Luke Donald: Difference between revisions

Luke Donald (born December 7, 1977) is an English golfer who plays mainly on the U.S. based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour. In 2006 he reached the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career.

Biography

Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Donald played his junior golf at Hazlemere and Beaconsfield Golf Clubs. He was club champion of Beaconsfield twice, winning the championship first at the age of 15.

Coming from England, he didn't know much about the collegiate recruiting process, so joined College Prospects of America — a service that created a résumé for him and sent it to all the major colleges and universities in the United States. Several coaches responded, including Wally Goodwin at Stanford University. Donald didn't know much about Stanford, except: "that's where Tiger Woods went." Goodwin recruited Donald to join his golf squad, but when he was not admitted to the university, Goodwin turned Jeff Mory. ^[1]

Donald resultantly took a golf scholarship at Northwestern University in 1997, where he majored in art. His coach was Pat Goss, men's golf coach at Northwestern University, and Donald's only instructor since ^[2] He won the individual NCAA men's title in 1999, beating the scoring record formerly held by Tiger Woods.

Donald turned professional in 2001. The following year he won the rain-shortened Southern Farm Bureau Classic - becoming only the 11th rookie in PGA Tour history to earn more than $1 million in his first season. 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 also won the WGC-World Cup for England in partnership with Paul Casey. By early 2005 he was in the top twenty of the Official World Golf Rankings and his win in the 2006 Honda Classic moved him into the top ten for the first time. Soon afterwards he moved up to ninth.

Donald, along with Tom Watson, was one of two players to play with Jack Nicklaus in the final two rounds of golf in his career, at the 2005 Open Championship at St Andrews.

Donald won his singles match, 2&1 against Chad Campbell in the 36th Ryder Cup to help ensure Europe win the trophy for a third successive time. Donald took part in 3 matches and won them all. He also won in the foursomes twice, with Sergio García.

Personal life

He met his long standing American girlfriend, Diane Antonopoulos from Cgicago, at a local bar during his college years ^[3]. The couple have homes in High Wycombe and Chicago, after her studied art at Northwestern University. An avid painter, he donated one of his paintings to the PGATOUR.COM auction and the winning bid was $1,640, which was split between PGA TOUR Charities and junior golf charity in Chicago. Brother Christian caddies for Luke.

Professional wins

• 2002 Southern Farm Bureau Classic (PGA Tour)
• 2004 Omega European Masters, Scandinavian Masters (both on the European Tour)
• 2005 Target World Challenge (unofficial event)
• 2006 Honda Classic (PGA Tour)

Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10

Team appearances

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1999 (winners), 2001 (winners)
• Eisenhower Trophy: 1998 (winners), 2000
• St Andrews Trophy: 1998, 2000 (winners)
• Jacques Leglise Trophy: 1995 (winners)

Professional

• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners)
• WGC-World Cup (representing England): 2004 (winners), 2005

External links

• Profile on the PGA Tour's official site
  
• Profile on the European Tour's official site
• Golf Stars Online - links to profiles and articles
• Results for the last two years from the Official World Golf Rankings site