Ricardo Santos is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 professional golfer

Professional golfer

In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...

.

Santos was born in Faro, Portugal

Faro, Portugal

Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...

. He turned professional in 2006.

From 2007, Santos has played regularly on the Challenge Tour

Challenge Tour

The Challenge Tour is the second tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe...

, where his best season-end ranking in the money list has been 50th in 2008. In 2007, he was given an invite to the Madeira Islands Open on the European Tour, and led after the first round.. He began his 2011 season well, making nine of his first ten cuts, including seven top-15 finishes. He then recorded his first Challenge Tour victory at The Princess, which took him to the top of the tour rankings. He is the first Portuguese-born golfer to win at this level, as José-Filipe Lima

José-Filipe Lima

José-Filipe Lima is a professional golfer. He has Portuguese parents but was born and grew up mainly in France. His father worked at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, which was the host course of the Trophée Lancôme until that tournament ceased in 2003, and was his son's first coach...

 and Daniel Silva

Daniel Silva (golfer)

Daniel Silva is a Portuguese professional golfer.Silva was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He turned professional in 1988 and spent the next decade attempting to hold down a place on the European Tour. He was a regular visitor to qualifying school, where he came out with the number one card in...

, despite representing Portugal, were born in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 respectively.

Challenge Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner-up
1	3 Jul 2011 2011 Challenge Tour The 2011 Challenge Tour was a series of professional golf tournaments collectively known as the Challenge Tour.The Challenge Tour is Europe's official developmental tour and is organised by the PGA European Tour...	The Princess	-16 (73-68-65-66=272)	3 strokes	Daniel Brooks

Team appearances

Professional

• World Cup (representing Portugal): 2011

External links