Dec 7 1977: Born
Luke Campbell Donald was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in 1977. He went to school at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. He began playing golf with his brother at the age of 10 and won the club champion of Beaconsfield two times, with his first coming at the age of 15.
1999: His First Big Amateur Success
By the time he was 20 he had been in America for two years having taken on a scholarship at Northwestern University. He won the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Championship, whilst also breaking the scoring record of a certain Tiger Woods at the same time.
2001: Turned Professional
Donald made his professional debut at the Reno-Tahoe Open; he was allowed to compete on the PGA Tour event as a sponsor’s exception. The debut wasn’t as successful as he may have hoped though as he failed to make the cut.
He did manage to gain some valuable invitations to 6 more events on the PGA Tour that year though. He made the cut on 3 of them though didn’t achieve anything too notable.
2002: First PGA Tour Win
In March of 2002 Luke Donald achieved his first ever PGA Tour wins, although the Southern Farm Bureau Classic was abandoned due to unplayable conditions because of rain, Donald had done just enough to be in front before play was stopped.
The winnings took him into an elite list of players; he was only the 11th rookie to win over $1 million in his first year.
2003: A Solid Year
The 2003 season was much less successful than the last, and although he played pretty solid golf to make 17 cuts out of 25 he only managed two top ten finishes. His best result being a tie for third place at the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour.
2004: Ryder Cup Victory
His results improved dramatically in 2004, winning both the omega European Masters and Scandinavian Masters, both on the European Tour. Then in the same year he made it into the European Ryder cup team, the team subsequently beat the Americans to win the Ryder Cup.
Another victory came when he partnered Paul Casey to win the WGC- World Cup for England.
2005: Inside The Top 20 Golfers In The World
By the time 2005 came around, he was showing his true consistency of results. Though he wasn’t winning too many tournaments he was regularly making cuts, this earned him a spot inside the top 20 players in the world. His best result was tying for third in The Masters, the closest he had come to winning his first major.
2006: Inside The Top Ten
Luke Donald’s rapid climb up the Official World Golf Rankings continued in 2006, mainly due to his second PGA Tour win in the Honda Classic. He won the PGA Tour title by two shots over Geoff Ogilvy. His rank would go up to that of seventh in the following year
2010: A Third European Tour Win
After four years without a title, Luke Donald finally put an end to that bad run by winning his third European Tour win at the Madrid Masters. He managed to fight off a strong performance from Welshman Rhys Davis to take the title by one shot.
He was also part of the European team that won the Ryder Cup in a close fought tournament that finished with Europe winning by just one point.
2011: Biggest Win Of Donald’s Career So Far
In February of this year Luke Donald managed to achieve his biggest career win to date by taking down the WGC Accenture match Play Championship on the European Tour. He also picked up another PGA Tour win in 2011 by winning the Children miracles Network Hospitals Classic.
Further wins in BMW PGA Championship and the Barclays Scottish Open, took him to three European Tour wins in 2011.
This was his most successful year to date, having already won one PGA Tour title and three European Tour title, he also came second in The Heritage PGA Tour. This excellent run of results led to him finally being named as PGA Player Of The Year whilst also being ranked as the number one player in the world.
2012: The Fight To Hold Onto Number One
This year has been a real tussle, particularly between Luke Donald and Rory Mcllroy for the number one position, though Lee Westwood has been pushing too. Donald did actually lose the spot to Mcllroy after not playing in the Honda Classic, which Mcllroy subsequently won.
It was short lived though as Donald won the Transitions Championship just two weeks later to reclaim the top ranking. That made it a fifth PGA Tour victory for Donald though he again lost his ranking to Mcllroy just four weeks later.
In a topsy turvy year he reclaimed the top spot once again just another two weeks later by finishing third in the Zurich Classic Of New Orleans. Only he went on to lose it yet again to Mcllroy who finished 2nd at the Wells Fargo Championship.
He has finally managed to reclaim the number one position again in 2012 by defending his title at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour; this was his seventh European Tour victory to date.
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The History of Luke Donald
Dec 7 1977: Born
Luke Campbell Donald was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in 1977. He went to school at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. He began playing golf with his brother at the age of 10 and won the club champion of Beaconsfield two times, with his first coming at the age of 15.
1999: His First Big Amateur Success
By the time he was 20 he had been in America for two years having taken on a scholarship at Northwestern University. He won the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Championship, whilst also breaking the scoring record of a certain Tiger Woods at the same time.
2001: Turned Professional
Donald made his professional debut at the Reno-Tahoe Open; he was allowed to compete on the PGA Tour event as a sponsor’s exception. The debut wasn’t as successful as he may have hoped though as he failed to make the cut.
He did manage to gain some valuable invitations to 6 more events on the PGA Tour that year though. He made the cut on 3 of them though didn’t achieve anything too notable.
2002: First PGA Tour Win
In March of 2002 Luke Donald achieved his first ever PGA Tour wins, although the Southern Farm Bureau Classic was abandoned due to unplayable conditions because of rain, Donald had done just enough to be in front before play was stopped.
The winnings took him into an elite list of players; he was only the 11th rookie to win over $1 million in his first year.
2003: A Solid Year
The 2003 season was much less successful than the last, and although he played pretty solid golf to make 17 cuts out of 25 he only managed two top ten finishes. His best result being a tie for third place at the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour.
2004: Ryder Cup Victory
His results improved dramatically in 2004, winning both the omega European Masters and Scandinavian Masters, both on the European Tour. Then in the same year he made it into the European Ryder cup team, the team subsequently beat the Americans to win the Ryder Cup.
Another victory came when he partnered Paul Casey to win the WGC- World Cup for England.
2005: Inside The Top 20 Golfers In The World
By the time 2005 came around, he was showing his true consistency of results. Though he wasn’t winning too many tournaments he was regularly making cuts, this earned him a spot inside the top 20 players in the world. His best result was tying for third in The Masters, the closest he had come to winning his first major.
2006: Inside The Top Ten
Luke Donald’s rapid climb up the Official World Golf Rankings continued in 2006, mainly due to his second PGA Tour win in the Honda Classic. He won the PGA Tour title by two shots over Geoff Ogilvy. His rank would go up to that of seventh in the following year
2010: A Third European Tour Win
After four years without a title, Luke Donald finally put an end to that bad run by winning his third European Tour win at the Madrid Masters. He managed to fight off a strong performance from Welshman Rhys Davis to take the title by one shot.
He was also part of the European team that won the Ryder Cup in a close fought tournament that finished with Europe winning by just one point.
2011: Biggest Win Of Donald’s Career So Far
In February of this year Luke Donald managed to achieve his biggest career win to date by taking down the WGC Accenture match Play Championship on the European Tour. He also picked up another PGA Tour win in 2011 by winning the Children miracles Network Hospitals Classic.
Further wins in BMW PGA Championship and the Barclays Scottish Open, took him to three European Tour wins in 2011.
This was his most successful year to date, having already won one PGA Tour title and three European Tour title, he also came second in The Heritage PGA Tour. This excellent run of results led to him finally being named as PGA Player Of The Year whilst also being ranked as the number one player in the world.
2012: The Fight To Hold Onto Number One
This year has been a real tussle, particularly between Luke Donald and Rory Mcllroy for the number one position, though Lee Westwood has been pushing too. Donald did actually lose the spot to Mcllroy after not playing in the Honda Classic, which Mcllroy subsequently won.
It was short lived though as Donald won the Transitions Championship just two weeks later to reclaim the top ranking. That made it a fifth PGA Tour victory for Donald though he again lost his ranking to Mcllroy just four weeks later.
In a topsy turvy year he reclaimed the top spot once again just another two weeks later by finishing third in the Zurich Classic Of New Orleans. Only he went on to lose it yet again to Mcllroy who finished 2nd at the Wells Fargo Championship.
He has finally managed to reclaim the number one position again in 2012 by defending his title at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour; this was his seventh European Tour victory to date.
Written by: admin
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