh
Born (1966-12-06) 6 December 1966 (age 58)
Uppsala, Sweden
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceÅkersberga, Sweden;
Marbella, Spain
SpouseJill (m. 2002)
Children3
Career
CollegeArizona State University
Turned professional1990
Former tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins7
Highest ranking40 (24 August 1997)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour6
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT12: 1997, 1998
PGA ChampionshipT8: 1996
U.S. OpenT25: 1998
The Open ChampionshipT15: 1995
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		1991
Swedish Golfer of the Year1991

Per-Ulrik Johansson (born 6 December 1966) is a Swedish professional golfer, who won six times on the European Tour and played in two winning European Ryder Cup teams.

Early life

Johansson grew up in Västervik in Småland, Sweden, and was a promising ice hockey player at 14 years of age, when he decided to give priority to golf training instead. He won the unofficial Swedish Youth Championship, the Colgate Cup, at his age level and represented his country on boys and youth level.

Amateur career

In 1983, 15 years old, Johansson was a member of the Swedish team winning the European Boys' Team Championship, for players up to 18 years of age, at Helsinki Golf Club, Finland.[2]

In August 1986, Johansson won the Leven Gold medal at Leven Links, Scotland, with a 72-hole score of 9-under-par 275, 2 strokes ahead on Colin Montgomerie.

Like many European golfers, Johansson took a golf scholarship in the United States as sports scholarships did not exist in Europe. He attended Arizona State University in 1986 and was a member of the same 1990 NCAA Championship winning team as Phil Mickelson.

Professional career

Johansson turned professional in late 1990 and won a European Tour card on his first visit to Qualifying School. His first year on tour, he was the 1991 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

Within the span of a month, he was a member of winning Swedish teams at the 1991 Dunhill Cup, together with Anders Forsbrand and Mats Lanner, and the 1991 World Cup, together with Anders Forsbrand. Together with Forsbrand, Johansson was chosen to defend the 1991 World Cup title, from Rome, Italy for Sweden, in 1992 in Madrid, Spain, but the Swedish team finished second, one shot behind the United States team of Fred Couples and Davis Love III.

In his first ten seasons on the European Tour, Johansson made the top 20 of the Order of Merit four times, with a best ranking of 11th in 1997. He won five European Tour events between 1991 and 1997 and has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Johansson was the first Swede to play in the Ryder Cup twice (1995 and 1997); he finished on the winning side both times. In his Sunday singles match in 1995, he played collegiate teammate Phil Mickelson.

In 2001, Johansson moved to the United States to play on the PGA Tour, after successfully negotiating the 2000 Qualifying School. He was a member of the PGA Tour for four seasons, but failed to make the same impact as he had in Europe. His best PGA Tour finish was tied for sixth, which by coincidence he achieved once in each of those four seasons. In 2001 and 2002 he only just held onto his card via his money list placing. In 2003 he failed to do so, but he made a successful return trip to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. In 2004 he lost six months to injury and ended the year with a failed trip to the Qualifying Tournament. In 2005 and 2006 he played on the Nationwide Tour with appearances on the PGA Tour and the European Tour without recovering his form.

In 2007, Johansson had to rely on wild card entries to play on the European Tour. Ten years after his last win, a six shot victory, with a new tournament record 23 under par, at the Russian Open, secured his playing rights until 2009.

He retired in August 2009 because of injury and came back to play three tournaments, where he was invited, on the European Tour in 2011, before he finally retired.

Awards and honors

  • In 1992, he earned Elite Sign No. 92 by the Swedish Golf Federation, on the basis of national team appearances and national championship performances.
  • In 1992, the three teammates at the 1991 Dunhill Cup victory, Johansson, Mats Lanner and Anders Forsbrand was each, by the Swedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 11th, 12th and 13th recipients.[2]
  • In 1998, Johansson was awarded honorary membership of the PGA of Sweden.[2]

Private life

Johansson is married to Jill, a sister of Jesper Parnevik, and they have three daughters, Stella, Nova and Luna.

They formerly lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, but when Johansson retired from his PGA Tour career, they moved back to Sweden, to live in Åkersberga outside Stockholm. Johansson left tournament play to work, first at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club, then at Ullna Golf Club, north of Stockholm, and since 2015 as CEO at Wermdö Golf & Country Club, east of Stockholm.

Amateur wins

  • 1986 Leven Gold Medal (Leven Links, Scotland)
  • 1989 Nordic Amateur Championship[3]

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (6)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 16 Jun 1991 Renault Belgian Open −12 (68-70-70-68=276) Playoff England Paul Broadhurst
2 23 Oct 1994 Chemapol Trophy Czech Open −11 (61-56-54-66=237)* 3 strokes Sweden Klas Eriksson
3 29 Sep 1996 Smurfit European Open −11 (71-70-66-70=277) 1 stroke Italy Costantino Rocca
4 18 May 1997 Alamo English Open −19 (70-68-64-67=269) 2 strokes Sweden Dennis Edlund
5 24 Aug 1997 Smurfit European Open (2) −21 (68-64-66-69=267) 6 strokes England Peter Baker
6 5 Aug 2007 Russian Open Golf Championship −23 (69-62-67-67=265) 6 strokes Netherlands Robert-Jan Derksen

*Note: The 1994 Chemapol Trophy Czech Open was shortened to 66 holes due to frost.

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1991 Renault Belgian Open England Paul Broadhurst Won with par on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runners-up
1 3 Nov 1991 World Cup
(with Sweden Anders Forsbrand) 		−13 (142-148-134-139=563) 1 stroke  Wales − Phillip Price and Ian Woosnam

Results in major championships

Tournament 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Masters Tournament T12 T12 T24
U.S. Open CUT T25 CUT CUT
The Open Championship T68 CUT T60 T15 CUT T66 CUT CUT T64
PGA Championship T58 T8 T67 T23 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 5
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 4
Totals 0 0 0 0 1 7 21 13
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (1996 PGA – 1998 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
The Players Championship T54 CUT T48
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2001
Match Play R32
Championship NT1
Invitational

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

Amateur

Source:[2][4][5][6]

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 34 1997 Ending 24 Aug 1997" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf – Den stora sporten (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 95, 101, 189, 200, 211, 225, 283. ISBN 91-86818007.
  3. ^ Nordiska Mästerskapen, En värdig mästare (in Swedish) Svensk Golf magazine 8/1989, p. 67
  4. ^ "European Amateur Team Championship". European Golf Association.
  5. ^ "Herrarnas EM: Svenskarna blåste bort". Svensk Golf (in Swedish). August 1989. pp. 46–47.
  6. ^ "Youths International". The Guardian. London. 20 August 1987. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.