

A journeyman English golfer whose career is a testament to persistence, grinding out victories across the European tour's challenging landscape.
Robert Coles represents the backbone of professional golf—the player who operates far from the spotlight of majors but whose career is a marathon of skill and tenacity. Turning professional in 1994, the Essex golfer spent years navigating the mini-tours and qualifying schools, a grueling apprenticeship that forged a steady, unflappable game. His breakthrough on the European Tour was hard-won, and his victories didn't come in glamorous locales but in the tough, workmanlike events that define a season. Coles's three European Tour wins were characterized by a methodical precision rather than explosive power, a reflection of his personality. For over two decades, he maintained his playing privileges through consistency and a deep knowledge of his own game, becoming a respected figure among his peers. His later move to the European Senior Tour was a natural progression, allowing his experience to shine in a new arena, proving that for some golfers, the craft only deepens with time.
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Robert was born in 1972, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
The biggest hits of 1972
#1 Movie
The Godfather
Best Picture
The Godfather
#1 TV Show
All in the Family
The world at every milestone
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Live Aid concerts raise money for Ethiopian famine
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Hubble Space Telescope launched; Germany reunifies
European Union officially established
Euro currency enters circulation
Curiosity rover lands on Mars; Sandy Hook shooting
Russia invades Ukraine; Queen Elizabeth II dies
He won the Aa St Omer Open and the Open de Madrid in the same year, 2003.
He served as the tournament director for the PGA EuroPro Tour after his playing career slowed.
He hails from Rochford, Essex, and was a member of the Rochford Hundred Golf Club.
His victory at the 2013 M2M Russian Open came after a four-way playoff.
“You learn more about your game missing a cut than winning.”