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DOB: 30/12/75 Nationality: American

Height: 6 ft 1 in

Tournament Wins: 97

Tiger Woods hardly needs an introduction. He has emerged as the world's No 1 golfer for no less than 11 years since first achieving the feat in 1997, and has been the top-rated player for 52 consecutive weeks of a year a record eight times, from 2000-2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Woods, who currently has 14 Majors to his name, missed out on the chance to close the gap on Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 at last year's US PGA Championship.

The world's most famous golfer entered the tournament after capturing his 16th World Golf Championships title at Bridgestone Invitational, but was unable to keep South Korea's Yang Yong-eun at bay despite leading for the first three rounds, and ended up slumping to a shock defeat.

Woods captured his 14th Major - the US Open Championship - in remarkable fashion at Torrey Pines, beating fellow American Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole play-off, but that was only a small part of the story. Playing with torn anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee, and a double stress fracture sustained just prior to the event, Tiger held on for the win despite the pain.

He underwent surgery immediately after the tournament, which ruled him out for the remainder of the year.

Woods collected his first Major back in 1997 at the Masters, which he won by 12 strokes. This winning margin, together with his score of 270, set two new records. At 21 years, three months and 15 days old, he also emerged as the youngest winner of a Major at the time.

Three years later he won the US Open Championship by a record 15 strokes, the Open Championship at St Andrews by eight strokes and the US PGA Championship to make the summer of 2000 one for the history books.

Woods kept the statisticians busy in 2001 by winning the Masters for the second time. In doing so, he also became the first player in history to hold all four Majors at the same time.

Woods is famous for honing his skills from an early age. A child prodigy, he is recorded as having closed nine holes in 48 strokes at the age of three.

DOB: 16/06/70

Nationality: American

Height: 6 ft3 in

Tournament Wins: 46

World No 4 Phil Mickelson completed one of the most emotional victories in the history of the sport this April when he won the Masters Tournament at Augusta National and was rewarded by a hug from his wife Amy, a former breast cancer patient, at the 18th green.

It was "Lefty's" fourth Major victory, and his third Masters. His first Major trophy came at the US PGA Championship in 2005.

Mickelson added two World Golf Championships titles, the WGC-CA Championship and the WGC-HSBC Champions, to his list of landmark career victories in 2009.

The American claimed his first title outside the United States since 1993 when he won his maiden HSBC Champions title two years ago by defeating England's Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood in a sudden-death play-off.

This proved a dramatic start to the 2008 European Tour's international schedule, with the win helping make amends for Mickelson's play-off loss to Frenchman Grgory Havret at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond four months earlier.

In 2004, the American notched a major breakthrough in his career by winning the Masters at Augusta National, on his 47th attempt at a Major. He followed that up with a second Major triumph at the PGA Championship one year later. This earned him the distinction of being the first left-handed player to win the title, and the first to win two Majors.

Mickelson, who added a third Major in 2006 at the Masters, continued to amaze golf fans this April by bagging his third Masters courtesy of a 16-under-par performance that gave him a three-stroke lead over Westwood at Augusta.

DOB: 17/5/82

Nationality: American

Height: 5 ft 11 in

Tournament Wins: 4

Hunter Mahan turned pro in 2003 and earned a PGA Tour card for the 2004 season after a successful amateur career that saw him win the 1999 5A Texas State High School Golf Championship and the 1999 US Junior Amateur Golf Championship.

His first PGA Tour victory, which came at the 2007 Travelers Championship, lifted Mahan into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He broke into the top 50 in August and had climbed with the top 30 by March 2008.

Mahan's performances in 2007 saw Jack Nicklaus, in his capacity as captain of the US Presidents Cup team, choose Mahan as one of his two picks.

On Feb 28 of this year, Mahan claimed his second PGA Tour event by beating Rickie Fowler by a single stroke at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Mahan made it three PGA Tour titles when he came from three shots back to card a 6-under 64 at the prestigious World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. His final-round 64 was the lowest finish by a winner in the 12-year history of the event, while his three-shot comeback victory equaled the largest come-from-behind victory in the tournament's history.

DOB: 24/04/73

Nationality: English

Height: 6 ft

Tournament Wins: 32

England's Lee Westwood was crowned European No 1 last year after winning the inaugural Race to Dubai money stakes with a breathtaking victory at the Dubai World Championship. He set a new course record of 64 on the final round of the tournament at Jumeirah Golf Estates to earn 830,675 and finish a magnificent season as world No 4. A further 996,810 for topping The Race to Dubai Bonus Pool took his season's earnings to a record 4,237,762.

Westwood became the eighth Englishman to win Europe's prestigious Harry Vardon Trophy on two occasions or more, having previously won the money list in 2000, and the 18th player overall.

He also won the Portugal Masters, ending a run of three play-off defeats, two near-misses at Majors and an amazing 26 top-10s since his previous victory in 2007.That title took him past Mark James and second only to Nick Faldo in the list of England's most prolific champions.

Westwood set a Ryder Cup record at the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky in 2008 when he took his unbeaten run to 12 matches on the opening day of the tournament to equal Arnold Palmer's benchmark. He also delivered four points out of five at The K Club in Country Kildare, Ireland, in 2006 to add to his four and a half points out of five collected two years earlier when the Ryder Cup was staged at Oakland Hills, California.

Westwood was considered captain Colin Montgomery's top gun for the biannual competition, which features teams from America and Europe, when it convened at Celtic Manor in Wales. The Europeans held on to win the Cup by the narrowest margin since 1999.

This season Westwood earned a career-best second place at the Masters, leading by one shot going into the final day before being overtaken by eventual champion Phil Mickelson.

He claimed a 4th-place finish at the Players Championship weeks later after leading again, but Westwood silenced his critics and finally broke his 12-year spell without a PGA Tour victory by picking up the St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee in June.

Westwood finished runner-up at two of the season's first three Majors.

DOB: 10/01/76

Nationality: English

Height: 6 ft 1 in

Tournament Wins: 11

Ian Poulter became the first English winner of a World Golf Championships event this February, beating fellow countryman Paul Casey on the final day in Arizona. Victory lifted him into the world's top five for the first time, and came as a sweet reward for all of his hard work since he started out as an assistant professional with a handicap of four in 1994.

Poulter showed tremendous consistency throughout the 2009 season, which culminated in victory at the Singapore Open in November for his eighth European Tour title. He finished ninth on the The Race to Dubai money list that year.

Poulter almost captured his first Major in 2008, but finished runner-up at the 137th Open Championship. He continued the season in fine form, fully justifying European Team captain Nick Faldo's decision to pick him as a wildcard for The Ryder Cup by scoring four points out of a possible five at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky.

In 2007, as well as making the cut in all four Majors, he won the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan, married his long-time fiance Katie and launched his own clothing range, Ian Poulter Design.

Poulter took up golf at the age of four when his dad Terry, a single-figure handicapper, gave him a cut-down three wood. He won the Open de Cte d'Ivoire on the Challenge Tour in 1999, but finished 30th in the rankings and had to visit Qualifying School to win his Tour card.

After picking up the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in 2000, Poulter made a successful Ryder Cup debut as part of Bernhard Langer's victorious European Team four years later.

DOB: 28/12/84

Nationality: German

Height: 6 ft

Tournament Wins: 14

Martin Kaymer underlined his outstanding talent by becoming only the second German after Bernhard Langer to capture a Major at this year's PGA Championship. Having finished level with Bubba Watson on 11-under-par after 72 holes at Whistling Straits, Kaymer held his nerve in the ensuing play-off to edge out the American.

Kaymer's victory capped a meteoric rise for the golfer, who was named the Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2007 after his superb debut season.

He demonstrated his raw talent on his first appearance of the 2008 season with an impressive wire-to-wire maiden victory at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. That was followed by a second win, this time in his homeland, at the BMW International Open, which secured Kaymer's place within the world's top-50.

He continued to improve in 2009 with consecutive wins at the French and Scottish Opens, but Kaymer's Race to Dubai campaign was halted when he broke four bones in his foot while go-karting. This forced him out of action for two months and saw him finish third on the money list.

A second win in three years at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship propelled the German to world No 6, a new career high. He then climbed one spot higher up the rankings on the back of his PGA Championship triumph.

Kaymer first shot to prominence at the 2006 Challenge Tour. He only contested eight events that year, but finished fourth in the final rankings courtesy of two wins, including one on his debut, to secure a place at Europe's top table. He scored a 59 on the Satellite EPD Tour before joining the Challenge Tour in August of that year.

(China Daily 10/29/2010)