Keegan Bradley USA Born
7 June 1986
Turned Pro Major win
Angel Cabrera Argentina Born
Jason Day Australia
12 September 1969
2008
Turned Pro
1989
PGA Championship 2011
Major Wins
2 (US Open 2007; Masters 2009)
Professional Wins
4
Professional Wins
50
Born
Luke Donald England
12 November 1987
Turned Pro
2006
Best Major Finish 2nd (US Open 2011); Tied 2nd (Masters 2011) Professional Wins
2
Born Turned Pro
7 November 1977 2001
Best Major Finish Tied 3rd (Masters 2005; PGA Championship 2006) Professional Wins
14
Nephew of LPGA legend Pat Bradley, he took the game by storm when he beat Jason Dufner in a playoff for the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club—the first Major in which he played. Only two other players have achieved that feat in the past century— Francis Ouimet at the 1913 US Open and Ben Curtis at the 2003 Open. Not surprisingly Bradley, who also won the HP Byron Nelson Championship, was named rookie of the year. He stole the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from Jim Furyk last year, but will soon be learning to live without his belly putter.
The big-hitting Argentine broke through in 2007 after holding his nerve to win the US Open at Oakmont by a shot from Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. Prior to that, he had racked up six top-10s in Majors. He claimed his second Major, the 2009 Masters, with a playoff victory over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell, and nearly made it two green jackets in four years at Augusta this April. A superb birdie at the 72nd hole put him into another playoff, against Adam Scott, but the Australian pipped him with a birdie on the second extra hole.
Born in Queensland to an Australian father and Filipino mother, Day became the youngest ever winner on the Nationwide Tour in July 2007. Three years later, his first PGA Tour title came at the Byron Nelson Championship. He finished second in both the Masters and US Open in 2011, but last year his appearances were curtailed by an ankle injury. This season he has returned to form with four top-10s from his first nine starts, highlighted by third places in both the Masters and WGCAccenture Match Play Championship.
The most enigmatic of today’s leading players, he became the first man to top the money list on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011 and spent 55 weeks as world No.1 following the first of his two consecutive wins in the BMW PGA Championship in May 2011. He has a superb Ryder Cup record with ten wins and a half from 15 outings while his short game is the envy of his peers. But his Majors record is disappointing—just seven top-10s in more than a decade, mostly achieved by going low on the last day when not really in contention.
Jamie Donaldson Wales
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño Spain
Rickie Fowler USA
Jim Furyk USA
Born Turned Pro
19 October 1975 2000
Born Turned Pro
Best Major Finish Tied 7th (PGA Championship 2012)
Best Major Finish
Professional Wins
Professional Wins
6
Finished 19th in the 2012 money list thanks to his maiden European Tour win in the Irish Open at Royal Portrush and a tie for seventh in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island—only his fourth Major appearance. He struggled to make an impact after initially gaining his card in 2002, but has improved his ranking each year since 2008. He should climb further in 2013 having won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January. The highlight of his amateur career was to help GB & Ireland finish second in the 2000 Eisenhower Trophy.
13 October 1980 2004 Tied 20th (Masters 2013) 7
This Madrid native captured his sixth European Tour title at the 2012 BMW Italian Open, but it came too late to qualify him for the European Ryder Cup team, captained by compatriot José María Olazábal. Emulating Seve Ballesteros, Fernández-Castaño claimed his maiden victory at the KLM Open in Holland and finished 2005 as rookie of the year. Playing more in America this year, he tied third in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He also promotes a number of tournaments on the European Tour via his company, GFC Golf and Business.
Born Turned Pro
13 December 1988
Born
12 May 1970
2009
Turned Pro
1992
Best Major Finish Tied 5th (Open 2011)
Major Wins
US Open 2003
Professional Wins
Professional Wins
2
After playing twice in the Walker Cup as a teenager, he has been a breath of fresh air on the PGA Tour. Known for wearing his alma mater’s trademark orange colours on the final day of a tournament, Fowler, quarter Japanese and quarter Navajo, rides motorbikes in his spare time. Won his maiden professional title in Korea in 2011 and claimed his first PGA Tour victory in last year’s Wells Fargo Championship. Distinguished himself as a Ryder Cup rookie after receiving a captain’s pick in 2010, but failed to make the US team at Medinah last September.
26
The career highlights for the grinder with the looping swing came when he won the 2003 US Open at Olympia Fields and scooped the $10m FedExCup jackpot at the Tour Championship in 2010. Despite finishing 12th on the PGA Tour money list, he won’t look back fondly on 2012. After a playoff loss in the Transitions Championship, he tamely surrendered leads down the stretch in both the US Open at Olympic and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone. His singles defeat by Sergio Garcia in the Ryder Cup at Medinah will also have hurt.
115