# Rhys Davies (golfer)

Rhys Davies (born 28 May 1985) is a Welsh former professional golfer. He is currently the player development manager in Europe for Excel Sports Management.
Davies was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, but has lived in Wales for the majority of his life. He played collegiate golf in the United States at East Tennessee State University where he won ten times and was a first team All-American in 2005, 2006, and 2007. He played on two Walker Cup teams (2005 and 2007), and for Europe in four Palmer Cup teams (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). Davies was second in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (May 2007), before turning pro in September 2007.
Davies successfully came through the Asian Tour's qualifying school in 2007 allowing him to play on that tour for the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Davies won twice on the Challenge Tour in 2009 and finished fourth on that Tour's Rankings to earn his European Tour card for 2010. He won his first European Tour title at the 2010 Trophée Hassan II in Morocco. At the 2010 Celtic Manor Wales Open, he shot a final round 62 to set the course record on his way to finishing runner-up. This performance elevated Davies into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. In 2011 Davies represented Europe against Asia in Thailand, winning 2 points to help win The Royal Trophy. After a poor 2012 season, Davies narrowly failed to maintain his full European Tour playing rights for the 2013 season.
Davies earned his first professional win in five years at the 2015 Turkish Airlines Challenge, and followed this three months later with victory at the Challenge de Espana, when he opened with a first round 60. These successes helped Davies secure eighth position on the Challenge Tour order of merit, and regain full European Tour status.
Davies retired from playing professional golf in 2019 and then undertook free lance media work for Sky Sports Golf, the European Tour podcast and the R&A. In 2021, Davies became the European Player Development Manager for American company Excelsports management.
In total, Davies played 314 professional tournaments with 5 wins, 9 second, 8 third, and 43 top-10 places). These include 170 European Tour tournaments (1 win; 4 second; 2 third and 12 top-10 places), and 6 majors.
At age 16, Davies had to choose between cricket and golf. At that time he was a Glamorgan CC Academy, and ECB England National Development Squad player. The latter also included Alistair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan and Samit Patel who would play test cricket subsequently.

## Amateur wins

* 1999-2003 14 junior championships
* 2003 Boys Amateur Championship
* 2006 Scratch Players Championship
* 2003–07 10 collegiate championships in USA

## Professional wins (5)
### European Tour wins (1)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 21 Mar 2010 | Trophée Hassan II | −25 (68-64-68-66=266) | 2 strokes | Louis Oosthuizen |
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
| 1 | 2011 | Trophée Hassan II | David Horsey, Jaco van Zyl | Horsey won with birdie on second extra hole |

### Challenge Tour wins (4)

| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 26 Jul 2009 | SWALEC Wales Challenge | −2 (77-68-70-71=286) | Playoff | James Morrison |
| 2 | 6 Sep 2009 | Fred Olsen Challenge de España | −17 (65-70-65-67=267) | 1 stroke | Steven Jeppesen |
| 3 | 10 May 2015 | Turkish Airlines Challenge | −14 (69-70-65-70=274) | 4 strokes | Lorenzo Gagli |
| 4 | 19 Jul 2015 | Fred Olsen Challenge de España (2) | −22 (60-67-67-68=262) | 2 strokes | Geoff Drakeford |
Challenge Tour playoff record (1–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
| 1 | 2009 | SWALEC Wales Challenge | James Morrison | Won with par on third extra hole |
| 2 | 2009 | SK Golf Challenge | Nicolas Colsaerts, Julien Guerrier | Colsaerts won with birdie on second extra hole |

## Playoff record

Asian Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
| 1 | 2008 | Hana Bank Vietnam Masters | Andrew Dodt, Thongchai Jaidee | Jaidee won with par on third extra hole Dodt eliminated by birdie on second hole |

## Results in major championships

| Tournament | 2007 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| U.S. Open | CUT | | T74 | |
| The Open Championship | | CUT | CUT | CUT |
| PGA Championship | | | T62 | |
Note: Davies never played in the Masters Tournament.
CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied

## Results in World Golf Championships

| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 |
| Match Play | | |
| Championship | | T61 |
| Invitational | T71 | |
| Champions | T53 | |
"T" = Tied

## Team appearances

Amateur
* Boys' Home Internationals (representing Wales) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
* Men's Home internationals (representing Wales) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
* European Boys' Team Championship (representing Wales): 2001, 2002, 2003
* Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners)
* European Youths' Team Championship (representing Wales): 2004, 2006
* Eisenhower Trophy (representing Wales): 2004, 2006
* Palmer Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2005, 2006 (winners), 2007
* European Amateur Team Championship (representing Wales): 2005, 2007
* Walker Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2005, 2007
* St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2006 (winners)
Professional
* Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2011 (winners)
* World Cup (representing Wales): 2011