Luke Donald

Luke Donald
Personnel
Nation:	England
Nickname:	The ultimate driving machine
Career data
Professional since:	2001
Current tour:	PGA TOUR , European Tour
Tournament wins:	15th
Awards:	Harry Vardon Trophy (2011), Vardon Trophy (2011), Byron Nelson Award (2011), Winner of the Race to Dubai (2011), PGA European Tour Player of the Year (2011), PGA TOUR Player of the Year (2011)

Luke Campbell Donald , MBE (born December 7, 1977 in Hemel Hempstead , Hertfordshire ) is a British professional golfer who mainly plays on the US PGA TOUR , but is also a member of the PGA European Tour . From May 2011 to August 2012 he was - with short interruptions - the leader of the golf world rankings .

Life / career

Like many young British golfers, Luke Donald received a sports scholarship from an American university. He graduated from Northwestern University . In 1999 he won the men's singles title of the University Championships of the United States of America ( NCAA men's title). He turned pro in 2001 and won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic the following year . In 2004 he won the Omega European Masters and the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour . In the same year he was a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team and won the WGC World Cup for England alongside his partner Paul Casey . After a tied seventh place at the AT&T Pro-Am in Pebble Beach , Donald won the Honda Classic in March 2006 by a margin of two strokes. He had entered the final round as a shared leader. Unlike at the BMW International Open , where he had to surrender victory to David Howell in the last lap last year (and finished twelfth), he was able to maintain first place this time. After a brilliant approach on the 18th fairway and several decisive putts before, Donald secured his first "real" tournament victory on the PGA Tour . He won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in the clubhouse in 2002 when the tournament had to be ended after 54 holes due to the persistent rain.

At the beginning of 2005 Donald reached the top 20 of the golf world rankings and in the course of 2006 he already reached the top 10. He was the top ranked British golfer at the time. Therefore, together with Tom Watson, he was given the honor of accompanying Jack Nicklaus on the last two rounds of golf of his professional career, at the British Open 2005 at the Old Course in St Andrews . After winning the BMW PGA Championship at the end of May 2011, he reached number 1 in the golf world ranking for the first time in his career. At the beginning of March 2012 he was replaced by the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy . Two weeks later, Donald regained the lead and has since taken turns at the top several times with McIroy.

As the first golfer in history, Donald won both the money list ( Race to Dubai ) of the European Tour and the PGA Tour in 2011 and was also voted Player of the Year in both tournament series . On May 23, 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Life Membership by the European Tour in recognition of his successes in the 2011 season.

Professional victories (15)

PGA Tour (5)

• 2002 Southern Farm Bureau Classic
• 2006 Honda Classic
• 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship , Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic
• 2012 Transitions Championship

European Tour (7)

• 2004 Omega European Masters , Scandinavian Masters
• 2010 Madrid Masters
• 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (also part of the PGA Tour), BMW PGA Championship , The Barclays Scottish Open
• 2012 BMW PGA Championship

Others (4)

• 2005 Target World Challenge (USA) (not in the official money list)
• 2007 Gary Player Invitational (with Sally Little)
• 2012 Dunlop Phoenix ( Japan Golf Tour )
• 2013 Dunlop Phoenix

Results at major championships

competition	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T3	T42	T10	CUT	T38	CUT	T4	T32	T25
US Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	T18	DNP	DNP	T57	T12	CUT	WD	CUT	T47	T45	CUT	T8
The Open Championship	CUT	CUT	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT	T52	T35	T63	DNP	T5	T11	CUT	T5	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T23	T24	T66	T3	T23	DNP	T43	CUT	T8	T32	CUT

competition	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
The Masters	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T41	T43	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP
US Open	CUT	T58	CUT	DNP	DNP	T72
The Open Championship	T64	T12	T43	DNP	DNP

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrawn
CUT = cut not made
"T" split placement ( tie )
Green background for victories
Yellow background for top 10

Record at the World Golf Championships

Victories (1)

year	Championship	54 holes	Win score	head Start	Runner-up
2011	WGC Accenture Match Play Championship	n / A	3 & 2	n / A	Martin Kaymer

Results on time table

competition	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Accenture Match Play Championship	DNP	R16	R16	R32	R32
CA Championship	T11	T11	T6	T26	T20
Bridgestone Invitational	T16	T6	T8	T22	DNP

competition	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Accenture Match Play Championship	R16	R16	1	R64	R32
CA Championship	T20	T26	T6	T6	T43
Bridgestone Invitational	T45	T46	T2	T8	T9
HSBC champions	DNP	T3	DNP	T18	T31

DNP = did not play
VF, R16, R32, R64 = round in which the player lost in match play
"T" = shared rank
"-" = no tournament
Green background for wins
Yellow background for top 10
Die HSBC Champions didn't become a WGC tournament until 2009.

Participation in team competitions

• Ryder Cup : 2004 (winner), 2006 (winner), 2010 (winner), 2012 (winner)
• WGC World Cup (for England): 2004 (winner), 2005

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette June 16, 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Player profile on the European Tour
• Player profile at the PGA Tour (English)
• Tournament results of the last two years on the Official World Golf Ranking Website (English)