Wikipedia

Chen Tze-ming

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.

Chen Tze-ming (Chinese: 陳志明, born 28 September 1952) is a Taiwanese professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asia Golf Circuit, Asian Tour and the European Tour. In the U.S., he is often referred to as T.M. Chen. His younger brother, Chen Tze-chung, is also a professional golfer who has won tournaments on the Japanese, Asian and American tours.[2]

Chen Tze-ming
Personal information
Born (1952-09-28) 28 September 1952 (age 72)
Taipei, Taiwan
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb; 11.5 st)
Sporting nationality Taiwan
Career
Turned professional1978
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asia Golf Circuit
Professional wins21
Highest ranking78 (11 October 1987)[1]
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour9
Other10 (regular)
2 (senior)
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 1986
PGA ChampionshipT3: 1985
U.S. OpenCUT: 1986
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 1985, 1987, 1993
Achievements and awards
Asia Golf Circuit
Order of Merit winner		1985

For his country, Chen represented Taiwan at the 1974 Eisenhower Trophy, a world amateur team tournament, and then again in 1976, playing with his brother as Tze-ming posted the lowest individual score at 1. Chen also represented Taiwan as a professional in the 1979 World Cup, and in 1985 and 1994 at the Alfred Dunhill Cup tournament, a country-based team golf competition, again playing alongside his brother.[3][4]

Early life

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Chen was born in Linkou District, Taipei City, in northern Taiwan. His grandfather farmed the land that would become the Linkou International Golf Club and his father worked as a greenskeeper at the club.[2] Picking up golf at a young age, his younger brother Tze-chung then followed Tze-ming and picked up the game in his teens, with the brothers often playing together on tour and together in team competitions for Taiwan over their careers.[2]

Professional career

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Chen gained early notice at the 1978 Malaysian Dunlop Masters, winning by a record 15 strokes, but due to his amateur status, runner-up Simon Owen took home the prize money.[5] Chen turned professional later that same year.[6] As a professional, he won nine tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour, with four of those victories coming in 1992 when he finished third on the end of year money list.[7] His best finish in a major was a tie for 3rd in the 1985 PGA Championship, with a stellar final round 65 (281 overall, 3 strokes behind winner Hubert Green).[8][9][10] Of note, the Chen family dominated the final round as the second highest score belonged to his brother Tze-chung, who shot a 66 and finished tied for 23rd.[11]

Tze-ming also won seven times on the Asia Golf Circuit and topped the tour's Order of Merit in 1985.[12][13] As a senior, Chen won the 2002 Japan PGA Senior Championship.

Personal life

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Chen and his brother have run and coached in the junior program at the Linkou Golf Club in Taipei City.[14] He now lives in Tokyo.

Professional wins (21)

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PGA of Japan Tour wins (9)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 29 Aug 1982 KBC Augusta −7 (68-71-70=209)* 1 stroke   Hal Sutton
2 1 May 1983 Chunichi Crowns E (71-67-71-71=280) Playoff   Kikuo Arai,   David Ishii
3 20 Nov 1983 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament −2 (74-71-71-70=286) Playoff   Tom Watson
4 26 May 1985 Pepsi Ube Open −20 (65-71-66-66=268) 4 strokes   Katsunari Takahashi
5 24 May 1987 Pepsi Ube Open (2) −10 (69-72-70-67=278) Playoff   Hiroshi Makino
6 8 Mar 1992 Daiichi Cup −11 (66-71-70-70=277) 1 stroke   Roger Mackay
7 12 Apr 1992 Pocari Sweat Open −11 (69-67-66=202)* 3 strokes   Saburo Fujiki,   Yoshinori Kaneko,
  Hirofumi Miyase,   Kiyoshi Murota,
  Nobuo Serizawa,   Koichi Suzuki,
  Akihito Yokoyama
8 30 Aug 1992 Daiwa KBC Augusta −12 (72-69-68-67=276) Playoff   Bradley Hughes,   Norikazu Kawakami
9 6 Dec 1992 Golf Nippon Series Hitachi Cup −8 (72-70-66-72=280) 1 stroke   Todd Hamilton

*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (4–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1983 Chunichi Crowns   Kikuo Arai,   David Ishii Won with par on second extra hole
2 1983 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament   Tom Watson Won with par on first extra hole
3 1987 Pepsi Ube Open   Hiroshi Makino Won with birdie on first extra hole
4 1992 Daiwa KBC Augusta   Bradley Hughes,   Norikazu Kawakami Won with birdie on first extra hole

Asia Golf Circuit wins (7)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 20 Apr 1980 Korea Open −4 (68-72-74=214)* 1 stroke   Choi Sang-ho,   Hisao Inoue,
  Kim Suk-bong,   Park Jung-woong,
  Yeom Se-woon
2 1 Mar 1981 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open E (70-71-69-69=279) 1 stroke   Graham Marsh
3 19 Apr 1981 Korea Open (2) −3 (71-67-70-76=285) 1 stroke   Hsu Chi-san
4 11 Apr 1982 Taiwan Open 1 (69-72-75-73=289) 2 strokes   Chien Shun-lu (a),   Kuo Chie-Hsiung
5 27 Mar 1983 Thailand Open −5 (70-73-68-72=283) 1 stroke   Lou Graham,   Lu Chien-soon,
  Frankie Miñoza
6 31 Mar 1985 Singapore Open −10 (67-69-68-70=274) Playoff   Greg Turner
7 15 Mar 1987 Thai International Thailand Open (2) −12 (70-66-70-66=272) Playoff   Somsak Srisanga

**Note: The 1980 Korea Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Asia Golf Circuit playoff record (2–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1985 Singapore Open   Greg Turner Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1987 Thai International Thailand Open   Somsak Srisanga Won with birdie on third extra hole

Other wins (3)

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this list may be incomplete

Senior wins (2)

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this list may be incomplete

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT
PGA Championship T3 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1985 Open Championship)
"T" = tied

Team appearances

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this list may be incomplete

Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Week 41 1987 Ending 11 Oct 1987" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Ballard, Sarah (16 June 1986). "Golf's own Chen Dynasty". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Dunhill Cup". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 18 October 1985. p. 84 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Dunhill Cup rosters". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pennsylvania. 14 September 1994. p. D-2 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Golf". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. 13 March 1978. p. A11 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Career Stats for T.M. Chen". www.golfstats.com.
  7. ^ "1992 Tournament Stats". Japan Golf Tour. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Green subdues Trevino in PGA". Record-Journal. Meriden, Connecticut. UPI. 12 August 1985. p. 9 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "TM Chen". Golf Major Championships.
  10. ^ Andrew, Tom (12 August 1985). "New Chen makes impressive show". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Texas. p. 2C – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "1985 PGA Championship Results". GolfCompendium.
  12. ^ "Norman claims a $225,000 pot The 'Great White Shark' skins his better-fancied rivals". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 April 1985. p. 22. Retrieved 19 February 2020 – via Trove.
  13. ^ "Chen Tze-Ming". Official World Golf Ranking.
  14. ^ Lee, David (18 March 2008). "Double Trouble". Golf Digest.
  15. ^ "Wins Indians Open". Hazleton Standard-Speaker. Pennsylvania. 13 March 1978. p. 28. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Top Man Puts 'Moresby' In Big Time". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. 8 June 1978. p. 28. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
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