Lucas Hendley Glover (born November 12, 1979) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. He is best known for winning the 2009 U.S. Open.
Early years and amateur career
Glover was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of Ron Musselman and Hershey Hendley (the daughter of former pro football player Dick Hendley). Musselman and Hendley separated in 1981 (when Lucas was two) and divorced the following year.[3] Musselman had a career as a major league baseball player from 1982 to 1985, but after his baseball career ended, Musselman fell behind on child support payments and went more than six months without seeing his son.[3] This led to a loss of parental rights after the matter went to court in 1992; Musselman also was barred from seeing Lucas (then 13) until he turned 18.[3] Meanwhile, Hendley remarried to Jim Glover, and Lucas Glover today only recognizes his stepfather, Jim Glover, as his father.[3]
Lucas' grandfather Dick Hendley introduced Glover to golf at age three,[3] and by the time he was a teenager Lucas Glover was a three-time High School All-American at Wade Hampton High School. He won the South Carolina State High School championship as a freshman and sophomore and finished as the runner up as a junior and senior. Glover was All-State for all four years of high school.
Glover attended Clemson University from 1998 to 2001, where he was a brother of Alpha Tau Omega. He was named first-team All-American in 2000 and 2001 and honorable mention All-American in 1999. He was a member of the 2001 United States Walker Cup team and the 1999 USA vs. Japan Cup Team. He won three college tournaments and also won the South Carolina Amateur in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2001.
Professional career
2002–2003: Nationwide Tour
Glover turned professional in 2001 after graduating from Clemson. He joined the Nationwide Tour in 2002, making 7 of 12 cuts while recording two top-10 finishes and five top-25 finishes in his rookie season. He earned $64,692 and finished 67th on the money list. Glover went to PGA Tour qualifying school for the first time where he finished tied for 39th which was not good enough to earn his tour card.
2003 was Glover's breakthrough year on the Nationwide Tour. He made 17 of 26 cuts while recording six top-10 finishes and 7 top-25 finishes. He picked up his first Nationwide Tour win at the Gila River Classic at Wild Horse Pass Resort. This win helped Glover finish 17th on the money list with $193,989. Glover's high finish on the money list earned him his PGA Tour card for 2004.
2004: PGA Tour rookie
In his rookie season on tour, Glover made 17 of 30 cuts while recording two top-10s and five top-25s. His best finishes came at the Wachovia Championship and the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort where he finished in a tie for 10th. He earned $557,454 and finished 134th on the money list, just shy of the top 125 which would have earned him his tour card for 2005. This forced him to go back to Q-School, although he was ultimately able to regain his card.
2005: First PGA Tour victory
Glover had a much better second year on tour. He made 16 of 28 cuts while recording 7 top-10 finishes and 9 top-25 finishes. He picked up his first PGA Tour victory at the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort in dramatic fashion by holing a 35-yard bunker shot on the 18th hole for birdie to avoid a playoff with Tom Pernice Jr. Glover went on to finish 30th on the money list with earnings of $2,050,068.
2006–2007: Continued success
Despite not winning an event in 2006, Glover played well on tour. He made 23 of 31 cuts and finished in the top-10 9 times and the top-25 17 times. His most impressive finish came at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational where he finished in a tie for fourth. Another impressive finish came at The Tour Championship where he finished in a tie for eighth. He also made his first cut in a major at the PGA Championship where he finished in a tie for 46th. Glover earned $2,587,982 in 2006 and finished 31st on the money list. He was ranked in and out of the top 50 of Official World Golf Rankings during the year.
2007 was another good year for Glover. He made the cut in 22 of 29 events and recorded three top-10s and 13 top-25s. His best finish came at the PODS Championship where he finished in a tie for fourth. Glover earned $1,664,167 on the year and finished 53rd on the money list. He was selected for the 2007 Presidents Cup where the United States defeated the International team 19½ to 14½. Glover went 2–3 in his matches.
2008: Slump
2008 was not as successful as previous years for Glover. He made 20 of 26 cuts but only recorded two top-10s and eight top-25s. His best finishes came at the Verizon Heritage and the Buick Open where he finished in a tie for 7th. He earned $998,491 in 2008 and finished 105th on the money list.
Glover won the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black Course (Farmingdale, New York) by two strokes over Phil Mickelson, Ricky Barnes, and David Duval.[4] He was a surprise winner of the event, being ranked 71st in the Official World Golf Ranking and never having made a cut in his three previous U.S. Open appearances. Glover was one of just a handful of players who won the U.S. Open after having to play in a sectional qualifier. He shot a second round 64, tying the low round of the week with Mike Weir. Glover entered the final round one stroke behind 54-hole leader Ricky Barnes but in tough conditions on Monday's final round, both Glover and Barnes struggled. Coming to the 16th hole, Glover was 4 over for the day without a birdie but that would soon change. He hit his approach shot to within 6 feet of the hole and made the putt to take a lead he would not relinquish. After sinking a 3-foot putt for par on 18, Glover won by a margin of two strokes. The win propelled him to 18th in the world rankings.
Glover would be honored for his U.S. Open win at a Clemson Alumni Association meeting in Greenville at Fluor Field the following month. He was the first Clemson graduate and the first native South Carolinian to win a major professional golf championship.[5]
After his victory at Bethpage, Glover finished in a tie for 11th at the Travelers Championship the following week. The week after that, Glover finished in a tie for 5th at the AT&T National, moving Glover into the top 10 of the money list. In August, Glover finished 5th at the PGA Championship.
In October 2009, Glover won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda. The event featured the four major winners of 2009, Glover, Ángel Cabrera, Stewart Cink and Y. E. Yang. Glover won the two-day event by five strokes over Cabrera.[6] Glover also earned his second President's Cup bid.
A left knee injury limited Glover to 16 events in 2012. He made six cuts with a season best of T46. He did not lose his Tour card due to the fact that he had two years remaining on the exemption from his U.S. Open win.
2015: Another slump
Glover finished the 2014–15 season 147th in the FedEx Cup. His exemptions for winning the U.S. Open and Wells Fargo Championship had run out. Glover had to either regain his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals or play out of the conditional (126th–150th in the FedEx Cup) category for the 2015–16 season. Glover finished 14th in the finals, regaining his Tour card.
Glover finished the 2017–18 PGA Tour Season 135th in the season long FedEx Cup. He made $789,382 in 18 tournaments, with 15 made cuts. Glover returned to the Web.com Tour Finals, where he finished 8th, thus regaining his PGA Tour card for the 2018–19 PGA Tour season.
2019
Glover started the 2018–19 PGA Tour Season with a T17 at the Safeway Open and T14 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. On November 3, 2018, during the third round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Glover shot 61 (10-under-par). He started his round with a bogey at the 10th but managed seven birdies and a pair of eagles from that point on. This matched his career-low round on the PGA Tour (9-under 61 in round 2 of the 2016 Wyndham Championship). Glover entered the final round in third place.[8] In the fourth round, Glover shot 71 and finished in T7. Glover then finished in the top 12 finishers in 5 of his next 6 PGA Tour starts, this included a T4 at the 2019 Honda Classic. As of March 12, 2019, Glover had earned $1,372,193 for the season, good for 23rd on the money list.[1]
2021
In July 2021, Glover won the John Deere Classic by two shots. In the final round, Glover shot seven-under par 64. This ended a drought of 10 years without a win on the PGA Tour.[9]
2023
In June 2023, after years of struggling with the yips while putting, Glover switched from a traditional putter to a longer putter similar to the one used by Adam Scott. This led to a drastic improvement in results for Glover, including three consecutive top-10 finishes in July.
In August 2023, Glover won the Wyndham Championship by two shots. In the final round, he shot two-under-par 68, for rounds of 66, 64, 62, 68 for a 20-under-par total. The win secured Glover a place in the season ending FedExCup Playoffs.[10] One week later, Glover won the FedEx St. Jude Championship in a playoff over Patrick Cantlay. With the win, Glover became the 3rd player in his 40s to win back-to-back weeks on PGA Tour in the last 25 years.[11]
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire; # indicates the event was won by an amateur; 1942–1945 cancelled due to World War II
