Amateur Winner a First for European Tour

Spaniard Pablo Martin-Benavides won the Estoril Portuguese Open on the European Tour on Sunday, becoming the first amateur in that tour's history to record a win.

The 20-year-old Martin shot 68 in the final round to finish at 277, one stroke ahead of Raphael Jacquelin. Martin is a sophomore at Oklahoma State University and plans to finish the season at OSU before turning pro.

While it was the first time since the tour's founding in 1972 for an amateur to win on the European Tour, amateurs have won previously on the US PGA and LPGA tours:

Most Recent Amateur Winners on PGA Tour

• Phil Mickelson, 1991 Northern Telecom Open
• Scott Verplank, 1985 Western Open
• Doug Sanders, 1956 Canadian Open
• Gene Littler, 1954 San Diego Open

There were other amateur winners on the PGA Tour prior to that, including quite a few in the U.S. Open up into the 1930s.

Amateur Winners on LPGA Tour

• JoAnne Carner, 1969 Burdine's Invitational
• Catherine Lacoste, 1967 U.S. Women's Open
• Pat O'Sullivan, 1951 Titleholders Championship
• Polly Riley, 1950 Tampa Open

These four are the only amateur winners on the LPGA. Two of the four wins were in majors (the Titleholders was an LPGA major), and Riley's win at the 1950 Tampa Open was in the very first LPGA Tour event ever played.