Oliver Wilson

Oliver John Wilson (born 14 September 1980) is an English professional golfer.Wilson was born in Mansfield, England, where his golfing career began at Coxmoor Golf Club.After playing collegiately at Augusta State University, Wilson turned professional in 2003 and played on the Challenge Tour in 2004. He finished 15th on the Order of Merit list and moved up to the European Tour. He has improved year-on-year, finishing 97th on the Order of Merit in 2005, 71st in 2006, 30th in 2007 and 11th in 2008.In his rookie season on the European Tour in 2005, Wilson had three top ten finishes. In 2006 he lost in a play-off to Paul Casey in the Volvo China Open and in 2007 he had two second place finishes. So far in 2008 he has also managed four second place finishes the most notable of which came in the BMW PGA Championship where he lost in a play-off to Miguel Ángel Jiménez. In April Wilson reached the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time, the next month after his runner-up spot at the PGA Championship he reached a new high position of 45.On 31 August 2008, Nick Faldo named the 2008 European Ryder Cup team. Wilson was named in that team after automatically qualifying earlier that day by finishing 10th in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. He became the first player in history to be chosen to represent Europe against the Americans without first winning a professional tournament.In the opening tournament of the 2009 Race to Dubai, the HSBC Champions, Wilson recorded yet another runner-up finish. On March 15, 2009, he recorded a top-5 finish in the WGC-CA Championship.