Ian Harold Woosnam OBE (born 2 March 1958) is a British professional golfer from Wales. He 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.

Career outline
Woosnam 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. He 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 placed third 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 U.S. Masters; the first person representing Wales to ever win a major championship. 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, Miles Byrne, two weeks later when, after a night drinking on the town, he failed to turn up.[1] That same year, Woosnam became the first player to capture the World Match Play Championship in three different 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 over the U.S. 18½-9½. This will be a one-off assignment as Nick Faldo was elected for 2008 at the same time.

Woosnam was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in early 1987, which affects approximately 1 in 200 men and 1 in 500 women in Britain.

Woosnam was awarded an O.B.E. in the 2007 New Years Honours List. He now lives in Jersey.

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.

PGA Tour wins (2)
1991 The Masters, USF&G Classic
Major championship is shown in bold.

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

Major Championships

Wins (1)
Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner Up
1991 The Masters 1 shot lead -11 (72-66-67-72=277) 1 stroke José María Olazábal

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 (winners), 1984
Ryder Cup: 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied - cup retained), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners), Vice Captain 2002 (winners), Captain 2006 (winners)
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 (winners)
UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)