Jaco van Zyl

Jaco van Zyl

Personal information
Full name	Jaco Phillipus van Zyl
Born	(1979-02-23) 23 February 1979 (age 45) Pretoria, South Africa
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	80 kg (176 lb; 12 st 8 lb)
Sporting nationality	South Africa
Spouse	Jessica van Zyl (m. 2005)
Children	1
Career
Turned professional	2001
Current tour(s)	European Tour Sunshine Tour
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	16
Highest ranking	49 (28 February 2016)^[1]
Number of wins by tour
Sunshine Tour	15
Other	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT: 2013
U.S. Open	CUT: 2013, 2016
The Open Championship	CUT: 2015

Jaco Phillipus van Zyl (born 23 February 1979) is a professional golfer from South Africa.

Career

Van Zyl was born in Pretoria. He won the South African Amateur in 2000 and turned professional the following year, immediately joining the Sunshine Tour. He won for the first time on the tour at the Platinum Classic in 2005.

In 2007, van Zyl played on the PGA Tour, having gained his card at the 2006 qualifying school. He made the 36-hole cut only four times in 21 tournaments during his rookie season and finished 227th on the money list.

In 2009, van Zyl recorded the biggest win of his career at the Telkom PGA Championship and went on to win twice more during the season and finish in 4th place on the Order of Merit. Having won four more tournaments on the Sunshine Tour in 2010, Van Zyl ended the year by finishing in 5th place at the final stage of the European Tour's qualifying school to earn his place on European Tour for the 2011 season. He had a good first season with five top-10 placings and finished 50th on the Race to Dubai. This included a playoff loss at the Trophée Hassan II in April. David Horsey beat van Zyl and Rhys Davies when he birdied the second extra hole of the playoff.^[2]

In November 2015, van Zyl finished runner-up at the Turkish Airlines Open. He placed one shot behind Victor Dubuisson, after being tied for the lead after 54 holes.^[3]

In February 2016, van Zyl reached the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time.

In January 2017, van Zyl was defeated in a sudden-death playoff on the European Tour for the second time. He lost to Wang Jeung-hun at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, who birdied the first extra hole to defeat van Zyl and Joakim Lagergren.^[4]

In September 2022, van Zyl won his first tournament in over six years at the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge. He finished two shots ahead of Hennie Otto.^[5]

Amateur wins

2000 South African Amateur

Professional wins (16)

Sunshine Tour wins (15)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	29 Oct 2005	Platinum Classic	−18 (67-65-66=198)	Playoff	Grant Muller
2	24 Oct 2008	Vodacom Origins of Golf Final	−2 (70-68-76=214)	1 stroke	Bradford Vaughan
3	22 Feb 2009	Telkom PGA Championship	−18 (70-68-66-66=270)	1 stroke	Graham DeLaet, Trevor Fisher Jnr
4	9 May 2009	Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open	65 pts (14-18-15-18=65)	12 points	Tongoona Charamba, Tyrone van Aswegen
5	21 Aug 2009	Telkom PGA Pro-Am	−12 (68-70-66=204)	5 strokes	Tongoona Charamba
6	1 May 2010	Vodacom Origins of Golf (2) at Sishen	−16 (65-68-67=200)	1 stroke	Jean Hugo, Jbe' Kruger
7	15 May 2010	Nashua Golf Challenge	−8 (68-71-69=208)	5 strokes	Jean Hugo, PH McIntyre
8	3 Sep 2010	Telkom PGA Pro-Am (2)	−15 (66-66-69=201)	1 stroke	Garth Mulroy
9	25 Sep 2010	SAA Pro-Am Invitational (2nd)	−22 (66-64-64=194)	8 strokes	Alex Haindl
10	9 Sep 2011	Telkom PGA Pro-Am (3)	−19 (67-66-64=197)	6 strokes	Jean Hugo
11	24 Feb 2013	Dimension Data Pro-Am	−17 (68-64-70-70=272)	1 stroke	Daniel Brooks
12	17 Mar 2013	Telkom PGA Championship (2)	−20 (67-65-67-69=268)	1 stroke	Dylan Frittelli
13	24 Mar 2013	Investec Cup	−21 (66-64-69-68=267)	Playoff	Hennie Otto
14	28 Feb 2016	Eye of Africa PGA Championship (3)	−20 (68-67-66-67=268)	Playoff	Dean Burmester
15	10 Sep 2022	Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge	−14 (68-65-69=202)	2 strokes	Hennie Otto

Sunshine Tour playoff record (3–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2005	Platinum Classic	Grant Muller	Won with birdie on first extra hole
2	2010	SAA Pro-Am Invitational (3rd)	Michiel Bothma	Lost to par on second extra hole
3	2012	Lion of Africa Cape Town Open	Jake Roos, Tyrone van Aswegen, Mark Williams	Roos won with birdie on second extra hole van Zyl eliminated by par on first hole
4	2013	Investec Cup	Hennie Otto	Won with par on first extra hole
5	2015	Investec Cup	Jaco Ahlers	Lost to par on third extra hole
6	2016	Eye of Africa PGA Championship	Dean Burmester	Won with par on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

2003 Event 6 – State mines G.C. (Diners Club Tour)

Playoff record

European Tour playoff record (0–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2011	Trophée Hassan II	Rhys Davies, David Horsey	Horsey won with birdie on second extra hole
2	2017	Commercial Bank Qatar Masters	Joakim Lagergren, Wang Jeung-hun	Wang won with birdie on first extra hole