Top-20 European players to watch out for in 2012: Part-3
His best performance in any major came at the Masters this year where he finished for a joint fourth alongside Tiger Woods. His best performance in any major came at the Masters this year where he finished for a joint fourth alongside Tiger Woods. Donald
finished for a disappointing joint 45th in the US Open at Congressional and missed the cut at the difficult links layout of the Open Championship at Royal St. Georges. He posted another strong finish at the PGA Championship for a joint eighth but
failed to land the title over the weekend. Donald will be hoping to lift the Masters title starting next year to bring an end to his winless major streak.
Donald finished the year with a scoring average of 69.12, amassing a total of € 5,323,400 on the European Tour alone.
Lee Westwood
Official World Golf Rankings: 2
Race to Dubai Rankings: 5
European Tour wins in 2011: 1
Another of the blistering Englishman who broke the headlines when he surged to the top of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Lee Westwood was the first European who dismantled Tiger Woods from the top of the OWGR some two years ago. He was taken over
by the raging Martin Kaymer at the start of the season when the young German rose to the number one spot, winning his respective round in the semi-final of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship. Westwood reclaimed the summit with his consecutive victories
on the Asian Tour, Indonesian Masters and the Ballantine's Championship on his favourite hunting ground.
Despite having an illustrious career so far, Westwood is among the few European Tour players who have not won a major title in the course of his career. He is often criticised for winning most of his titles on the Asian Tour, where not many of the top ranked
players are playing on the field.
Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, Westwood turned professional in the year 1993 and won his first title, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters in 1996, followed by Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. It was around this time, when Westwood realised
his ability to manoeuvre the Asian turf and made it a regular feature to tour the Asian Tour in order to improve his credentials. 38-year-old Westwood, better known as “Westy” has won no fewer than 37 professional events worldwide, with 21 of them on the European
Tour. He has five Asian Tour victories and four Japan Golf Tour victories to his credit and has won three titles on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa, making him one of the most internationally recognised player in the sport.
Westwood started off the current year with a lacklustre start on the European Tour, managing only one joint 11th in his five starts. He then moved over to the Asian turf carding his first victory of the season at the Ballantine’s Championship
in Seoul, South Korea in May, consolidating his position on the OWGR.
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