Announced his return to form in swashbuckling fashion in the autumn of 2011 with back-to-back victories in his native Spain. Won the Castelló Masters for the second time in his career at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, the club where he has played since he was a boy, by a whopping 11 shots, finishing on 27 under par. The next week he held off compatriot Miguel Angel Jiménez to take the title at the Andalucia Masters, and the two triumphs helped erase the frustration of the previous two years, during which time he dropped down the World Ranking and struggled for form. Reached World Number Two in late 2008 when he won the HSBC Champions, the first event in the 2009 Race to Dubai, defeating Oliver Wilson in a play-off at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai.Won one of the game’s biggest titles at the 2008 Players’ Championship after a sudden-death play-off. Came agonisingly close to his first Major victory at the US PGA Championship only to be denied by Padraig Harrington, the man who edged him out of The 136th Open Championship at Carnoustie after a dramatic play-off. Eight years earlier, was second to Tiger Woods in the 1999 US PGA Championship as a teenager. Also boasts a fine Ryder Cup record. Unbeaten on the first two days at The K Club to become only the second European, after Ian Woosnam, to win four points from the foursomes and fourball matches in The Ryder Cup. Two years earlier, he had become one of only six players to claim four and a half points out of a possible five in The Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills. Was also a Vice Captain to Colin Montgomerie at The 2010 Ryder Cup, where Europe beat the United States by a point. Turned professional on 21st April 1999, after becoming the first Amateur Champion to finish low amateur in the Masters Tournament.