Luke Donald
Hemel Hempstead, England
Luke Campbell 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. In January 2007, he reached a career high ranking of 7, and was briefly the highest ranked European golfer. He has spent over 50 weeks in the top-10.
Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Donald and his brother Christian played junior golf at Hazlemere and Beaconsfield Golf Clubs – Christian now caddies for Luke. Luke was the club champion of Beaconsfield twice, winning the championship first at the age of 15. He attended The Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe.
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 and in January 2007 he moved up to seventh in the world.
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.
Donald has amassed career earnings of over US$11,000,000.
Donald’s longstanding interest in art is well documented. An amateur artist himself, he enjoys painting and drawing when not on tour. In 2002, one of his oil paintings was auctioned by the PGA Tour for charity.
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