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Ian Woosnam (March 2, 1958, Oswestry, England) is
a United Kingdom|British golf player who
represents Wales. Woosnam was one of the "Big
Five" generation of European golfers, all born
within a couple of years of one another, who all
won majors, and made Europe competitive in the
Ryder Cup. His peers in this group were Seve
Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Sandy
Lyle.

==Career outline==
Woosnam is short for a male golfer at 5 ft 4 1/2in
(1.64m), but he is a powerful hitter. He played as
an amateur in regional competitions in the
England|English county of Shropshire alongside
Sandy Lyle. Woosnam turned professional in 1976
and first played the PGA European Tour in 1979.
After three modest seasons his career took off in
1982 when he won the Swiss Open and came eighth on
the order of merit. He also finished in the top
ten on the order of merit every year from 1983 to
1991 and again in 1993, 1996, and 1997, making
thirteen times in all. In 1987 and 1990 he was
first, and in the former year he set a world
record for global tournament earnings of
£1,062,662. 

Woosnam was 3rd in the 1986 The Open
Championship|British Open. In 1991, he reached the
top of the Official World Golf Rankings,
eventually spending a total of 50 weeks as World
number 1. In the same year he emulated his British
rivals, Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo by winning the
US The Masters Tournament|Masters; the first
person representing Wales to ever win a
majors|major. He has won twenty eight official
money events on the European Tour and many other
events around the world.

In the late 1990s his form began to fade, but he
nearly made a spectacular comeback at The Open
Championship in 2001, when he finished three
despite suffering a two stroke penalty for
starting the final round with fifteen clubs in his
bag. He fired his caddie for this mistake. That
same year Woosnam became the first player to
capture the Wentworth World Match Play
Championship in three decades. 

Woosnam was a member of eight consecutive European
Ryder Cup teams from 1983 to 1997. Despite not
winning a singles match he accumulated an
excellent overall record of 14 wins, 12 losses and
5 halves in 31 matches. He was a vice captain for
the 2002 European team and has been elected as
captain for 2006 Ryder Cup|2006. This will be a
one-off assignment in the first instance, as Nick
Faldo was elected for 2008 Ryder Cup|2008 at the
same time.

Woosnam was awarded an Order of the British
Empire|O.B.E. in 1992.

==European Tour wins==
*1982 Ebel Swiss Open
*1983 Silk Cut Masters
*1984 Scandinavian Enterprise Open 
*1986 Lawrence Batley International T.P.C. 
*1987 Lancome Trophy, Bell's Scottish Open, Cepsa
Madrid Open, Jersey Open
*1988 Panasonic European Open, Carroll's Irish
Open, Volvo PGA Championship
*1989 Carroll's Irish Open 
*1990 Epson Grand Prix of Europe, Bell's Scottish
Open, Torras Monte Carlo Open, Amex Med Open
*1991 Torras Monte Carlo Golf Open, Fujitsu
Mediterranean Open
*1992 European Monte Carlo Open
*1993 Trophee Lancome, Murphy's English Open
*1994 Dunhill British Masters, Air France Cannes
Open
*1996 Volvo German Open, Scottish Open (golf)|
Scottish Open, Heineken Classic, Johnnie Walker
Classic 
*1997 Volvo PGA Championship 

The Masters didn't count as a European Tour event
in 1991. Note that the list of Woosnams's European
Tour wins on the European Tour's official site
includes several items which are not individual
wins in official tournaments.

==Other wins==
*1979 News of the World Under-23 Match Play
Championship
*1982 Cacharel Under-25 Championship
*1985 Zambian Open
*1986 '555' Kenya Open 
*1987 HSBC World Match Play Championship|Suntory
World Match Play Championship, Hong Kong Open
(golf)|Hong Kong Open, Nedbank Golf
Challenge|Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa),
WGC-World Cup|World Cup (team (with David
Llewellyn) and individual) 
*1988 Welsh Pro Championship 
*1989 WGC-World Cup|World Cup (individual)
*1990 HSBC World Match Play Championship|Suntory
World Match Play Championship
*1991 The Masters Tournament|The Masters (PGA
Tour), USF&G Classic (PGA Tour), PGA Grand Slam of
Golf (United States)
*1997 Hyundai Motor Masters (South Korea)
*2001 HSBC World Match Play Championship|Cisco
World Match Play Championship

==Team appearances==
*WGC-World Cup|World Cup (Wales): 1980, 1982,
1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 (team and individual
winner), 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998,
2003.
*Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1982 (winner), 1984
*Ryder Cup: 1983, 1985 (winner), 1987 (winner),
1989 (tied - cup retained, 1991, 1993, 1995
(winner), 1997 (winner). Vice Captain 2002
(winner), Captain 2006.
*Alfred Dunhill Cup (Wales): 1985, 1986, 1988,
1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2000
*Four Tours World Championship: 1985, 1986, 1987,
1988, 1990
*Seve Trophy: (Great Britain & Ireland): 2000,
2002 (winner)
*UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

==See also==
*Golfers with most European Tour wins

==External links==
*http://www.woosie.com/ Official site
*http://www.europeantour.com/players/bio.sps?iPlay
erNo=210 Profile on the European Tour's official
site
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/W/Ian_Woosnam/
Golf Stars Online - links to features and profiles

Golf world number ones (men)