Stephen Dodd Biography

Stephen Dodd was born in Cardiff, Wales on 15th July 1966. He enjoyed a successful amateur career before turning professional in 1990. The highlight of his amateur career was winning The Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale in 1989 which gave him the opportunity to play in the 1990 Masters Tournament at Augusta. In 1989 Stephen was named Welsh sports personality of the year.

Stephen spent the first couple of years of his professional career on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour. In 1992 he won the Bank Austria Open on that tour, but generally his results were not good. He first gained his place on the main European Tour in 1995, but found himself returning to qualifying school every year until 2001, when he finally broke into the top 100 on the Order of Merit to automatically retain his playing status. Dodd had his first European Tour win in the 2005 European Tour at the Volvo China Open (which was played in late 2004). A few weeks later he picked up a new biggest cheque of his career by coming tied second in the higher profile Dubai Desert Classic. He went on to win the Nissan Irish Open in May, and in November he won the WGC-World Cup for Wales in partnership with Bradley Dredge. He finished the season ranked a career high 17th on the Order of Merit.

In 2006 Stephen won the Smurfit European Open at the K Club (Dublin), granting him five year exemption on the European Tour. He finished the season ranked 29th on the Order of Merit. Since then he has slipped to 245th on the end of season money list in 2008.