Comes from a family with a rich sports background. His grandfather was a jockey; dad, John, is a bookmaker and his uncle Terry played soccer for Tottenham in the early 1960s. Encouraged to take up golf by his older brother, Nick. Was a scratch player by age 16.

Runner-up in the English Amateur in 1999. Won the Finnish Amateur title and was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland team which won the Walker Cup at Nairn that year.