Entered the final round of the European Tour's Volvo Golf Champions tied for the lead with Branden Grace. Shot a Sunday, 2-under 71 at The Links of Fancourt to T4, a stroke out of the Grace-Ernie Els-Retief Goosen playoff that Grace won.

Was T9 at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in early February.

Was T9 at the Dubai Desert Classic in mid-February.

Shot Saturday and Sunday 69s at the Sicilian Open to T3 with Soren Kjeldsen, three strokes behind winner Thorbjorn Olesen in Italy.

Finished solo second at the Volvo China Open in April, three strokes behind Grace. Was one of only three players in the field to record four sub-70 rounds at Binhai GC in Tianjin (68-67-66-69).

Opened 72-72 then finished 71-71 at the Open de Espana in early May to T7.

2011: Had a career year, with three top-three finishes and his first European Tour title included despite battling a mid-season injury that sidelined him for four weeks. At the British Open, while riding a scooter with his father near Royal St. George's, he fell and cracked his radius, forcing him to withdraw from the British Open, the Irish Open, the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship.

He won the Volvo China Open, co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, by four strokes over Pablo Martin, Danny Lee and Soren Kjeldsen in Chengdu. The victory was worth €350,946. He became just the second Belgian golfer to win on the European Tour, joining Phillipe Touissant, winner of the 1974 Benson and Hedges International. The 37-year gap is the longest for a country winning its first and second titles in Tour history. His winning score of 24-under 264 broke the 72-hole scoring record at the Volvo China Open.

His victory in China earned him a berth in the Volvo World Match Play Championship, where he made it to the semifinals against Ian Poulter. He led Poulter, 3-up, after seven holes and was 2-up with four to play before eventually dropping the match to Poulter, who went on to win the tournament.

He was again T3 six weeks later at the weather-shortened Barclays Scottish Open.

His final top-10 of the season was a T9 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in early October.

Qualified for the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup for the first time. It was Belgium's first appearance in the tournament since 1991. Joined with Jerome Theunis to finish 28th. 2010: Had four top 10s in his first year as a full-time European Tour member. Was third at the BMW Italian Open, T6 at the Open de Espana and T8 at both the KLM Open and the Volvo China Open. 2009: He earned his first two professional titles, with both coming on the European Challenge Tour. He first won the Dutch Futures by four strokes over Andrew McArfthur then added the SK Golf Challenge in playoff fashion over Rhys Davies and Julian Guerrier.

Great-grandfather represented Belgium in basketball and water polo at the 1920 Olympic Games.

Admires Michael Jordan, Fred Couples and the late Seve Ballesteros, tennis players Roger Federer, John McEnroe and Goran Ivanisevic, motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi, darts player Bobby George and soccer players Eric Cantona and Zinedine Zidane.

Played numerous sports as a youth, concentrating on field hockey and golf before finally putting all his focus onto golf.

While rehabbing a broken arm in the summer of 2011, he caddied for friend Patrick Brose at the Belgium Foursome Championships, a noted amateur event in his home country.