Oliver Wilson


Oliver John Wilson is an English professional golfer. Wilson was a member of the 2008 Ryder Cup, but had to wait six years for his first European Tour win, the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Amateur career

Wilson was born in Mansfield, England, where his golfing career began at Coxmoor Golf Club, having been a junior at Oakmere Park Golf Club. He played collegiately at Augusta State University.

Professional career

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 improved year-on-year, finishing 97th on the Order of Merit in 2005, 71st in 2006, 30th in 2007, 11th in 2008 and 7th in 2009.
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 at the Volvo China Open and in 2007 he had two second-place finishes. Wilson finished second four times in 2008, one of which took place at the BMW PGA Championship where he lost in a play-off to Miguel Ángel Jiménez. In April of that year Wilson reached the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time, the next month after his runner-up spot at the PGA Championship he reached a new high position of 45.
Also in 2008, Wilson qualified for that year's Ryder Cup matches.
In the opening tournament of the 2009 Race to Dubai, the HSBC Champions, Wilson recorded yet another runner-up finish. On 15 March 2009 he recorded a top-5 finish in the WGC-CA Championship. Wilson was also runner-up at the 2009 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Wilson never finished higher than 5th in 2010, although he still finished in the top 50 of the Order of Merit. Wilson lost his full European Tour playing rights at the end of the 2011 season. He alternated between the European Tour and the Challenge Tour in 2012, but failed to regain his full playing rights through his play during the year or at the 2012 qualifying school.
After 228 European Tour starts, Wilson finally earned his first win at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, picking up a cheque for $800,000. Prior to his win, he had nine runner-up finishes, the most for a non-winner. Wilson was a sponsor invite who started the week 252nd in the Race to Dubai, 104th in the Challenge Tour rankings, and 792nd in the world. The win moved Wilson up to 39th in the Race to Dubai, 156th in the world, and earned him European Tour membership through the end of 2016.
After his win in the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Wilson had another long period with little success. He failed to regain his Tour card through Q School in 2016 and played on the Challenge Tour in 2017 but his poor form continued. Speaking in an interview with bunkered magazine in December 2017, Wilson conceded that he'd contemplated quitting the sport after failing to earn his European Tour card for the 2018 season, missing the cut at Q-School.
Wilson showed a return of form in mid-2018. He qualified for the 2018 Open Championship through Final Qualifying, his first major since 2010, finished tied for 29th in the Porsche European Open the week after the Open and won the Swedish Challenge the following week, at the second hole of a playoff. Wilson had previously lost four playoffs on the European Tour and a playoff in the 2013 Northern Ireland Open Challenge. He finished the season 17th in the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, to just miss out on a European Tour place for 2019.
Wilson finishing tied for third place in the South African Open in December 2018. The event was part of the Open Qualifying Series and his high finish and tiebreaker world ranking position gave him an entry to the 2019 Open Championship.

Professional wins (3)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12005Volvo China Open Paul CaseyLost to birdie on first extra hole
22007Johnnie Walker Classic Anton Haig, Richard SterneHaig won with birdie on first extra hole
32008BMW PGA Championship Miguel Ángel JiménezLost to birdie on second extra hole
42008HSBC Champions Sergio GarcíaLost to birdie on second extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
15 Aug 2018Swedish Challenge−13 Playoff Joachim B. Hansen
27 Oct 2018Monaghan Irish Challenge−12 2 strokes Marco Iten

Challenge Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12013Northern Ireland Open Challenge Daan HuizingLost to birdie on first extra hole
22018Swedish Challenge Joachim B. HansenWon with par on second extra hole

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.
Tournament20082009201020112012201320142015
ChampionshipT567
Match PlayR16QF
InvitationalT27T11T33T67
ChampionsT45T64

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur
Professional