Roe and Chapman call time
- Tuesday, 10 October 2006
- 0 Comments
Two of the longest serving members on the European Tour have smashed their last drives, struck their last irons, floated their last chips and sunk their last putts in anger. After a combined 45 years and over 1,100 tournaments, Mark Roe and Roger Chapman have decided to call it a day.
The English stalwarts both felt that the home of golf was as good a place as any to end their playing careers, making the announcement during the weekend’s Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. Roe (pictured) ended his 21-year career with a fine 67 to finish tied for 15th, while Chapman, who has played in more European Tour events than any other golfer in history bar Sam Torrance, narrowly failed to make the cut.
In his 21 years in golf the 43-year-old Mark Roe has been renowned as the joker in the pack of the European Tour. From letting off fire hoses in hotels, to cutting up players shirts to rewiring electrical appliances, nothing was too outrageous for the man from Sheffield. However, this reputation masked a fine golfer, who won three Tour titles and amassed over £2.5 million in prize money alone.
His best year came in 1994 when he won the Peugeot Open de France, recorded four other top-ten finishes and ended the season ninth in the European Order of Merit. Roe is also well known for blowing his chances of victory at the 2003 Open Championship, when he failed to swap cards with Jesper Parnevik.
“I wanted to finish on the Old Course. I played in a bit of a blur today. I wasn’t really worried whether I played well or not to be honest, it was just so nice to be out there,” said Roe.
"I have two beautiful little girls I want to see more of. I have fallen out of love with travelling, not the game of golf.”
After a mammoth 617 European Tour events the 47-year-old Roger Chapman has called time on his career. The man from Kent, who turned pro in 1981, enjoyed an up-and-down 24 years on Tour, finishing runner-up six times. He did finally break his duck on his 472nd start by beating Padraig Harrington at the second playoff hole of the 200 Brazil Rio de Janiero 500 Years Open. Chapman was forced to visit the Qualifying School a number of times in the last years of his career and said it was “like 108 first holes of the British Open.”
