Ramón Sota Ocejo (23 April 1938 – 28 August 2012) was a Spanish professional golfer.

Ramón Sota
Personal information
Full nameRamón Sota Ocejo
Born(1938-04-23)23 April 1938
Pedreña, Cantabria
Died28 August 2012(2012-08-28) (aged 74)
Pedreña, Cantabria
Sporting nationality Spain
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)European Tour
European Seniors Tour
Professional wins16
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT6: 1965
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipT7: 1963

Sota was born in Pedreña, Cantabria. He won many professional tournaments around the world including some of the major national opens around Europe that formed the basis of the European Tour when it was formed in 1972. Those wins included his own national open, three Portuguese Opens and the French Open. He recorded several victories farther afield, including winning the Brazil Open in 1965. He was also Spanish professional champion four times.

In 1965, Sota finished 6th at the U.S. Masters, which at the time was the best performance in the tournament by any European.[1] He finished 10th on the European Order of Merit in 1971, the year prior to the official start of the new European Tour. He only competed on the tour for one season, in 1972. During that season's Double Diamond International he became the first player ever to be penalised for slow play in Britain.[1] The humiliation he felt following the incident led him to retire shortly afterwards,[2] although he did return to play on the European Seniors Tour for a few years in the mid 1990s.

Sota started the Club de Golf Ramon Sota in Marina de Cudeyo, which has a 9-hole par–3 course and a golf school. He was also the uncle of Spain's most successful golfer, Seve Ballesteros.

Sota died in August 2012 of pneumonia.[3]

Tournament wins

edit
This list may be incomplete

Results in major championships

edit
Tournament 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
Masters Tournament T34 T6 T33 T31 CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT CUT 15 12 CUT T7 T30 T25 T11 CUT

Note: Sota only played in the Masters Tournament and The Open Championship.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Alliss, Peter (1983). The Who's Who of Golf. Orbis Publishing. p. 326. ISBN 0-85613-520-8.
  2. ^ "British Open: Old Tom to Young John". The Harvard Crimson. 16 July 1976. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Ramón Sota". PGA European Tour. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
edit