| Flory Van Donck | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||
| Full name | Flory Van Donck | ||||
| Born | (1912-06-23)23 June 1912 | ||||
| Died | 14 January 1992(1992-01-14) (aged 79) | ||||
| Sporting nationality |  Belgium | ||||
| Spouse | Maria-Hendrika Renneboog | ||||
| Children | Marc, Claudine | ||||
| Career | |||||
| Turned professional | c. 1931 | ||||
| Professional wins | 60 | ||||
| Best results in major championships | |||||
| Masters Tournament | T32: 1958 | ||||
| PGA Championship | DNP | ||||
| U.S. Open | DNP | ||||
| The Open Championship | 2nd/T2:1956,1959 | ||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||
| |||||
Flory Van Donck (23 June 1912 – 14 January 1992) was a Belgianprofessional golfer. Van Donck is widely regarded as the greatest ever Belgian golfer. During his career, he won more than fifty tournaments worldwide, including many of the most prestigious nationalopens of Europe. He also finished as runner up inThe Open Championship on two occasions.[1]
Van Donck was born inTervuren,Flemish Brabant.
In the early 1930s, Van Donck turned pro. Van Donck was one of the few golfers from continental Europe of the era who had been able to win regularly in professional tournaments in Britain. Much of Van Donck's fame rested on his great putting ability, though his style was unorthodox as he kept the toe of his putter in the air, similar toIsao Aoki.[1]
Van Donck held most of the national open titles in Europe at one time or another, including theBelgian Open andDutch Open (five times each),Italian Open (four times),French Open (three times),German Open andSwiss Open (twice each), andPortuguese Open (once).[1] In 1953 he won a total of seven tournaments on the European circuit, a record he still shares withNorman Von Nida who achieved the feat in 1947, and was awarded theHarry Vardon Trophy.[2]
In addition to his victories around Europe, Van Donck dominated in his home country, winning the Belgian national title sixteen times between 1935 and 1968 and the Professional Tournament of the Alliance on ten occasions. In 1960 he was awarded the Trophée National du Mérite Sportif, the highest honour that is awarded to Belgian sportsmen in recognition of his achievements.[3]
Van Donck was runner up in The Open Championship twice. In 1956 atHoylake, he finished three strokes behindPeter Thomson, and in 1959 atMuirfield he finished alongsideFred Bullock two strokes adrift ofGary Player.[1] Such was his consistency, he did not finish outside the top five for five years succession from 1955, and finished inside the top 10 eight years out of ten during the 1950s.
He represented Belgium in the Canada Cup, latterly theWorld Cup, on 19 occasions.[4] His last appearance was in 1979 as a 67-year-old, when he became the oldest player ever to participate in the World Cup.[5] In 1960, he was the lowest-scoring player (for the International Trophy) atPortmarnock in Ireland, from a field that included some of the sports all-time greats, such asSam Snead,Arnold Palmer,Bobby Locke,Gary Player,Peter Thomson andKel Nagle.
this list is incomplete
| Tournament | 1938 | 1939 |
|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||
| The Open Championship | CUT |
| Tournament | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | NT | NT | NT | |||||||
| The Open Championship | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT | T28 | T21 | T7 | CUT |
| Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T32 | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | T9 | T24 | 7 | T20 | T10 | T5 | 2 | T5 | T5 | T2 |
Note: Van Donck only played in theMasters Tournament andThe Open Championship.
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place