James Ross Donaldson (born 19 October 1975) is a Welsh

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

Career

Donaldson was born in

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

. He turned professional in 2000. Having failed to come through the

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

, in 2001 he played predominantly on the second tier

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

. He won the BMW Russian Open and the

Telia Grand Prix The Telia Challenge Waxholm was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour 1990–1991 and 1996–2007 and the Swedish Golf Tour from 1985. It was always played in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic co ...

in Sweden on his way to second place in the Challenge Tour Rankings. He also made the most of limited opportunities on the elite tour, making five cuts from seven events, with two top ten finishes, as 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 the European Tour, reaching a best of 58th on the final Order of Merit in 2003, but began to be troubled by back problems in 2004. In 2007 he was back on the Challenge Tour, but showed a return to form, picking up his third Challenge Tour win at the Abierto Telefonica de Guatemala on his way to 4th place on the end of season rankings. He was back on the European Tour in 2008 and was again 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. On 1 July 2012, Donaldson won his maiden European Tour title at The Irish Open at

Royal Portrush Royal Portrush Golf Club is a private golf club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The 36-hole club has two links courses, the Dunluce Links (the championship course) and the Valley Links. The former is one of the courses on the rota of the O ...

, finishing 4 strokes ahead of three other players. Donaldson had held a two stroke advantage after 54 holes and pressed ahead earlier during his round with birdies at 2, 3 and 4. Despite two dropped shots on 11 and 16, he found five more birdies on the back nine to finish with a 66 and clinch the title. His first victory came at the 255th attempt and also made him the 10th Welshman to taste success on the

. Donaldson finished T7 at the

2012 PGA Championship The 2012 PGA Championship was the 94th PGA Championship, played August 9–12 at the Ocean Course of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, southwest of Charleston. Rory McIlroy shot a bogey-free 66 (−6) in the final ro ...

. He finished the season ranked 19th on the

Race to Dubai The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

and he plans to join the PGA Tour for the 2013 season. The 2013 season will also mark Donaldson's first appearance at the Masters; he earned entry after finishing 2012 season ranked 47th in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

. In his second start of the 2013 season and thirteen events after his maiden victory, Donaldson won his second European Tour title at the

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is a European Tour golf tournament held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. When founded in 2006, it was one of three European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but at one point was one of six. Hist ...

. Starting the final round two back of

Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first reaching that position in 2018. Rose came to prominen ...

, Donaldson made five birdies in seventeen holes to move two clear of the field, but a late bogey at the par five 18th hole meant a nervous wait to watch the final group come home. First

Thorbjørn Olesen Jacob Thorbjørn Olesen (born 21 December 1989) is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he has won eight times including the 2016 Turkish Airlines Open and the 2018 Italian Open. He has also won two important pai ...

, then Rose had putts to force a playoff but both missed narrowly to see Donaldson to victory by one stroke. With the win, Donaldson became only the seventh Welshman to win multiple titles on the European Tour and it moved him inside the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. On 11 April, he became the fifth man in history to record a hole-in-one on the 6th hole at

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta National, Augusta, or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is known for hosting the annual Masters Tournament. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Rob ...

during the

2013 Masters Tournament The 2013 Masters Tournament was the 77th edition of the Masters Tournament and the first of golf's four major championships to be held in 2013. It was held from April 11–14 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Adam Scott won th ...

. He finished the 2013 season ranked 5th on the Race to Dubai. Donaldson played well enough on the

2014 PGA Tour Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unre ...

as a non-member to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season. Donaldson secured the winning point for Europe in the

2014 Ryder Cup The 40th Ryder Cup matches were held 26–28 September 2014 in Scotland on the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder in Perth & Kinross. This was the second Ryder Cup held in Scotland; it was previously at Muirfield i ...

, with a wedge shot onto the 15th green, beating

Keegan Bradley Keegan Hansen Bradley (born June 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won seven tour events, most notably the 2011 PGA Championship. He is one of six golfers to win in his major debut, along with Ben ...

4 & 3. Just three years later, Donaldson was on the verge of losing his European Tour card. However, he finished fourth in the final event, the

Andalucía Valderrama Masters Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, to move inside the top 101 of the Race to Dubai standings to secure his playing rights for the 2018 season.

Amateur wins

*1997 Welsh Amateur Championship *2000 Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (3)

Asian Tour wins (1)

Challenge Tour wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Tour de las Américas The Tour de las Américas (TLA) was the principal men's professional golf tour throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 2000 through to 2012 when it was superseded by the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. History Top level tournament golf in Lat ...

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (four times) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

(representing Wales): 1996 *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

(representing Wales):

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Bonallack Trophy The Bonallack Trophy is an amateur golf competition on the model of the Ryder Cup which opposes every two years a European team and a team representing Asia/Pacific. The venue alternates between courses in Europe and Asia/Pacific. The first compe ...

(representing Europe): 1998 (winners) *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 19 ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000 (winners) Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing Wales):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Seve Trophy The Seve Trophy was a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representing Continental Europe. The tournament was played in years when there is no Ryde ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

(winners),

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

EurAsia Cup The EurAsia Cup was a biennial men's professional team golf tournament between teams representing Europe and Asia. It started in 2014, superseding the Royal Trophy which had been played from 2006 to 2013. It was previously held at the Glenmarie ...

(representing Europe):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...