Showed 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 yea r. Gained his first professional victory in September 2005 with the BA-CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria, helping him to secure his place on the European Tour via the final Challenge Tour Rankings after a four-year wait to break through to the top level.

Enjoyed the finest season of his career so far in 2011, when he won the Madeira Islands Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the way to finishing 25th in the Race to Dubai. Held off Major winners Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington to win the biggest cheque of his career with that Alfred Dunhill Links Championship victory.