Mark O’Meara has announced his retirement from professional golf, ending his career at Pebble Beach Golf Links where he had some of his greatest successes. The 2015 Golf Hall of Fame inductee made the announcement on Golf Channel ahead of this week’s Pure Insurance Championship on the PGA Tour Champions. O’Meara, a 16-time PGA Tour winner and two-time major champion, claimed victories at the Masters and Open Championship in 1998, marking his final PGA Tour wins. He is set to make his 284th start on the PGA Tour Champions this week, where he has secured three victories, with his last one in 2019 at the Senior Players Championship.
O’Meara, born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, began playing golf at the age of 13 in Mission Viejo, California. He was an All-American at Long Beach State and won the U.S. Amateur in 1979. His first PGA Tour victory came in 1984, and he clinched his first major title in 1998 by winning the Masters at Augusta National, followed by the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale later in the year. O’Meara is one of 16 golfers to win two majors in a single season. He announced his retirement from the Masters in 2018, 20 years after his green jacket win.
O’Meara developed a close relationship with Tiger Woods towards the end of his career, with Woods even placing the green jacket on O’Meara after winning the 1997 Masters. O’Meara reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 1998. Throughout his career, he accumulated a total of 34 professional titles, including wins on the European Tour and Japan Golf Tour. O’Meara was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1981 and PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1998.
