Mark Pilkington (golfer)

Mark Pilkington (born 17 March 1978) is a Welsh professional golfer.

Mark Pilkington
Personal information
Full name	Mark Pilkington
Born	(1978-03-17) 17 March 1978 Bangor, Wales
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Nationality	Wales
Residence	Morfa Nefyn, Wales
Career
Turned professional	1998
Former tour(s)	European Tour Challenge Tour
Professional wins	2
Number of wins by tour
Challenge Tour	1
Other	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP
The Open Championship	CUT: 2001, 2006
Achievements and awards
Challenge Tour Rankings winner 2006

Pilkington was born in Bangor, Gwynedd. He enjoyed a successful amateur career, representing Wales at all levels, and highlighted by winning the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1998. He turned professional later that year, immediately after winning a place on the European Tour at final qualifying school.

Pilkington had an unsuccessful rookie season on the European Tour in 1999, and played on the Challenge Tour the following season after failing to regain his card at qualifying school. He followed up a consistent Challenge Tour season with success at qualifying school to return to the top level for 2001. He managed to retain his European Tour card by finishing inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit in both 2001 and 2002, but his form dipped in 2003 and he dropped back down to the second tier for 2004.

After two largely unsuccessful seasons on the Challenge Tour, Pilkington's fortunes were revived in 2006 when he produced consistently good performances to finish the season on top of the Challenge Tour Rankings. After a slow start to the season, he recorded back to back second-place finishes, before rounding off the season with victory in the Kazakhstan Open and another runners-up prize at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final. By topping the money list, he had regained his card on the European Tour;[1] but in 2007 he finished in 136th place on the Order of Merit to again lose his place on the elite tour.