Found himself on the wrong end of one of the closest finishes in many years in the battle to keep automatic playing rights for The 2005 European Tour International Schedule. Going into his final event of the 2004 season, the Open de Madrid, he was in 114th place on the Volvo Order of Merit but, having missed the cut, he had to watch agonisingly as Richard Sterne, Wade Ormsby and Robert Karlsson all passed him, moving him out of the crucial top 116 into 117th place. Amazingly, Karlsson, who finished second from last in Madrid, pipped him to 116th place by only €13.57 (£9.39). To his great credit, he recovered from the disappointment and regained his card through the Qualifying School, a final round 70 at San Roque seeing him claim card number 25. Burst on to The European Tour by coming from five strokes behind to win the 1999 Heineken Classic in Perth just 18 months after turning professional. On the strength of the win, he finished 16th on the Order of Merit, after which he based his family in Europe. During 2002, he regained consistent form to have six top ten finishes, which included a tie for seventh place in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth Club during which he carded a course record equalling 63 in the fourth round. The year was capped off when he was declared a joint winner of the Australian PGA Championship with Peter Lonard. In his amateur days, he was part of the victorious 1996 Australian Eisenhower Cup Team in Manila after just nine years of playing golf. After winning a prestigious Scholarship for rising young stars, he won the 1998/99 Australasian Tour School in Queensland.