Luke Donald

This week, our featured player of the week is Luke Donald. We like to find players each week to feature who have a strong track record at an upcoming event and Donald fits that bill well for us this week. The Valspar Championship has been one of Donald’s best events throughout his career and as he prepares to take on Copperhead, we wanted to offer some background on Donald to get you ready to enjoy this weekend’s tournament action.

Luke was born in England and grew up in Hertfordshire. He was a two-time club champion at Beaconsfield where he won for the first time at age 15. Donald moved to the US to pursue his golf career at an American university. Although recruited to Stanford, Donald was not accepted and instead attended Northwestern where he won the 1999 individual Men’s Division I Golf Championship, shattering a scoring record previously held by Tiger Woods.

Donald turned pro in 2001 playing in 7 events and making three cuts, largely being allowed to participate due to sponsor exemptions. In 2002, after earning his tour card, he finished in 13th at the Sony Open and then in March went on to win his first event at The Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He went on to become only the 11th rookie in PGA Tournament history to earn over $1 million in his first season.

Some major highlights from Donald’s career include victories at the Omega Open and Scandinavian Masters in 2004 and a tie for 3rd at his first appearance in The Masters in 2005. He won the Honda Classic in 2006 and went on that year to help Europe win the Ryder Cup. After sustaining an injury in 2008 to his wrist, Donald had a couple of quiet years on the tour before emerging to win the Madrid Masters in May of 2010.

2011 proved to be the high point for Donald’s career as he ascended to the #1 ranking in the world with a slew of incredible performances. He defeated Martin Kaymer to win the WGC Accenture Match Play event in February. He went on to finish in2nd place at The Heritage and also at the Volvo World Match Play Championship. In May, he defeated Lee Westwood at The BMW PGA Championship to become the top ranked player in the world. He went on to take 2nd at the WGC Bridgestone event, won the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital Classic and 3rd at the Dubai World Championship. He became the first golfer to claim the top rank for both the PGA and European PGA Tour money lists. In 2012, Donald traded in and out of the #1 ranking with Rory McIlroy before finally giving way for good late in the year.

Donald plays a steady game. He is not a long ball hitter, but when he is at his best, he can be one of the better tee to green players on tour. His short game has really been the difference maker for him in his best years as he has consistently been in the Top 10 for strokes gained putting. While his game has trailed off to some degree to start the 2015 season, tournaments like the Valspar Open should give him an opportunity to regain some of his prior form and make a run for the top of the leaderboard. You will not see him featured often in our columns, but he does have a place in lineups depending on the course.