From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Noel Ratcliffe

Australian professional golfer (1945–2024)

Field	Value
name	Noel Ratcliffe
image	Noel Ratcliffe.JPG
imagesize	200px
caption	Ratcliffe at the 2010 Dutch Senior Open
fullname	Noel Anthony Ratcliffe
nickname	The Rat
birth_date
birth_place	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
death_date
height
weight
nationality
residence	Sydney, Australia
yearpro	1974
extour	European Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
European Seniors Tour
prowins	16
pgawins
eurowins	2
japwins
asiawins
sunwins
auswins	1
nwidewins
chalwins
champwins
seneurowins	8 (Tied-8th all-time)
otherwins	2 (regular)
3 (senior)
majorwins
masters	DNP
usopen	DNP
open	T38: 1988
pga	DNP
wghofid
wghofyear
award1	European Seniors Tour
Order of Merit winner
year1	2000
awardssection

PGA Tour of Australasia European Seniors Tour 3 (senior) Order of Merit winner](european-seniors-tour-order-of-merit-winners)

Noel Anthony Ratcliffe (17 January 1945 – April 2024) was an Australian professional golfer.

Early life and amateur career

Ratcliffe turned to golf late for a future professional, and didn't own a set of clubs until he was twenty-one. At university he studied pharmacy and worked for an insurance company and in public service.

Professional career

In 1974, Ratcliffe turned professional. Like many Australian golfers of his era, he divided his time between the PGA Tour of Australia and the European Tour. In his regular career he won three titles in Australasia and two in Europe, where his best year was 1978 when he finished 11th on the Order of Merit.

After turning fifty he was successful on the European Seniors Tour, where he topped the Order of Merit in 2000, made the top five on four other occasions, and won eight tournaments.

Death

Ratcliffe died in April 2024, at the age of 79.

Amateur wins

1969 New South Wales Medal
1971 New South Wales Medal

Professional wins (16)

European Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner-up
1	11 Jun 1978	Belgian Open	−12 (72-70-72-66=280)	1 stroke	AUS Chris Tickner
2	16 Aug 1987	Benson & Hedges International Open	−13 (69-70-70-66=275)	2 strokes	SWE Ove Sellberg

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1978	Benson & Hedges International Open	ENG Neil Coles, USA Lee Trevino	Trevino won with par on fourth extra hole
Ratcliffe eliminated by par on first hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner-up
1	6 Feb 1977	South Australian Open	−5 (69-68-77-73=287)	Playoff	AUS David Galloway

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1977	South Australian Open	AUS David Galloway	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other Australasian wins (2)

1974 Australian PGA Assistants Championship
1976 Huon Open (Papua New Guinea)

European Seniors Tour wins (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner(s)-up
1	28 Jun 1997	Manadens Affarer Seniors Open	−9 (69-67-68=204)	7 strokes	ENG Steve Wild
2	13 Jul 1997	Senior German Open	−12 (66-69-69=204)	2 strokes	ENG David Creamer
3	3 Sep 2000	The Scotsman Scottish Seniors Open	−11 (68-72-65=205)	1 stroke	AUS Trevor Downing
4	24 Sep 2000	TEMES Seniors Open	−5 (71-69-71=211)	2 strokes	ENG Maurice Bembridge, IRL Denis O'Sullivan
5	5 May 2001	Beko Classic	−7 (69-73-67=209)	1 stroke	AUS Terry Gale
6	5 Aug 2001	De Vere Hotels Seniors Classic	−11 (67-71-67=205)	1 stroke	USA Jerry Bruner, NZL Simon Owen
7	18 May 2003	AIB Irish Seniors Open	−5 (69-69-73=211)	1 stroke	JAM Delroy Cambridge, SCO Martin Gray,
USA Bob Lendzion
8	5 Jun 2005	AIB Irish Seniors Open (2)	−6 (71-68-71=210)	2 strokes	ARG Luis Carbonetti

European Seniors Tour playoff record (0–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1996	Ryder Collingtree Seniors Classic	ENG Malcolm Gregson, SCO David Huish	Huish won with par on first extra hole
2	1998	AIB Irish Seniors Open	AUS Terry Gale, IRL Joe McDermott	McDermott won with birdie on fifth extra hole
Ratcliffe eliminated by par on first hole

Other senior wins (3)

1995 Australian Senior Open
2001 Australian PGA Seniors Championship
2008 Polygiene Australian PGA Seniors Championship

Results in major championships

Tournament	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988
The Open Championship	CUT	T41		CUT				CUT			T38

Note: Ratcliffe only played in The Open Championship.

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1978 and 1981 Open Championships)

"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Commonwealth Tournament (representing Australia): 1971
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Australia): 1972
Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches (representing New South Wales): 1970 (winners), 1971, 1973 (winners)

Professional

Praia d'El Rey European Cup: 1997 (winners)

References

Whittle Golf. (7 April 2021). "Listen to the Rat (Noel Ratcliffe) about how he helped Seve a lot with his game when they played together on the European Tour for many years.".
(January 1979). "Europa-touren-78".
"2000 Order of Merit". European Tour.
Webeck, Tony. (15 April 2024). "Noel Ratcliffe passes away, aged 79". PGA of Australia.
"Australian PGA Seniors Championship Winners List".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

australian-male-golfers pga-tour-of-australasia-golfers european-tour-golfers european-senior-tour-golfers golfers-from-sydney sportsmen-from-new-south-wales 1945-births 2024-deaths 20th-century-australian-sportsmen

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Noel Ratcliffe — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report