Finished inside The European Tour’s top 90 for a 12th consecutive season in 2011. Best performance was second place at the KLM Open, the tournament he won in 2004. That victory helped him to a career-high 26th on the Order of Merit and came a week after he lost a lucky ball marker which had served him for ten years. Often consulted a series of famous quotations to inspire him but ultimately put his victory down to a different token of luck, an 1891 ‘Queen’s Shilling’ which soldiers were handed when going to war, given to him by his father after losing his Wedgwood China ball marker the week before going to Holland. Won his card through the Challenge Tour in 1997, but missed eight cuts by just one shot to lose it. Regained it through a strong performance at the Qualifying School in 1999 and has not looked back since. A former England amateur international, he won the Greek Amateur Open Championship in 1994, finishing eight strokes ahead of his compatriot David Howell.