In the late 1970s, Roberts worked for Dennis Pogue as an assistant pro at San Luis Obispo Golf and Country Club as well as Morro Bay Golf Course. He won the Foot-Joy PGA Assistant Professional Championship of 1979 and was second in 1980. The first professional tour where he briefly competed was the
PGA Tour of Australasia, after his 1979
PGA victory. On his fifth attempt, Roberts earned his
PGA Tour card at the PGA Tour Qualification Tournament in 1980 for the 1981 season. He returned to the tournament in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987, earning his card every year except 1981. He did not get his first win on the PGA Tour until 1994 at age 38, yet it sparked a nine-season run of eight victories. His career earnings are over $15 million. He is known as "Boss of the Moss" for his putting skills. Roberts played for the
United States in the
1995 Ryder Cup, 1994 and 2000
Presidents Cups, and 2001
UBS Warburg Cup. He was 3–1 at the Ryder Cup, 4-2-1 at the Presidents Cups, and 1–2 at the UBS Warburg Cup. Of the four team events, only the Ryder Cup team lost. He was a co-assistant captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup which was also defeated by the European team. After concentrating on the Champions Tour in 2006, Roberts went without a PGA Tour card for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, passing on using his exemption for being among the top 50 in career earnings. He used the exemption for the 2009 season. In the middle of his regular career, in 1995, Roberts began hosting the annual Loren Roberts Celebrity Pro-Am in May at Spring Creek Ranch in
Collierville, Tennessee. The benefitting charity is
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center of
Memphis, Tennessee. Roberts wrote
Focus: The Name of the Game with fellow PGA Tour golfers
Scott Simpson and
Larry Mize. The 128-page book was published by J. Countryman in 1999.
Senior career In 2005, Roberts joined the
Champions Tour. His first senior win came in his third event at the
JELD-WEN Tradition, one of five
senior majors. He defeated
Dana Quigley in a two-hole sudden-death playoff. In 2006, Roberts became the first golfer to open a Champions Tour season with three wins. Later that season he won his second senior major by beating
Eduardo Romero in a playoff at the
Senior British Open. He won the
Byron Nelson Award for lowest average stroke total per round. In 2009, he won his second Senior British Open title after beating
Fred Funk and
Mark McNulty in a playoff. He won a month later in August at the
Boeing Classic, where he denied
Mark O'Meara his first Champions Tour victory, defeating him by one stroke after making birdie on the final hole. The GWAA voted him Player of the Year. He broke 54-hole tournament
record for lowest score in relationship to par (25-under) and most birdies (26) as well as sharing lowest score (191). The marks were set largely due to scoring a career-best 61 in the final round of his 2006
MasterCard Championship at Hualalai win. == Personal life ==