Frank_Nobilo
Frank Nobilo
New Zealand professional golfer (born 1960)
Frank Ivan Joseph Nobilo CNZM (born 14 May 1960) is a New Zealand former professional golfer.
| Frank Nobilo | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Frank Ivan Joseph Nobilo | ||
| Born | (1960-05-14) 14 May 1960 (age 63) Auckland, New Zealand | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Sporting nationality |  New Zealand | ||
| Residence | Auckland, New Zealand | ||
| Children | Bianca Nobilo | ||
| Career | |||
| Turned professional | 1979 | ||
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour PGA Tour of Australasia | ||
| Professional wins | 14 | ||
| Highest ranking | 21 (6 July 1997)[1] | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| PGA Tour | 1 | ||
| European Tour | 5 | ||
| Asian Tour | 1 | ||
| PGA Tour of Australasia | 2 | ||
| Other | 5 | ||
| Best results in major championships | |||
| Masters Tournament | 4th: 1996 | ||
| PGA Championship | T8: 1996 | ||
| U.S. Open | T9: 1994 | ||
| The Open Championship | T10: 1997 | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
Nobilo had a successful playing career, winning 14 pro tournaments around the world. He was at his peak during the mid-1990s when he also produced strong finishes in all four major championships.
Since his 2003 retirement, Nobilo has worked as a television announcer for golf events.
Nobilo was born in Auckland, of Italian and Croatian descent, and is the great-grandson of an Italian pirate.[2] At birth, his right leg was shorter than his left, causing him ongoing back problems. He was educated at St Peter's College in Auckland where he was persuaded to play golf by schoolmates (Chris Treen and Mark Lewis). Nobilo preferred to play Rugby league for Glenora over Rugby Union for St Peter's, which was "a bone of contention" with the school, and with his parents.
I got a bit of grief because I preferred league over rugby then and I was a bit more of a rebel. I used to catch the train to and from school and it took about 30–40 minutes. My mum said it drove her crazy because I missed it often and my parents were living in Glen Eden and I would end up in Henderson and they'd have to come and collect me.[3]
Nobilo and his wife, Selena, married in 1998. He has a daughter, CNN journalist Bianca Nobilo, who also speaks Italian and Croatian,[4] from a previous marriage. Nobilo works as an ambassador for The House of Nobilo, one of New Zealand's leading wineries and founded by one of his relatives Nikola Nobilo.[5] Frank Nobilo was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to golf, in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours.[6]
In 1978, Nobilo won the New Zealand Amateur at 18, the second-youngest winner of this title. He turned professional in November 1979. His first professional win came in 1982 at the New South Wales PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Nobilo joined the European Tour in 1985 as a full-time player, having played in selected events in 1982 and 1983. He recorded his first win on the Tour in the 1988 PLM Open (not to be confused with the KLM Open). Nobilo subsequently won four other European Tour events and finished inside the top 50 on the Order of Merit every season from 1988 to 1996, with a best of 14th place in 1993.
After strong performances in all the majors, including a 4th-place finish in the Masters Tournament and a tie for 8th in the PGA Championship, Nobilo left Europe at the end of 1996 and joined the United States-based PGA Tour for the following season. He won the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic during his rookie season, which proved to be his only win on that tour. He has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.
One week after his marriage to Selena in 1998, Nobilo was struck above the left eye by an errant tee shot at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Central Florida. The injury required 30 stitches, and affected his play afterwards.
Nobilo played for the International Team in each of the first three Presidents Cups (1994, 1996, 1998). He contributed significantly to the international appeal of the event when in 1998 and paired with fellow kiwi Greg Turner he holed a 70-foot putt on the final green to defeat the American pairing. On 2 October 2008, International Presidents Cup team captain Greg Norman announced that Frank Nobilo would serve as his assistant captain for the 2009 Presidents Cup 6–11 Oct. 2009 at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.[7]
On 9 October 2007, it was reported that Nobilo had announced he would be coming out of retirement, and attempt to gain a card for the U.S. PGA Tour through qualifying school. However, in a statement issued on the Golf Channel's website, Nobilo denied the report: "I have not, nor did I have any intention of entering this years PGA Tour Qualifying school."[8]
Upon retiring from tournament golf in 2003, Nobilo joined the Golf Channel for studio coverage. He has been a key member of the Live From team at the major championships. From 2012 to 2014, he occasionally filled in for Peter Jacobsen on NBC's golf coverage (NBC and Golf Channel are corporate siblings).
In 2015, Nobilo joined CBS's golf coverage, replacing Peter Oosterhuis. Like Oosterhuis did, he worked only the cable coverage of about half of CBS's events, while working on the network coverage of the other half, including the Masters and PGA Championship. He remained on Live From on Golf Channel but will no longer be allowed to fill in on NBC. Nobilo made his CBS debut at the 2015 Phoenix Open.
He was also a commentator in Rory McIlroy PGA Tour Video Game, released in 2015.
- 1978 New Zealand Amateur
- 1979 New Zealand Under-25 Stroke Play Championship
PGA Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 Apr 1997 | Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic | −14 (69-69-69-67=274) | Playoff |  Brad Faxon |
PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997 | Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic | Brad Faxon |
Won with par on first extra hole |
European Tour wins (5)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 Aug 1988 | PLM Open | −10 (63-68-71-68=270) | 1 stroke |  Howard Clark |
| 2 | 15 Sep 1991 | Trophée Lancôme | −13 (65-68-69-65=267) | 1 stroke |  Ian Baker-Finch, Peter Fowler, David Gilford, Jamie Spence |
| 3 | 7 Mar 1993 | Turespaña Open Mediterrania | −9 (71-69-67-72=279) | 1 stroke |  Gordon Brand Jnr,  David Feherty |
| 4 | 2 Jul 1995 | BMW International Open | −16 (67-69-69-67=272) | 2 strokes |  Bernhard Langer,  Jarmo Sandelin |
| 5 | 2 Jun 1996 | Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe | −18 (65-69-72-64=270) | 1 stroke | Colin Montgomerie |
Asian PGA Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 Dec 1997 | Andersen Consulting Hong Kong Open | −17 (67-66-66-68=267) | 5 strokes |  Kang Wook-soon |
Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Mar 1994 | Sampoerna Indonesia Open | −15 (69-67-68-69=273) | 3 strokes | Jerry Smith |
Asia Golf Circuit playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1994 | Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open |  Periasamy Gunasegaran, Joakim Haeggman |
Haeggman won with par on eighth extra hole Nobilo eliminated by par on sixth hole |
PGA Tour of Australia wins (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Sep 1982 | Reschs Pilsner New South Wales PGA Championship | −13 (72-74-67-66=279) | 1 stroke | Lyndsay Stephen |
| 2 | 31 Dec 1985 (1986 season) |
Nissan-Mobil New Zealand PGA Championship | −8 (72-67-70-71=280) | 2 strokes | Brett Ogle |
Other wins (4)
- 1987 New Zealand PGA Championship
- 1995 Sarazen World Open
- 1996 Subaru Sarazen World Open
- 1997 Mexican Open
| Tournament | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | 4 | 46 | CUT | |||||||||||
| U.S. Open | T9 | T10 | T13 | T36 | T40 | CUT | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | T59 | T16 | T73 | T51 | T11 | T68 | T27 | T10 | CUT | T18 | |||||
| PGA Championship | T33 | T22 | T47 | CUT | T8 | T29 | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 9 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 27 | 21 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1986 Open Championship – 1994 PGA)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (five times)
| Tournament | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | T60 | CUT | T63 | T71 | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Amateur
- Eisenhower Trophy (representing New Zealand): 1978
- Nomura Cup (representing New Zealand): 1979
Professional
- World Cup (representing New Zealand): 1982, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000
- Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing New Zealand): 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
- Presidents Cup (International team): 1994, 1996, 1998 (winners)
- Alfred Dunhill Challenge (representing Australasia): 1995
- UBS Warburg Cup (representing the Rest of the World): 2001
- "Week 27 1997 Ending 6 Jul 1997" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- "Four long shots who are in with a chance". The Independent. 17 July 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
- Wynne Gray, "Q & A Frank Nobilo", New Zealand Herald, 12 November 2011 (retrieved 17 November 2011)
- "Bianca Nobilo | CNN Anchor and Correspondent". CNN. 9 May 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
Bianca Nobilo is a CNN anchor and correspondent based in London. She is the co-host of CNN Newsroom with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo. … Bianca speaks Italian and Croatian.
- "Professional Golfer Frank Nobilo Signs on as House of Nobilo Brand Ambassador". Business Wire. 4 May 2005. Retrieved 16 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
- "Queen's Birthday honours list 1998". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 June 1998. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- "Nobilo Joins Norman's Int'l Team". Golf Digest. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
- "Golf Channel's Nobilo Denies Return". Golf Channel. 9 October 2007.
- Official website
- Frank Nobilo at the European Tour official site
- Frank Nobilo at the PGA Tour official site
- Frank Nobilo at the Official World Golf Ranking official site