Niclas Fasth

Niclas Fasth (born 29 April 1972) is a Swedish professional golfer.

Niclas Fasth
Personal information
Full nameNiclas Fasth
Born (1972-04-29) 29 April 1972
Gothenburg, Sweden
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Nationality Sweden
ResidenceGothenburg, Sweden
SpouseMarie (m. 2002)
Children2
Career
Turned professional1993
Retired2019
Former tour(s)European Tour (joined 1996)
PGA Tour
Professional wins11
Highest ranking18 (7 October 2007)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour6
PGA Tour of Australasia1
Challenge Tour4
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT39: 2008
PGA ChampionshipT10: 2003
U.S. Open4th: 2007
The Open Championship2nd: 2001

Early life

Fasth was born in Gothenburg. In 1982, when he was 10 years old, his parents bought a summer house close to Lysegården Golf Club in Kungälv, north of Gothenburg. His family, with father Kristher, mother Inga-Lill and younger sister Jessica, used to spend their summers there and began playing golf. With a lot of friends also playing the game, young Fasth was always at the golf course, practiced a lot and showed early talent.

Beside golf, Fasth practiced other sports and during winter time also showed talent in ice hockey.

At 16 years of age, he was adopted at the Swedish upper secondary sports school in Mark, outside Borås, to combine studying with golf training.[2] The school won the Swedish School Championship in 1988, with Fasth winning individually, and represented Sweden at the international final in England.[3]

Amateur career

In 1990, Fasth won the Swedish Teen-Tour Order of Merit for boys up to 19.

In 1991, he won the Greek Open Amateur Championship at Glyfada, Athens, with a new 72-hole tournament record 289,[4] and the year after he was the Swedish Junior Match-play Champion, winning the final on the last hole at Kalmar Golf Club.[5]

Fasth was the only amateur to make the cut at the 1992 Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour at Barsebäck Golf & Contry Club in Sweden, finishing tied 35th, 10 strikes behind winner, world number one, Nick Faldo.

He represented Sweden on all age levels. In 1992, he was part of the winning Swedish team at the European Youths' Team Championship in Helsinki, Finland, beating England in the final. Later that year, as one of the four best amateurs in the country, he was part of the Swedish team at the 1992 Eisenhower Trophy at Capilano Golf & Country Club, outside Vancouver, Canada, finishing 5th as a team and Fasth best Swede 5th individually.[4]

Professional career

He turned professional in 1993 and won three events on the second tier Challenge Tour that year. From 1994 until 2018, he played regularly on the European Tour, every season except for 1999.

He qualified for the U.S.-based PGA Tour at the 1997 Qualifying School, and played the PGA and European Tours concurrently in 1998, without success and in 1999 found himself back on the Challenge Tour. Since then he concentrated on playing in Europe.

He finished tenth on the 2001 European Tour Order of Merit, after being lone runner-up to David Duval at the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, England. After a closing round of 67, Fasth advanced from tied 20th and was the leader in the club house for two hours, before late starting Duval also closed with 67 and won by three strokes.

His 2001 performances enabled Fasth to qualify for the European team at the 2002 Ryder Cup, at The Belfry, England, were he contributed to a European 15½ to 12½ victory, with a halved match against Paul Azinger in the Sunday singles.

In both 2005 and 2006, Fasth won twice on the European Tour and finished 13th and 15th respectively on the Order of Merit.

He finished lone fourth at the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, Pennsylvania, two strokes after winner Ángel Cabrera. The week after, Fasth won his sixth European Tour event, the BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, ahead of home hero Bernhard Langer. These performances helped Fasth to a career best fifth-place finish on the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit.

Fasth has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking with a personal best of 18th for three weeks in October 2007.

His equipment sponsor has always been Callaway Golf.

Awards, private life

In 2003, the three Swedish teammates of the victorious European Ryder Cup team the previous year, Fasth, Pierre Fulke and Jesper Parnevik, was each, by the Swedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 30th, 31st and 32nd recipients.[4]

In 2003 Fasth was awarded honorary member of the Swedish PGA.[4]

Fasth is married to Marie and has two children.

During his golf career, he has formerly lived in Monaco and London, England, but resides in Gothenburg since 2014 and represents Hills Golf and Sports Club.[6]

After his competitive career, Fasth has worked for the Swedish Golf Federation, as an adviser and coach for the Swedish national amateur team.

Amateur wins
  • 1991 Greek Open Amateur Championship[4]
  • 1992 Swedish Junior Match-Play Championship[4]

Professional wins (10)

European Tour wins (6)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 19 Mar 2000 Madeira Island Open −9 (66-72-68-73=279) 2 strokes Mark Davis, Ross Drummond,
Richard S. Johnson
2 13 Feb 2005 Holden New Zealand Open1 −22 (65-63-75-63=266) Playoff Miles Tunnicliff
3 24 Jul 2005 Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe −14 (68-66-72-68=274) Playoff Ángel Cabrera
4 30 Apr 2006 Andalucía Open de España Valle Romano −18 (67-68-66-69=270) Playoff John Bickerton
5 22 Oct 2006 Mallorca Classic −5 (66-71-70-68=275) 3 strokes Sergio García
6 24 Jun 2007 BMW International Open −13 (67-65-73-70=275) 2 strokes Bernhard Langer, José-Filipe Lima

1Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

European Tour playoff record (3–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2002 Murphy's Irish Open Richard Bland, Darren Fichardt,
Søren Hansen		 Hansen won with birdie on fourth extra hole
Bland eliminated by birdie on second hole
2 2005 Holden New Zealand Open Miles Tunnicliff Won with birdie on second extra hole
3 2005 Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe Ángel Cabrera Won with birdie on third extra hole
4 2006 Andalucía Open de España Valle Romano John Bickerton Won with birdie on fourth extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (4)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1 25 Jul 1993 Västerås Open −10 (67-66-64=197) 1 stroke Per Nyman
2 15 Aug 1993 Compaq Open −9 (72-66-70-67=275) 3 strokes Vilhelm Forsbrand
3 5 Sep 1993 Open Dijon Bourgogne −10 (74-68-70-66=278) 6 strokes Fredrik Andersson Hed
4 11 Sep 1999 Daewoo Warsaw Golf Open −4 (73-73-67-67=280) 1 stroke Hennie Otto

Results in major championships
Tournament 20012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014
Masters Tournament CUT CUT T55 T39
U.S. Open T37 T48 CUT 4 CUT CUT
The Open Championship 2 T28 CUT CUT T35 CUT CUT
PGA Championship T29 CUT T10 T45 CUT CUT T42 T63
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000042
U.S. Open00011163
The Open Championship01011173
PGA Championship00001185
Totals0102332513
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2007 Masters – 2008 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

Results in The Players Championship
Tournament 2002200320042005200620072008
The Players Championship CUT T21 CUT CUT
  Did not play

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

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament20012002200320042005200620072008
Match Play R16 R32 R64 R64 R16 R32
Championship NT1 T11 T16 T37 T6 T44
Invitational T21 T58 T58 T61 T33 T22 T52

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament held.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 40 2007 Ending 7 Oct 2007" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. "Inga-Lill Fasth:"Han var väldigt envis" trans-title: Inga-Lill Fasth: "He was very stubborn"". Svensk Golf. No. 6. June 2009. p. 109.
  3. "England nästa för Marks golfgymnasium" [England next for Mark Golf School]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 11. November 1988. p. 91.
  4. Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 96, 180, 197, 209, 224, 283. ISBN 91-86818007.
  5. "Hemmaseger i JSM" [Home victory at the Junior Nationals]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 8. August 1992. pp. 55, 59.
  6. Niclas Fasth ser framat (in Swedish) Högsbo-Sisjö Nytt nr 1 2018, Företagarföreningen Högsbo-Sisjön, 21 April 2018
  7. "European Amateur Team Championship". European Golf Association.
  8. Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf – Den stora sporten (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. p. 212. ISBN 91-86818007.
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