Carlos Franco

Carlos Franco
Personal information
Full nameCarlos Daniel Franco
Born (1965-05-24) 24 May 1965 (age 59)
Asunción, Paraguay
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Sporting nationality Paraguay
Career
Turned professional1986
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Asia Golf Circuit
Tour de las Américas
Professional wins25
Highest ranking16 (9 January 2000)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour4
Japan Golf Tour5
PGA Tour Champions2
Other14
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT6: 1999
PGA ChampionshipT18: 2003
U.S. OpenT34: 1999
The Open ChampionshipT54: 2001
Achievements and awards
Asia Golf Circuit
Order of Merit winner
1994
PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year
1999
Medal record
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 2019 Lima Mixed team
South American Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Asunción Mixed team

Carlos Daniel Franco (born 24 May 1965) is a Paraguayan professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He is the brother of golfer Ángel Franco.

Franco was born in Asunción, the Paraguayan capital. He comes from a poor background and grew up in a one-room, dirt-floor home. His father was a greenkeeper and caddie, and he has five brothers, all of whom became golf professionals. Carlos turned professional in 1986 and has played in many parts of the world. He has won more than twenty tournaments in Latin America, and from 1994 to 1999 he won five times on the Japan Golf Tour. He also won the 1994 Philippine Open title on the Asia Golf Circuit and claimed the Order of Merit title that season.[2] He first played on the U.S.-based PGA Tour in 1999 and was fully exempt until 2006. He was the first rookie to surpass $1 million in earnings in a season and won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year title. He won four times on the PGA Tour. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings, going as high as 16th in 2000. He is also one of the few non-Americans to win a Presidents Cup as a member of the 1998 team.

After struggling to stay on the PGA Tour, Franco also played on the Web.com Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamérica. Franco joined the Champions Tour after turning 50.

At the 2019 Pan American Games, Franco teamed with Fabrizio Zanotti, Julieta Granada, and Sofia García, to win the silver medal in the mixed team event.

  1. ^ "Week 1 2000 Ending 9 Jan 2000" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Sport – International Results – Golf". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 April 1994. p. 21. Retrieved 21 February 2020 – via Trove.