Jamie Donaldson

Donaldson, born in Pontypridd, Wales, comes from a sports-loving family. His younger brother, Alex, plays football and his father, Jim, is a single-digit handicap golfer. He finished his amateur career in 2000 with a 2nd-place result at the Brabazon and St. Andrews Links Trophies and helped the Great Britain and Ireland Team to the second spot at the Eisenhower Trophy.
He turned professional in 2000. Having failed to come through the European Tourâ??s Qualifying School, he played on the 2001 Challenge Tour. He won the BMW Russian Open and the Telia Grand Prix in Sweden on his way to 2nd-place in the Challenge Tour rankings. He also made the most of limited opportunities on the elite tour, making five cuts in seven events, with two top-10 finishes. He ended the season inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit to earn his European Tour card for 2002.
Donaldson spent the next few years playing on that tour, reaching a best finish of 58th on the final 2003 Order of Merit, but began to experience back problems in 2004. In 2007, he returned to the Challenge Tour, picking up his third win at the Abierto Telefonica de Guatemala on his way to 4th place in the season-ending rankings. He was back on the European Tour in 2008 and again finished inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit to maintain his playing rights for the 2009 season. He has since performed consistently, finishing in the top 50 on the Order of Merit in both 2010 and 2011.
2011 Notes: Finished 38th in The Race to Dubai, thanks to seven top-10 finishes, including a T-3rd at the Omega European Masters. He showed an affinity for the team format, making his Vivendi Seve Trophy debut in 2011 and helping Great Britain and Ireland Team to victory over Continental Europe.
2012 Notes: He finished 19th in the 2012 Race to Dubai, due largely to his victory at the Irish Open. Donaldson fired a final-round 66 to win by four shots at Royal Portrush, securing his first European Tour win in his 255th attempt. It made him the 10th Welshman to find success on the European Tour. He also had success in his third major start, finishing T-7th at the PGA Championship.
2013 Notes: Started with a win at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and finished the year in style with three consecutive top-10s in the Final Series, including 2nd at the Turkish Airlines Open, with a final-round 63. He ended the season with a career-best 5th in The Race to Dubai.
2014 Notes: Started off with a T-2nd at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, two shots behind winner Thomas Bjorn. He also finished runner-up behind Patrick Reed at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. That result, along with his T-8th at the WGC-HSBC Champions, gave him enough FedExCup points to earn a Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour, which he accepted two days after the Cadillac. Donaldson was also a full-time member on the European Tour. He added his third and fourth top-10s of the year with back-to-back T-5th finishes at the BMW International Open and Alstom Open de France. He finished his PGA Tour season with a T-24th at the PGA Championship and was able to collect enough FedExCup points to finish in the top 125 and gain an exemption for 2015 membership. At that point, he turned his attention to the European Tour and, in his first event after the PGA Championship, won the Czech Masters. He finished 4th in The Race to Dubai. The win in Czechoslovakia helped him secure a berth on the European Ryder Cup Team, and in five matches, he went 3-1-0, clinching the decisive winning point with a 4&3 victory over Keegan Bradley in the singles competition.
2015 Notes: His first top-10 was a T-9th result at the Abu Dhabi Championship, and he finished T-6th at the Honda Classic. His third top-10 was T-8th at The Players Championship. He added one more with a T-5th at the Porsche European Open. Finished the year 48th in The Race to Dubai. Finished the year on a good note by winning the Thailand Golf Championship on the Asian Tour.
2016 Notes: Played in 17 European Tour events making 7 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 88th in the Race to Dubai. Started his year with a near-disastrous chainsaw accident on his left hand in January. Most of the injury affected his little finger, which required stitches. Was able to play two weeks later, missing the cut in Singapore and in Dubai the following week. Got his top-ten with a T-10th at the Irish Open.
2017 Notes: Played in 23 European Tour events making 12 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 7th at the Nordea Masters and T-9th at the Saltire Energy Paul Lewis Match Play. He finished 4th, seven shots back of winner Sergio Garcia at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters, it was his last event of the season.
2018 Notes: Played in 22 European Tour events making 11 cuts, and was 173rd in the Race to Dubai. His best finish was T-32nd at the Trophee Hassan II. His wrist was the problem for his poor year and in November had surgery on it. During his time off did a bit of commentating for Sky Sports.
2019 Notes: Played in 16 European Tour events making 10 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 131st in the Race to Dubai. Wasn't able to start until May because of his wrist surgery. He was 73rd at the Betfred British Masters. Was T-9th at the Aberdeen Standard Scottish Open and T-5th at the Scandinavian Masters thanks to shooting 63-67 over the weekend.
2020 Notes: Played in 19 European Tour events making 15 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was T-3rd at the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open, two shots back of the Callum Shinkwin/Kalle Samooja playoffs. Was 2nd at the South African Open, five shots back of winner Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
2021 Notes: Played in 22 European Tour events making 15 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 38th in the Race to Dubai. Was T-5th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, three shots back of winner Antoine Rozner. Shot 66-67 over the weekend to finish T-3rd at the Cazoo Classic, two shots back of winner Calum Hill. Finished birdie-birdie, to finish T-2nd at the BMW PGA Championship a shot back of winner Billy Horschel. Finished his season with a T-39th finish at the DP World Tour Championship.
2022 Notes: Was T-8th at the Betfred British Masters, four shots back of the winner Thorbjorn Olesen. Shot a final round 67 to finish T-6th at the Genesis Scottish Open to gain one of the three qualifying spots to play in the Open Championship at St. Andrews.