Lucas Glover

ELIGIBILITY: The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2024.]

Born in Greenville, S.C., Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, credits his grandfather for giving him his start in golf. As the grandson of former Clemson football and baseball star Dick Hendley, a member of the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame, he is an avid Clemson Tiger sports fan. Hendley also played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Glover was a three-time High School All-American at Wade Hampton High School. He won the South Carolina State High School championship as a freshman and sophomore and finished runner-up as a junior and senior. He was All-State for all four years of high school.
Glover attended Clemson University from 1998 to 2001. He was named first-team All-American in 2000 and 2001 and honorable mention All-American in 1999. He was a member of the 2001 USA Walker Cup Team and the 1999 USA vs. Japan Cup Team. He was also a member of the USA Presidents Cup Teams in 2007 and 2009. He won three college tournaments and also won the South Carolina Amateur in 1998, 1999, and 2000, and the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2001.
After the 2001 U.S. Amateur, he turned professional and went to the PGA Tour qualifying tournament but missed out in the second stage. He started playing on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2002.
2002 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 12; In Money - seven; Top-10 Finishes - two; Scoring Average -70.92 (rank 38th); Money - $64,692 (rank 67th); Best Finish - T3 at the SAS Carolina Classic.
2003 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 26; In Money - 17; Top-10 Finishes - six; Scoring Average - 70.82 (rank 57th); Money - $193,989 (rank 17th); Best Finish - Won the Gila River Classic at Wild Horse Pass Resort.
2011 Notes: Defeated former Clemson teammate Jonathan Byrd in a playoff at the Wells Fargo Championship, his only top-10 of the year.
2012 Notes: A left knee injury while body surfing in January in Hawaii sidelined him until late March. He made 16 starts, with his best finish a T-46th at The Memorial. He was forced to withdraw following the second round of the Wyndham Championship in August (his last start of the year) because of nagging left knee discomfort. He worked hard in the offseason, and his knee was 100 percent when he started 2013 at the Humana.
2013 Notes: Earned his first top-10 since winning the 2011 Wells Fargo with a T-4th at the Honda Classic. Held the second and third-round lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, shooting 71 in the final round to finish T-4th, five strokes behind winner Billy Horschel. His first child with his wife, Krista, a daughter named Lucille, was born two weeks later. He finished the year 114th in the FedExCup race and 108th on the money list.
2014 Notes: In 26 starts, he made the cut in seven with one top-25 finish, a T-14th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He was 185th in the FedExCup standings and 182nd on the money list.
2015 Notes: In 26 starts, he made the cut in 15 with six top-25 finishes. Best result was T-15th at the Humana Challenge. He was 147th in the FedExCup standings and 156th on the money list.
2016 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts. Posted two top-10s, 8th at the Wells Fargo Championship and T-9th at the RSM Classic. Made it to the first round of the FedExCup playoffs, missing the cut at the Barclays. Was 106th in the final FedExCup standings and 111th on the money list.
2017 Notes: Played in 26 events on the PGA Tour, making 21 cuts. He made it to three FedExCup playoff events despite injuring his right knee when he slipped while hitting a shot in the third round of the Northern Trust. He finished 43rd in the FedExCup standings, his highest rank since 2009. Had four top-10s: 3rd at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, T-5th at the Sanderson Farms Championship, T-6th at the Players Championship, and T-7th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
2018 Notes: Played in 18 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts with one top-10 finish and a T-7th at the CIMB Classic. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, had arthroscopic knee surgery to fix a problem that had plagued him since a bodysurfing accident in Hawaii back in 2012. He played in the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs and finished 2nd at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, four strokes behind winner Denny McCarthy. Secured his PGA Tour card for the 2018-19 season with a 7th-place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals money list. Was 14th in the final priority-ranking order.
2019 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour events, making 21 cuts with seven top-10 finishes. Glover went into the final round at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open just one stroke off the lead but shot a 71 to finish T-7th, six strokes behind winner Bryson DeChambeau. He was four strokes back going into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am but shot 72 to finish T-7th again. At the Honda Classic, he shot a final-round 66 to finish T-4th, two strokes behind winner Keith Mitchell. Was T-10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-7th at the 3M Open. The next week was T-10th at the John Deere Open. Played in all of the FedExCup playoff events, making the Tour Championship for the first time since 2009. Finished T-43rd at the Northern Trust, T-7th at the BMW Championship, and T-29th at the Tour Championship. Ended the season ranked 29th in the FedExCup standings.
2020 Notes: He played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts and one top-10 finish. He was 118th in the FedExCup standings. After holding the 36-hole lead, he Finished T-9th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. After the break for COVID-19, his best finish was T-20th at the Travelers Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs, he missed the cut at the Northern Trust.
2021 Notes: Played in 30 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was 46th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-5th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, four shots back of winner Viktor Hovland. Shot a final-round 66 at the Valero Texas Open to finish 4th, six shots back of winner Jordan Spieth. Was T-8th at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Shot 64 in the final round of the John Deere Classic and won by two shots over Ryan Moore and Kevin Na. In the FedExCup Playoffs missed the cut at the Northern Trust and T-38th at the Tour Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 42nd in the FedExCup standings. Shot 64-65 over the weekend to finish T-5th at the Sony Open in Hawaii, five shots back of the Matsuyama/Henley playoff. He also finished T-3rd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and finished the year 42nd in the FedEx Cup race.
2023 Notes: Played in 30 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with five top-ten finishes. Was 18th in the FedExCup standings. At the beginning start of the year, putting again became the Achilles heel for Glover. In his first 20 starts of the year, his best finish was T-20th at the RBC Canadian Open. He missed ten cuts in those first 20 starts, and by the time the Memorial came around, he had had enough. It had been over a decade since he noticed a drastic problem. He remembers that a 4-putt on the fifth green at Colonial Country Club in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge was the start of the problem. Things were terrible; he had these involuntary wrist spasms, which prevented him from making any short putts. So, after a decade of trouble, Glover tried using a long putter just before the Memorial. Shortly afterward, he taught himself a split-handed putting grip, and in the month after the Memorial, he regained his confidence on the greens. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Glover switched to a broomstick-style putter with a mallet head and ranked 5th in Strokes Gained putting finishing T-4th, his first top-10 finish of the season. His putting improved as he finished T-6th at the John Deere Classic and T-5th at the Barbasol. He missed the cut at the 3M Open and went into the Wyndham Championship on a mission. He was 112th in the FedEx Cup standings and wanted to make sure to get into the playoffs. He needed to finish no worse than a two-way tie for second to have a chance to qualify, and he did better than that. After shooting a third-round 62, Glover went into the final round tied for the lead with Billy Horschel. They endured a tough day with a two-hour delay due to poor weather. In his round, he three-putted the first hole for a bogey; he played the last 17 holes in 3 under to shoot a 68 to win by two shots. For the week, he was 1st in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained Approach the Green, but more importantly, he was 15th in Strokes Gained putting as he made 66 of 70 putts inside ten feet. Not only did Glover get into the playoffs, the win vaulted him to 49th in the season-long points race. It was his first win since the 2021 John Deere, but more importantly, he became a force again on the PGA Tour. The next week, his putter saved the day again. Glover made a 20-foot par putt, a 30-foot bogey putt, and a 12-foot par putt over the final six holes to close with a 1-under 69 and force a playoff with Patrick Cantlay at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Glover won the second week in a row when Cantlay hit into the water on the first playoff hole. For the week, putting and scrambling was the hero. He was 1st in Scrambling and 12th in Strokes Gained Putting, making 61 of 66 inside ten feet. The following week at the BMW Championship, he finished T-22nd. The next week at the Tour Championship, his fifth straight event, a tired Glover finished T-18th. Showing how important the putting change made, after missing the cut at the Travelers, Glover was 187th in Strokes Gained Putting as only three other golfers were worst. Two months later, after the Tour Championship, Glover climbed to 156th in Strokes Gained Putting.
2024 Notes: Best finish 11th at the Players Championship.