Charlie Danielson

At age eight, Danielson began playing competitive golf but was swinging a club before his third birthday. Coming from a family of golfers, Charlie Danielson wasn't even the most accomplished golfer in his own home. His sisters Lindsay and Casey each won four individual golf state championships, Casey, a former Stanford University standout, has played in 7 U.S. Women's Amateurs and two U.S. Women's Opens.
The former University of Illinois four-time PING All- American enjoyed a storied collegiate career. As a freshman, he finished 5th in the NCAA Regional Qualifier, advancing him to the NCAA Finals, where he placed 13th. He helped push the Fighting Illini to the semifinals in the team competition in both his junior and senior years, in which they fell to USC and Oregon, respectively.
He qualified for the U.S. Amateur twice, advancing to the Round of 16 in 2013. He failed to qualify for match play in 2015. He also qualified for the final U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2014 and moved on to the Round of 32 before being ousted. He also participated in a Walker Cup practice session in December of 2014. He made the cut at the 2016 Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and finished T-72nd. He qualified for the U.S. Open and played at Oakmont in 2016 missing the cut. Right after that turned professional. In qualifying, he beat Tony Finau in a playoff to get the last spot in that sectional.
He has played in 4 PGA Tour events and his best finish was T-22nd at the John Deere Classic. He played in four Web.Com Tour events, best finish T-15th at the Utah Championship. Played twice in Europe, T-68th at the Italian Open and missed the cut at the Porsche European Open.
2017 Notes: He played three times on the PGA Tour, best finish T-34th at the Baracuda Championship. Played twice on the Web.com Tour, best finish T-19th at the Air Capital Classic.
In December of 2017, Danielson's knee started bothering him. The knee was surgically repaired twice when he was in middle school. He was coming off a year in which he finished 21st on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Order of Merit, earning $28,488 (Canadian) in just seven starts. He shot 70 or better in 24 of 28 rounds and only twice finished outside the top 15.
2018 Notes: The pain was so bad that he shut down playing for the first half of the year. He did everything to avoid surgery, physical therapy, and cortisone injections. He tried to play a few Adams Tour events but knew his knee wasn't getting any better.
In June, he decided there was no other way to get back on the course but to have the surgery. On July 3, Danielson underwent a relatively new procedure in which Dr. William Pennington of the Orthopedic Institute of Wisconsin performed a ligament reconstruction, using Cartiform Arthrex to repair two holes in his meniscus. Danielson then spent the rest of the year recovering and strengthening the knee with the help of a physical therapist.
2018 Notes: Though he missed virtually all of 2018 and spent "three or four months on the couch" in Osceola, Danielson said he was in good shape financially because he made a combined $150,000 on the various tours and has an endorsement deal with Titleist and Foot-Joy. He spent the first part of the year getting his game back in shape and in April he went to Mackenzie Tour- PGA Tour Canada Q-School and finished T-14th.
2019 Notes: His first start of the year he finished T-9th at the Canada Life Open. Was T-6th at the Bayview Place DCBank Open. Danielson was a medalist in local qualifier and shot 67-70 during sectional qualifying and then survived a 3-for-2 playoff for the final spots to play in his second U.S. Open.