Captured his sixth European Tour title at the 2012 BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi, but it came a few weeks too late as he had narrowly missed out on qualifying for the European Ryder Cup Team, which was captained by his good friend and compatriot José María Olazábal. Had spent a long period in the qualifying spots after his victory in the 2011 Barclays Singapore Open, which was reduced to 54 holes because of bad weather. That ended a three-year wait for a win, having last tasted victory in the 2008 British Masters, beating Lee Westwood at the third hole of a play-off. Followed in the footsteps of his idol Seve Ballesteros with his maiden victory in the KLM Open in 2005. That helped him win The 2005 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award, emulating his two other Spanish golfing heroes, Olazábal and Sergio Garcia. His position as one of Spain’s leading talents was further underlined by his victory in the 2006 BMW Asian Open in a play-off, after which he promptly proposed to his girlfriend, Alicia, whom he married later in the year. He returned to winning ways at the 2007 Italian Open. A week after his victory in Italy, his company - GFC Golf and Business - along with Miguel Angel Jiménez’s company - Golf Acción - began their promotion of the Open de Andalucía at Aloha Golf Club. Added the Madrid Masters to his golf portfolio in 2008 and staged the tournament successfully again in 2009, 2010 and 2011. An accomplished tennis player too, he started playing golf under the tutelage of his father at the age of five.