Luke Donald, English golfer
Luke Campbell Donald MBE (born 7 December 1977) is an English professional golfer who has been the 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. 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. He was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to golf. Donald has had eight top-10 finishes in major championships, with two third-place finishes. He is one of three golfers to achieve the world number one ranking without winning a major, the others being Lee Westwood and Scottie Scheffler.
1977Dec, 7
Luke Donald
Choose Another Date
Events on 1977
- 23Mar
Watergate scandal
The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) are videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes. - 5Jul
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Military coup in Pakistan: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is overthrown. - 4Aug
Jimmy Carter
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. - 15Aug
Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project. - 21Nov
God Save the Queen
Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announces that the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand".