Biography
Padraig's professional career began in 1996. He made the cut at his first nine European Tour events, including five top-10 finishes and a win at the Spanish Open. Other top ten finishes saw him finish 11th in the Order of Merit for the year.

In 1997, 6 top ten finishes including his second place at the Volvo Masters, allowed Padraig climb to 8th position in the 1997 Order of Merit. He was again selected for the Irish World Cup and Alfred Dunhill Cup teams and partnered Paul McGinley to victory in the World Cup, the nation's first for 39 years. With his four top ten finishes, and a win in the 1998 Irish PGA Championship, he proved himself as one of the best players in Europe.

1999 represented Europe in the Ryder Cup. Padraig's impressive win in his singles match against Mark O'Meara was one of the most courageous performances of recent times. Padraig followed his Ryder Cup debut with a second place in the Linde German Masters, losing in a play off to Sergio Garcia.

2002 saw Padraig establish himself as one of the world's top players and his World Ranking continued to rise to a career high of 6th in the world. Padraig managed to achieve one of the goals he set himself for the year, which was to perform better at the Majors, finishing 5th at both the Masters and The Open and 8th at the US Open. Following on from a highly successful Ryder Cup where Padraig played an integral part in the victorious winning European Team, he proceeded to win the prestigious Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews and ultimately finish second on the European Volvo Order of Merit. Padraig topped off a superb year by beating Tiger Woods in the final round at his own event, the Target World Challenge, in the US.

2005 was a memorable year for Padraig in that he became the first Irishman to win a USPGA Tour event. In actual fact he won two of them that year! The first came at the Honda Classic and the second win was at the Barclays where he sank a 66 foot eagle putt on the last hole to pip Jim Furyk by one shot. Padraig also had the distinction of beating Tiger Woods in a play off at the Dunlop Phoenix Open on the Japan Golf Tour in November of that year.

Padraig finally realized his Major dreams when he won in a play off at Adare Manor against Bradley Dredge. He continued his play off success with a win in the Irish PGA Championship at the European Club before breaking through to win the Open Championship in another play off at one of his favorite courses, the feared Carnoustie Links. He was the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie in 1999 and the first Irishman to win the Open since Fred Daly in 1947.

2008 dawned and after a first major win in 2007 it was to be a year of spectacular success. Two wins for the year would in itself have been an achievement but to win two more Majors was and still is an amazing achievement when you consider that Padraig has now won three of the last six Majors played. He defended his Open Championship in style at Royal Birkdale in atrocious weather (the first European to do so in 102 years!) and then followed that up with a spectacular win in the USPGA Championship, (the first European to win since 1930!) where he putted like a man possessed on the back nine to win the hearts of many Americans watching. He was later awarded the PGA Player of the Year award, only the second European to have received this prestigious award. He reached a career high of 3rd in the world rankings during 2008.