Ian James Poulter was born on this day in 1976. Poulter is an English professional golfer who is a member of the PGA Tour and the European Tour and has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings.
The highlights of Poulter’s career to date have been his two World Golf Championship wins at the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions.
Poulter turned professional in 1996 gaining his first win at the 1999 Open de Cí´te d’Ivoire on the European Tour’s second tier Challenge Tour; he won promotion to the European Tour itself via the qualifying school later that year. In his first season, he claimed the Italian Open title and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2000. Further wins followed in each of the next four seasons, most prestigiously the season ending “tour championship” the Volvo Masters in 2004. He was in the top ten on the Order of Merit in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. In 2010, he finished 4th on the Order of Merit, his highest placing so far.
In February 2010, he won his first tournament on US soil, beating fellow Englishman Paul Casey 4&2 in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. On 4 November 2012, Poulter won the second World Golf Championship of his career at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shenzhen, China, coming from four strokes back in the final round to win by two from four other players.