Topic: Sam Torrance

Sam Torrance OBE (born 24 August 1953) is a Scottish golfer who was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s and was the winning non-playing captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2002.

Torrance turned professional at sixteen and joined the European Tour at seventeen. He achieved his first professional win in 1972 and his first European Tour win in 1976. He won twenty-one times on the European Tour; only fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie has accumulated more European Tour titles without winning one of golf's four major championships. His best finish on the European Tour Order of Merit was second, which he achieved in 1984 and 1995. In total he finished in the top ten on the list ten times. He holds the record for the most appearances on the European Tour, with over 700 events played at the close of the 2008 season. In 2003 Torrance became eligible to play in senior tournaments and he picked up his first win on the European Seniors Tour in 2004. He topped the European Seniors Tour's Order of Merit in both 2005 and 2006.

Torrance played for Europe in the Ryder Cup eight times. In 1985 he sank the winning putt which deprived the Americans of the trophy for the first time in twenty-eight years. Seventeen years later he was the non-playing captain on the European team which won the 2002 Cup at The Belfry. This made him the second European Captain to sink the winning putt and Captain a winning team at separate Ryder Cups, after Seve Ballesteros in 1987 (as a player) and 1997 (as Captain).