Player profile: John Catlin
30-year-old American golfer John Catlin currently enjoyed his success as a European Tour rising star by winning three tournaments, including his most recent at the 2021 Austrian Open.
Born and raised in Sacramento, California on 15 November 1990, Catlin turned pro in 2013 and decided not to starting his career on the Web.com Tour, instead of the PGA Tour Canada. He then went on to play on the Asian Development Tour full-time, capturing two wins between 2016 and 2017, one of them is in Indonesia.
Catlin's biggest success to date, came in the 2018 Asian Tour campaign where he won three times, including the Tournament Players Championship. This success awarded him the Asian Tour's player of the year honors. Furthermore, this success also gave him European Tour exemption status for the 2019 season, thus making his European Tour debut at the 2019 Oman Open, finishing tied for 58th. Catlin's best finish on the 2019 European Tour season was tied for twelfth at the Made In Denmark.
In August 2020, Catlin became the first player to be withdrawn from a tournament on the European Tour due to violating the tour's COVID-19 safety protocols, after he and his caddie went to a restaurant in the days leading up to the English Championship. A month later, Catlin won his first European Tour event at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, completing a wire-to-wire victory when Martin Kaymer made a bogey on the final hole to fall into second place. Three weeks after his first European Tour win, Catlin won again at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, shooting a final-round 64 to beat Aaron Rai by two strokes. The Irish Open is originally as part of the Rolex Series, but the 2020 edition won by Catlin was not part of the Rolex Series, as it downgraded into a regular tournament.
In April 2021, Catlin claimed his third victory on the European Tour at the Austrian Golf Open. He defeated Maximilian Kieffer in a five-hole playoff. This was the 2nd time Catlin won the tournament through the sudden-death playoff, he also won the 2019 Thailand Open by beating Pavit Tangkamolprasert and Shiv Kapur in the first extra hole for his fourth career Asian Tour win.
Source: Wikipedia
