Pierre Fulke

Pierre Fulke
Personal information
Full namePierre Olof Fulke
Born (1971-02-21) 21 February 1971 (age 53)
Nyköping, Sweden
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceEksjö, Sweden
SpouseSandra Tancred Fulke
Career
Turned professional1989
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins5
Highest ranking26 (11 February 2001)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour3
Challenge Tour2
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2001
PGA ChampionshipT10: 2002
U.S. OpenWD: 2001
The Open ChampionshipT7: 2000

Pierre Olof Fulke (born 21 February 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer who played on the European Tour.

Early life and amateur career

Fulke was born in Nyköping. He came to represent Eksjö Golf Club, situated in the province of Småland in Sweden, through his entire career.

14 years old, he qualified for the 1985 unofficial Swedish Youth Championship (Colgate Cup) at his age level and finished 8th.[2]

He represented Sweden twice at the European Boys' Team Championship and the continent of Europe once at Jacques Léglise Trophy.

Professional career

He turned professional before the 1990 season, only 18 years old, and began playing on the Swedish Golf Tour, at the time co-sanctioned by the newly founded European second tier Challenge Tour. In May 1990, he reached a third-place finish in an international field at the Ramlösa Open at Vasatorp Golf Club, Helsingborg.

In 1992, Fulke won twice on the Challenge Tour, to qualify for membership of the main European Tour.

The first of Fulke's three European Tour wins came at the 1999 Lancome Trophy in September at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche south of Paris, France. He became the 13th Swedish winner on the European Tour, earning the 35th title by a Swedish player. The tournament took place the week before the 1999 Ryder Cup in America, why Fulke's victory came to late to earn him a chance to qualify for the European team. However, his success continued the next season, which enabled him to qualify for the next Ryder Cup.

During the 2000 season, he won the Scottish PGA Championship and the Volvo Masters and finished 12th on the European Tour Order of Merit. After winning the Volvo Masters title, one of his shots was appointed "The 2000 European Tour Shot of the Year".

After a second-place finish at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Australia in February 2001, Fulke reached a career best 26th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He kept his place for the European team at the next Ryder Cup match, originally scheduled for 28–30 September 2001. Following the September 11 attacks, the event was postponed for a year and it was agreed to take place in September 2002, with the same players as originally decided. The European team, won 15½−12½ over the United States team at The Belfry, England, and Fulke contributed by halving his Sunday singles match against Davis Love III.[3]

In 2004, Fulke slipped to 134th place on the Order of Merit, but he retained his tour card for 2005 thanks to a five-year exemption for his Volvo Masters victory. In 2005, he recovered some of his form and finished 49th on the Order of Merit. He missed the majority of the 2006 season through injury and in 2007 he announced that he was retiring from tournament golf to concentrate on golf course design.[4]

Awards, private life

In 1997, Fulke earned Elite Sign No. 110 by the Swedish Golf Federation, on the basis of national team appearances and national championship performances.[5]

In 2003, the three Swedish teammates of the victorious European Ryder Cup team the previous year, Niclas Fasth, Fulke and Jesper Parnevik, was each, by the Swedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 30th, 31st and 32nd recipients.[3]

Also in 2003, Fulke was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.[3]

After his playing career, Fulke became one of Sweden's most respected golf course architects. He has worked together with fellow countryman, former European Tour player and tournament winner, Adam Mednickson. Fulke designed or redesigned 8 of the top 32 courses in the 2020 ranking, by the magazine Svensk Golf, of the 50 best golf courses in Sweden, including the top ranked course Visby Golf Club at the island Gotland.[6][7]

Fulke also found interest in playing golf with hickory sticks and once, 2007, won the Swedish Hickory Championship.[8]

He resides in Ormaryd, west of the city of Eksjö in the province of Småland, Sweden.

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (3)

Legend
Tour Championships (1)
Other European Tour (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 19 Sep 1999 Trophée Lancôme −14 (69-69-65-67=270) 1 stroke Spain Ignacio Garrido
2 27 Aug 2000 Scottish PGA Championship −17 (70-63-68-70=271) 2 strokes Sweden Henrik Nyström
3 5 Nov 2000 Volvo Masters −16 (67-68-70-67=272) 1 stroke Northern Ireland Darren Clarke

Challenge Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 10 May 1992 Audi Quattro Trophy −18 (66-66-70-68=270) 1 stroke France Michel Besanceney, Sweden Anders Gillner
2 14 Jun 1992 Stiga Open −15 (70-69-68-66=273) 1 stroke Sweden Mats Hallberg

Results in major championships

Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open WD
The Open Championship CUT CUT T30 T7 T62 T28 T15
PGA Championship CUT T10 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 5
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 1
Totals 0 0 0 0 2 3 12 6
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2002 Open Championship – 2003 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Match Play 2 R64
Championship T42 NT1
Invitational T17 T42 T67 75

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Did not play

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

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Source:[3]

References

  1. ^ "Week 6 2001 Ending 11 Feb 2001" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Nästa år faller drömgränsen" [Next year the dream line will be beaten]. Svensk Golf. No. 9. September 1985. pp. 26–29.
  3. ^ a b c d Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 96, 200, 210, 250, 256–258, 260, 276, 283. ISBN 91-86818007.
  4. ^ Fulke calls time on golf career, bbc.co.uk, 3 March 2007.
  5. ^ Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten, Elitmärket [Golf - The great sport, Elite Sign] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. p. 97. ISBN 91-86818007.
  6. ^ "Sveriges 50 bästa banor" [Sweden's 50 best golf courses]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 5. 2020. pp. 25–59.
  7. ^ "Genomförda projekt" [Completed projects]. Pierre Fulke Design (in Swedish). 16 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Svenska Hickorymästare i slagspel" [Swedish Hickory Stroke-play Champions] (PDF) (in Swedish). Svenska Golfhistoriska Sällskapet, The Swedish Society of Golf Historians. Retrieved 14 September 2020.