Enjoyed the finest season of his career in 2011, when he won the Madeira Islands Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to finish a career-best 25th in The Race to Dubai. Held off Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington to triumph in Scotland and land the biggest cheque of his career. Continued the winning streak in 2012, claiming the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco by three shots. Made the European Tour breakthrough many golf observers believed was overdue when he beat Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño in a play-off to win the Estoril Open de Portugal in April 2009. Almost a year before, he had won the Banque Populaire Moroccan Classic, the third Challenge Tour victory of his career, before winning his card at the Qualifying School Final Stage. Lost his card after a disappointing rookie season on The European Tour in 2006, but he was soon rebuilding his confidence with the second Challenge Tour victory of his career, at the 2007 Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata. Gained his first professional victory in September 2005, when he won the BA-CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria on the Challenge Tour. A spectacular birdie-birdie finish at the Fontana Golf Club in Vienna put him one shot ahead of Sweden’s Steven Jeppesen and helped him secure his place on The European Tour via the final Challenge Tour Rankings. That ended a four-year wait to break through to the top level, after showing huge potential by becoming the Amateur Champion in 2001 and as a member of the victorious Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team the same year.