Ian Woosnam, the Little Big Man,

now set to add Seniors Tour

victories to his CV

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Ian Woosnam is living proof of the maxim that less is more.

At just 5ft 5in, “Woosie” – as he is affectionately known – may be small in stature, but his impact on the game of golf has been immense.
The patriotic Welshman, who was awarded an OBE in the 2007 New Year's Honours List, has won no fewer than 44 events in a glittering professional career spanning more than three decades.
His most significant victory came in 1991, when he emulated his British rivals Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo by winning the Masters Tournament. In so doing, he became the first Welshman to win a Major Championship.
After holing an eight foot putt on the last green at Augusta National, Woosnam was helped into the famous green jacket by Faldo. And so a lifetime’s ambition was fulfilled.
He said: “When I was ten years old, I dreamed of having a putt to win the Masters. I lived for that moment, that one moment in time. It was very, very special.”
Another highlight in a glittering career came aT The K Club in Ireland in 2006, when he captained the European Ryder Cup Team to a record-equalling 18½-9½ victory over their US counterparts.
As a player, Woosnam’s Ryder Cup record was no less impressive. He was a member of eight consecutive European teams, from 1983 to 1997. During that time, he accrued 14 wins and five halves in 31 matches.
Having turned 50 on March 2, Woosnam will now seek to add a new chapter to an already illustrious career when he competes on the European Seniors Tour for the first time this week.
The gregarious Welshman has already confirmed his attendance at the first event on the 2008 Seniors Tour Schedule, the DGM Barbados Open at Royal Westmoreland Golf Club, where he owns a holiday home.
Sam Torrance and Carl Mason – who between them have dominated the Order of Merit for the past five seasons – face stiff competition should Woosnam recapture some of the form which propelled him to World No 1 status in 1991.
He maintained that elevated status for a total of 50 weeks – a far cry from his humble introduction to life as a professional golfer.
The term “journeyman” could never be applied to one of Europe’s most celebrated golfers, but in the late 1970s and early ‘80s it was perhaps a fitting description for Woosnam.
Having defied the advice of his fellow members at the Llanymynech Golf Club – part of which is in Wales, and part in Shropshire – by turning professional in 1976, Woosnam initially struggled to impose himself on the golfing landscape.
After making a series of unsuccessful visits to the Tour School, Woosie finally qualified to play on the European Tour in 1979. Woosnam endured three modest seasons, in which he travelled round the Continent in a VW camper van and survived on a diet of baked beans and crisps.
But despite only earning around £6,000 he persevered, and was rewarded when he finally made his breakthrough by winning the 1982 Swiss Open.
From that point, Woosnam’s ascent up the European Tour Order of Merit was steady until, in 1987, his career trajectory went stratospheric.
Buoyed by his third place finish at the Open Championship the previous year, Woosnam embarked on a winning spree, notching eight victories in a season – four on The European Tour – on his way to topping the Order of Merit and accruing global tournament earnings of £1,062,662.
He followed that up the following year by beating Seve Ballesteros into second place at the PGA Championship, played at Wentworth Club.
Three years and several more tournament victories later, he had risen to World No 1 – an achievement he celebrated with his career-defining triumph at the Masters.
Not bad for the son of a dairy farmer from Shropshire, who played his first round of golf with a set of sawn-off clubs.
Woosnam attributes his immense upper body strength to the long days he used to spend toiling on his father’s farm.
Driving a tractor as a youngster and lifting hay bales as a teenager did more than merely hone Woosnam’s physique. It turned him into a powerhouse – in Europe initially, before he conquered the world.
Now a new world awaits – the world of the Seniors Tour – and the Pocket Rocket from Oswestry is ready to launch Phase Two of his career.