97 Facts About Luke Donald

1.

Luke Campbell Donald MBE was born on 7 December 1977 and is an English professional golfer who has been the World Number One.

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2.

Luke Donald plays mainly on the US -based PGA Tour but is a member of the European Tour.

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3.

Luke Donald won the PGA Tour money list and European Race to Dubai to complete a historic double, becoming the first player to win both money lists on the PGA and European Tours in the same year.

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4.

Luke Donald was named the PGA Player of the Year and the European Tour Golfer of the Year.

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5.

Luke Donald became the first Englishman to win the PGA Tour Player of the Year award, the PGA Tour's Vardon Trophy and the Mark H McCormack Award for the most weeks at number one during a calendar year.

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6.

Luke Donald was later awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour for his achievements in 2011.

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7.

In May 2011, Luke Donald became the number one golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.

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8.

Luke Donald held the number one position for 40 weeks between May 2011 and March 2012 before Rory McIlroy briefly took over as world number one.

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9.

On 27 May 2012, Luke Donald regained the world number one ranking after successfully defending his BMW PGA Championship title.

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10.

Luke Donald held the number one position for a further 10 weeks before McIlroy displaced him again.

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11.

Luke Donald has spent a cumulative total of 56 weeks as the World Number One and has spent over 200 weeks in the top-10.

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12.

Luke Donald has had eight top-10 finishes in major championships, with two third-place finishes.

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13.

Luke Donald is one of two golfers to achieve the world number one ranking without winning a major, the other being Lee Westwood.

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14.

Nevertheless, Luke Donald plays golf as an Englishman and represented England in golf's World Cup.

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15.

Luke Donald played junior golf at Hazlemere and Beaconsfield Golf Clubs.

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16.

Luke Donald was twice the club champion of Beaconsfield, first winning the championship at the age of 15.

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17.

Goodwin recruited Luke Donald to join his golf squad, but Luke Donald was not admitted to the university.

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18.

Luke Donald subsequently took a golf scholarship at Northwestern University in 1997, where he studied art theory and practice, and became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

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19.

Luke Donald won the individual NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships men's title in 1999, beating the scoring record formerly held by Tiger Woods.

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20.

Luke Donald became the first amateur to win the Chicago Open in 2000.

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21.

Luke Donald turned professional in 2001, making his debut as a professional at the Reno-Tahoe Open on the PGA Tour courtesy of a sponsors exemption.

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22.

Luke Donald missed the cut in his debut, but managed to earn invitations into six more events on the PGA Tour in 2001, making three cuts.

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23.

Luke Donald earned his tour card for the 2002 season by finishing T23rd at the Q-School.

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24.

In 2002, Luke Donald made his first start as a member of the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finishing tied for 13th.

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25.

Luke Donald won his maiden title on the PGA Tour in November 2002 at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

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26.

Luke Donald was two strokes back at the halfway stage, but birdied holes 15,16 and 17 on Saturday for a 67 and a one stroke advantage over South African Deane Pappas.

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27.

Luke Donald played solidly and made 17 of 25 cuts on the PGA Tour, but only two of these were top-10 finishes.

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28.

Luke Donald did however finish in a tie for third at the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour in August 2003.

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29.

In 2004, Luke Donald won the Omega European Masters and the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour.

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30.

In 2005, Luke Donald made his debut at the Masters Tournament and finished tied for 3rd place.

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31.

Luke Donald rose in the World Rankings from 130th at the turn of the year to 13th in the world in April 2005 after his top-3 finish at the Masters.

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32.

In March 2006, Luke Donald won his second US PGA Tour event at the Honda Classic in Florida, a victory which moved him into the top ten of the World Rankings for the first time.

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33.

Luke Donald finished tied for 3rd at the 2006 PGA Championship.

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34.

Luke Donald took part in three matches in the Ryder Cup that year, winning all of them.

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35.

In 2008, Luke Donald sustained an injury to his left wrist at the US Open that forced him to withdraw from the tournament during the final round.

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36.

Luke Donald's injury resulted in him having a six-month lay-off from competitive golf which meant that he missed out on playing in the Open Championship, the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup that year.

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37.

In May 2010, Luke Donald won the Madrid Masters by one shot for his first title in four years.

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38.

In October 2010, Luke Donald was a member of the European team that won the 2010 Ryder Cup with a one-point win over the USA.

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39.

Luke Donald was able to regain his lead with two successive wins at holes 11 and 12, then followed that up with a birdie on hole 15 to re-build his three-up lead with three holes to play.

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40.

Luke Donald had been in exceptional form all week and held an unprecedented record of having never trailed at any point during the week.

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41.

Luke Donald continued his early-season form at The Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links when he held the lead going into final round with Jim Furyk.

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42.

However, at the third extra hole, Luke Donald made bogey when his chip ran narrowly past the outside edge of the hole, giving Snedeker the win with a par.

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43.

Luke Donald knew that had he had won this tournament he would have gone to world number one for the first time in his career.

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44.

Luke Donald had previously beaten Ross Fisher, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer to reach the final; however, he did not add the Volvo World Match Play title to his WGC-Accenture Match Play title he won earlier in the year.

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45.

In May 2011, Luke Donald beat Lee Westwood in a playoff to win the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club.

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46.

Luke Donald was the third Englishman to hold the number one position in the Official World Golf Ranking since its inception in 1986.

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47.

In July 2011, Luke Donald won his first tournament as the world number one at the Barclays Scottish Open, which was held the week before the 2011 Open Championship.

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48.

Luke Donald shot a bogey free -9 on Sunday to finish four strokes clear of Sweden's Fredrik Andersson Hed.

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49.

Luke Donald finished second at the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, four shots behind winner Adam Scott.

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50.

Luke Donald won his fourth title of the year at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in October 2011.

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51.

In December, Luke Donald finished third at the Dubai World Championship and therefore secured the European Tour Race to Dubai for 2011, becoming the first golfer to officially claim top rank on both PGA Tour and European Tour money lists in the same year.

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52.

Luke Donald was in danger of being knocked off the top of the world rankings as both Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood progressed to the semi-finals, either would have taken over the top spot by winning the tournament.

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53.

Two weeks later, Luke Donald won the Transitions Championship to reclaim the number one ranking from McIlroy.

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54.

Luke Donald had earlier shot a bogey-free round of 66, which included 5 birdies in his first 11 holes to make the playoff.

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55.

On 15 April 2012, Luke Donald lost the number one ranking to McIlroy when he failed to finish inside the top 8 at the RBC Heritage.

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56.

Luke Donald finished third at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks later to reclaim the number one ranking.

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57.

Luke Donald lost the number one spot the following week after McIlroy's runner-up finish at the Wells Fargo Championship.

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58.

On 23 May 2012, Luke Donald was awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour in recognition of his achievements in the 2011 season.

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59.

Luke Donald shot all four rounds in the 60s, including a final round 68 with five birdies and only one bogey to claim victory.

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60.

Luke Donald became only the third player to successfully defend the European Tour's flagship event, alongside Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie.

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61.

Luke Donald missed the cut at the 2012 US Open, finishing +11 with rounds of 79 and 72.

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62.

Luke Donald finished in a tie for 32nd place at the tournament and again lost the world number one position to the Northern Irishman.

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63.

In November, Luke Donald won his third tournament of 2012, the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan.

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64.

At the 2013 US Open held at Merion Golf Club, Luke Donald was only two shots behind leader Phil Mickelson entering the final round after shooting rounds of 68,72 and 71.

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65.

Luke Donald then shot a final round of 75 to finish in a tie for eighth, recording the first top 10-finish of his career in a US Open tournament.

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66.

Luke Donald missed the halfway cut at both the 2013 Open Championship and 2013 PGA Championship, marking the first time in his career that he missed cuts at consecutive majors in a single year.

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67.

In November 2013, Luke Donald defended his title at the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour, cruising to a six shot victory over the field.

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68.

Late in 2013, Luke Donald changed from long-time swing coach Pat Goss, to Chuck Cook, who coached Jason Dufner to the 2013 PGA Championship.

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69.

Just prior to Augusta, Luke Donald had lost a place in the world's top 30 for the first time since 2008.

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70.

Luke Donald returned at RBC Heritage, where he held a two-shot lead after 54 holes, only to be narrowly beaten by Matt Kuchar, but he finished 2nd and returned to the world's top 20.

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71.

Luke Donald was unable to hold onto that lead after 72 holes and had to settle for third place behind Danny Willett and Ross Fisher.

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72.

Luke Donald had to face sectional qualifying for the US Open for the first time in 11 years due to his fall to 66th in the world ranking.

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73.

Luke Donald managed to finish at the top of his qualifier at the Bears Club to seal a spot.

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74.

The following week, Luke Donald finished in a tie for second place behind Branden Grace at the RBC Heritage.

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75.

Luke Donald had held the 54-hole lead by a single stroke, but was beaten by Grace who carded a final round 66 to win by two strokes.

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76.

In November 2017, Luke Donald was forced to withdraw from the RSM Classic after experiencing chest pains before his first round.

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77.

Luke Donald's best finish was a T37 at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club.

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78.

Luke Donald was granted a major medical exemption for the 2019 PGA Tour season.

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79.

Luke Donald played in the Sky Sports British Masters, missing the cut.

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80.

Luke Donald playing in only his second event of 2019 on his come back from injury, was in contention at the Valspar Championship.

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81.

Later in the season, Luke Donald finished T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

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82.

Luke Donald did not meet the terms and used a career earnings exemption for the remainder of the season.

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83.

Luke Donald worked with Pat Goss as coach from his time at Northwestern University until 2013.

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84.

Luke Donald added Dave Alred from 2010 to 2012, during which period he reached World Number 1 Donald stopped working with Alred after citing an 'over-analysis' of his game as a factor behind poor performance in the 2012 Majors.

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85.

In January 2014, Luke Donald left IMG and signed with agency Lagardere Unlimited.

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86.

Luke Donald wears his trademark Mizuno visor as part of his sponsorship.

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87.

Luke Donald has a sponsorship deal with Jordan, who supply his personal and golf shoes.

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88.

Luke Donald formerly had tour sponsorships with Royal Bank of Canada as well as Zurich Insurance.

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89.

Luke Donald was sponsored by Polo Ralph Lauren for more than a decade but he announced on Twitter on 30 December 2017 that he would no longer be wearing Polo Ralph Lauren RLX on the golf course.

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90.

On 2 January 2018, Luke Donald announced that he would be sponsored by Greyson Clothiers going forward.

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91.

In 2007, Luke Donald entered into a partnership with Terlato Wines to create a collection of bespoke wines.

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92.

Since then, a Viognier was added to the Luke Donald Collection, produced in the Central Coast of California.

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93.

Luke Donald met his future wife, Chicago native Diane Antonopoulos, while attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

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94.

Luke Donald proposed in June 2006, and the couple married on 24 June 2007 in Santorini, Greece.

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95.

Luke Donald studied art theory and practice in college, and enjoys painting and drawing when not on tour.

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96.

Luke Donald was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to golf.

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97.

Luke Donald's third daughter, Georgina, was born on 23 May 2014, while Donald was in England playing the BMW PGA Championship.

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