Ian Woosnam
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Ian Harold Woosnam OBE (born 2 March 1958) is a British professional golfer from Wales. He was born in the town of Oswestry in England, and his family lived in the nearby village of St Martin's in Shropshire. He started playing at the unique Llanymynech Golf Club - which is partly in Wales and partly in England. Woosnam was one of the "Big Five" generation of European golfers, all born within 12 months 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. He now lives in Jersey.
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[edit] Career outline
Woosnam is short for a male golfer at 5 ft 4½ in (1.64 m), but he is a powerful hitter. He played as an amateur in regional competitions in the English county of Shropshire alongside Sandy Lyle. Woosnam turned professional in 1976 and first played the 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 (prize money list). 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 Open Championship. 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 Masters; the first person representing Wales to ever win a major. He has won 28 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 third despite suffering a two-stroke penalty for starting the final round with 15 clubs in his bag instead of the allowable maximum of 14. He fired his caddie two weeks later when, after a night drinking on the town, he failed to turn up. 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 was elected as captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup, leading Europe to victory by thrashing U.S.A. 18½-9½. This will be a one-off assignment as Nick Faldo was elected for 2008 at the same time.
Woosnam was awarded an O.B.E. in the 2007 New Years Honours List.
[edit] European Tour wins (28)
- 1982 (1) Ebel Swiss Open
- 1983 (1) Silk Cut Masters
- 1984 (1) Scandinavian Enterprise Open
- 1986 (1) Lawrence Batley International T.P.C.
- 1987 (4) Jersey Open, Cepsa Madrid Open, Bell's Scottish Open, Trophée Lancôme
- 1988 (3) Volvo PGA Championship, Carroll's Irish Open, Panasonic European Open
- 1989 (1) Carroll's Irish Open
- 1990 (4) Amex Med Open, Torras Monte Carlo Open, Bell's Scottish Open, Epson Grand Prix of Europe
- 1991 (2) Fujitsu Mediterranean Open, Torras Monte Carlo Golf Open
- 1992 (1) European Monte Carlo Open
- 1993 (2) Murphy's English Open, Trophée Lancôme
- 1994 (2) Air France Cannes Open, Dunhill British Masters
- 1996 (4) Johnnie Walker Classic, Heineken Classic, Scottish Open, Volvo German Open
- 1997 (1) Volvo PGA Championship
The Masters was not an official European Tour event in 1991. Note that the list of Woosnam's European Tour wins on the European Tour's official site includes several items which are not individual wins in official tournaments.
[edit] PGA Tour wins (2)
- 1991 The Masters, USF&G Classic
[edit] Other wins (14)
- 1979 News of the World Under-23 Match Play Championship
- 1982 Cacharel Under-25 Championship
- 1985 Zambian Open
- 1986 '555' Kenya Open
- 1987 Suntory World Match Play Championship, Hong Kong Open, Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa), World Cup (team (with David Llewellyn) and individual)
- 1988 Welsh Pro Championship
- 1989 World Cup (individual)
- 1990 Suntory World Match Play Championship
- 1991 PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States)
- 1997 Hyundai Motor Masters (South Korea)
- 2001 Cisco World Match Play Championship
[edit] Major Championships
[edit] Wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 54 Holes | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runners Up |
| 1991 | The Masters | 1 shot lead | -11 (72-66-67-72=277) | 1 stroke |  José María Olazábal |
[edit] Results timeline
| Tournament | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | CUT | T14 |
| U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T2 |
| The Open Championship | CUT | CUT | CUT | T16 | T3 | T8 | T25 | T49 |
| PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T30 | CUT | WD | 6 |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T30 | 1 | T19 | T17 | T46 | T17 | T29 | T39 | T16 | T14 |
| U.S. Open | T21 | T55 | T6 | T52 | CUT | T21 | T79 | CUT | CUT | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T4 | T17 | T5 | T51 | CUT | T49 | CUT | T24 | T57 | T24 |
| PGA Championship | T31 | T48 | CUT | T22 | T9 | CUT | T36 | CUT | T29 | CUT |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T40 | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT |
| U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T68 | T3 | T37 | 72 | DNP | CUT | DNP |
| PGA Championship | CUT | T51 | CUT | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP |
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
[edit] Team appearances
- World Cup (representing 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 (winner).
- Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Wales): 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2000
- Four Tours World Championship: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990
- Seve Trophy: (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000, 2002 (winner)
- UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
- Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Official World Golf Rankings | World No. 1's in men's golf since 1986. | |
|---|---|
| Severiano Ballesteros | Fred Couples | David Duval | Ernie Els | Nick Faldo | Bernhard Langer | Tom Lehman | Greg Norman | Nick Price | Vijay Singh | Tiger Woods † | Ian Woosnam | |
| † Tiger Woods (USA) is the current World No. 1, and has spent most weeks in that position, currently over 400. | |
