Ronan Patrick Rafferty (born 13 January 1964) is a Northern Irish professional golfer who formerly played on the European Tour.

He tied for first place with Peter McEvoy in the 1980 English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship for the Brabazon Trophy.

By the early 1990s, he came close to breaking the then-record for consecutive cuts made on the European Tour.

The second victory was at the New Zealand Open, where he defeated defending PGA Championship winner Larry Nelson in a playoff.

At the end of the year, he won the Volvo Masters, the most prestigious win of his career, defeating Nick Faldo by one shot.

[6] This tight win proved indispensable as the European team struggled on the last day and only barely retained the cup with a 14–14 tie.

In the spring he reached his career peak of #16 in the Official World Golf Ranking after a tie for 6th at the Belgian Open.

Although he recorded six official top-10s, including a runner-up finish at the European Pro-Celebrity pro-am, 1991 was a frustrating year.

He finished no worse than second place in five consecutive worldwide events: a victory at the Daikyo Palm Meadows Cup for his final win in Australia; a tie for second at the European-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic in Bangkok, Thailand; a playoff loss to Seve Ballesteros at the Dubai Desert Classic; a runner-up to American legend Tom Watson at the Hong Kong Open; and finally a victory at the Portuguese Open.

[4] Rafferty maintained full-time status for three more years and recorded a spate of top 10s but could come close to matching his 1980s heyday.

[12] Rafferty now plays few tournaments, and is involved in broadcasting, where he works as a commentator and analyst, and golf course design.

He and David Feherty were the first Northern Irish golfers to win consistently on the European Tour.

Shortly after they retired, golfers like Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke would go on to greater success, winning major championships.

By comparison, Nick Faldo, the best European golfer of that era, won 17 tour events during that timespan.

Paul Azinger, the most victorious American golfer during that timespan, won only one more event than Rafferty during these years.