Sam Torrance Reveals He Has Given Up Golf
The Ryder Cup legend says he quit because he is not as good as he once was


The Ryder Cup legend says he quit because he is not as good as he once was
Sam Torrance Reveals He Has Given Up Golf
European Tour stalwart and Ryder Cup legend Sam Torrance has revealed that he now no longer plays the game.
The Scot won 21 European Tour titles, 11 European Senior Tour titles, played in eight Ryder Cups and captained Europe to the 2002 Ryder Cup.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, he revealed his reasons for quitting two years ago.
"I've kind of lost the love for it," he said.
"I'm not very good. The hardest thing... is I'm mediocre compared to what I was.
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"I said to my manager, 'tell me my scores over the last three years and my finishing positions'.
"She looked it up and she told me I was 200 over par and my best finish was 35th.
"So it was time. That was two years ago and I've not played since. It was tough to let go but I'm glad I did it when I did.
"Even with my mates I'm struggling to find the impetus to get up there and do it."
Related: The Europeans who have missed their chance to become Ryder Cup captain
The 66-year-old now mainly commentates on golf now after playing his last event on the Staysure Tour in October 2017.
Torrance won 44 professional titles and is best known for holing the winning putt at the Belfry in the 1985 Ryder Cup.
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He was also part of the 1987 team to win the Ryder Cup on US soil for the first time and captained Europe in 2002 at the Belfry where they beat Curtis Strange's USA team 15.5 - 12.5.
Torrance turned pro in 1970 and won the 1972 European Tour Rookie of the Year award.
He also won three Order of Merits on the European Senior Tour.
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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, X and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
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