Luke Campbell Donald MBE (born 7 December 1977) is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour.
Donald had an outstanding year in 2011, winning several tournaments and awards. He 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.[5] He was named the PGA Player of the Year and the European Tour Golfer of the Year. He also 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. He was later awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour for his achievements in 2011.
In May 2011, Donald became the number one golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. He held the number one position for 40 weeks between May 2011 and March 2012 before Rory McIlroy briefly took over as world number one. The pair then exchanged the number one position a further four times in the following two months. On 27 May 2012, Donald regained the world number one ranking after successfully defending his BMW PGA Championship title. He held the number one position for a further 10 weeks before McIlroy displaced him again. Donald has spent a cumulative total of 56 weeks as the World Number One and has spent over 200 weeks in the top-10.[6] He was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to golf.[7] Donald has had eight top-10 finishes in major championships, with two third-place finishes. He is one of two golfers to achieve the world number one ranking without winning a major, the other being fellow Englishman Lee Westwood.
Donald captained the European team in the 2023 Ryder Cup side to a 161⁄2-111⁄2 victory over the United States at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.
- ^ a b c "Luke Donald: Golf: Northwestern Magazine – Northwestern University". 20 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Golfer Donald buys Evanston condo – tribunedigital-chicagotribune". 20 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "A look at Luke Donald at home in Chicago: – Chicago Golf Guy". 20 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Week 22 2011 Ending 29 May 2011" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ "Luke Donald seals US and European double". BBC Sport. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ "World Golf Rankings – Top 100 – Current #1: Jason Day".
- ^ "Luke Donald honored by Queen". ESPN. Associated Press. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.