Mark McNulty

Mark William McNulty (born 24 March 1953) is a Rhodesian-born professional golfer who has represented Ireland for much of his career. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 83 weeks from 1987 to 1992.^[1]

Early life and amateur career

McNulty was born in Bindura, Southern Rhodesia. He was raised on a farm in the Centenary area of Zimbabwe. When McNulty was one year old, his natural father was killed in a shooting accident. His step-father was an amateur pilot who had an airstrip on the farm. When his step-father was diagnosed with epilepsy, he was forced to give up flying. He converted the airstrip into a three-hole golf course, where Mark first learned to play golf.

McNulty represented Rhodesia at the 1974 Eisenhower Trophy in the Dominican Republic.^[2]

Professional career

In 1978, McNulty began his professional career on the Southern African Tour and also played on the European Tour. His first professional win was at the Greater Manchester Open on the European Tour in 1979. His first win on the Southern African Tour was at the 1980 Holiday Inns Invitational in Swaziland.^[3]

By 1986, he was a dominant player on the Southern African Tour picking up seven official wins in that year and also winning South Africa's most lucrative event, the Million Dollar Challenge. In the same year, he finished in the top-10 on the European Tour's Order of Merit for the first time, placing sixth. He had six top-10 European Order of Merit finishes in total, including second places in 1987 and 1990. The last of these was in 1996, when he came fifth. His win tally on the European Tour was 16, including the 1996 Volvo Masters, which was the European equivalent of the PGA Tour's Tour Championship. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit nine times.

In July 1990, at the 119th Open Championship at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland, with a closing round of 65 (−7), the lowest score of the last round, McNulty finished tied second with Payne Stewart, after winner Nick Faldo.

McNulty represented Zimbabwe seven times at the Alfred Dunhill Cup and eight times at the World Cup. The Zimbabwe team twice finished runner-up to United States, 1993, when McNulty teamed up with Nick Price at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida, and at the 1994 World Cup of Golf in Puerto Rico, where the team of McNulty and Tony Johnstone finished second and McNulty finished tied 4th in the individual competition.

Senior career

When McNulty turned fifty and became eligible to play senior golf he chose to take part in the U.S.-based Champions Tour. His first full season in 2004 was highly successful with three wins (including the Charles Schwab Cup Championship) and a seventh-place finish on the money list. In 2007 he won the JELD-WEN Tradition, one of the five major championships on the over-50 tour. It was McNulty's sixth career win on the Champions Tour. His seventh win came in 2009 at the Principal Charity Classic with a playoff win over Nick Price and Fred Funk. In 2011 he won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

Personal life

In November 1981, McNulty received serious facial and neck injuries when his car in high speed collided with a bus near his parents' farm in Zimbabwe, on his way to the ICL International in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[4] Despite his injuries, McNulty played in the 1981 South African Open the following month and won a tournament in Durban in January 1982, eight weeks after the accident.^[5]

McNulty became an Irish citizen in 2003 at the age of 50. He was eligible to do so because his maternal grandmother was born in Ballymena in Northern Ireland. He stated that his reason for doing so was his concern that as a non-resident Zimbabwean it could take him up to two years to get his passport renewed if he lost it. Commentators elaborated that the farm that his family had been managing for 40-something years had been confiscated by the Mugabe regime.^[4]

He now lives in Sunningdale, England.^[4] He has two children: Matthew (born 1985) and Catherine (born 1988). McNulty also has two stepchildren and four grandchildren: Luke, Layla, Charlee and Caila.

McNulty is the Director of the Mark McNulty Junior Golf Foundation. It is a non-profit organisation whose objective is to use golf as a medium to improve a child's development on and off the golf course while growing the game of golf.^[6]

Amateur wins

• 1974 Rhodesia Amateur Championship
• 1977 South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship

Professional wins (59)

European Tour wins (16)

¹Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour

European Tour playoff record (2–2)

Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

Sunshine Tour wins (33)

¹Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Sunshine Tour playoff record (4–1)

Challenge Tour wins (1)

Other wins (2)

Champions Tour wins (8)

Champions Tour playoff record (3–1)

Results in major championships

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

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1989 Open Championship – 1993 Open Championship)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1990 Open Championship – 1990 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to 9/11

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

Senior major championships

Wins (1)

Senior results timeline

Results not in chronological order.

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

Team appearances

Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Rhodesia): 1974^[2]

Professional

• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Zimbabwe): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• World Cup (representing Zimbabwe): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
• Presidents Cup (International team): 1994, 1996
• Alfred Dunhill Challenge (representing Southern Africa): 1995 (winners)
• UBS Cup (representing the Rest of the World): 2004

See also

• List of golfers with most European Tour wins

References

1. ^ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
2. ^ "Record Book 1974 World Amateur Team Golf Championships". Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
3. ^ "Result - Holiday Inns Invitational". sunshinetour.info. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
4. ^ Keogh, Brian (27 November 2003). "Mark McNulty takes Irish [sic]". Retrieved 21 June 2012.
5. ^ "I Siffror Sett, Syfafrika-touren" [In the Numbers, South African Tour] (in Swedish). Svensk Golf. No. 1. February 1982. p. 60.
6. ^ "Mark McNulty Junior Golf Foundation"