Lucas Glover

Early years and amateur career

Glover was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the biological son of major-league baseball player Ron Musselman and Hershey Hendley (The daughter of former pro football player Dick Hendley). After Musselman and Hendley separated and divorced, Musselman fell behind on child support payments and went more than six months without seeing his son. Musselman ultimately lost custody of his son and was barred from seeing him until his son turned 18. Meanwhile, Hendley remarried to Jim Glover, and Lucas Glover today only recognizes his stepfather, Jim Glover, as his father.

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.

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 earn 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.

2009: U.S. Open Champion

In February, Glover finished in a tie for third at the Buick Invitational. Then in May he finished in a tie for second at the Quail Hollow Championship.

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. 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.

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. Glover also earned his second President's Cup bid.

2011: Third PGA Tour win

On May 8, 2011, Glover defeated Jonathan Byrd, another former Clemson star, in a playoff to win the Wells Fargo Championship. This was his first official win on Tour since the 2009 U.S. Open.

2012: Injury

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.

Personal life

Glover has homes on St. Simons Island, and in Simpsonville, South Carolina. He has one child with his wife Krista.

Amateur wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (2)

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Results in World Golf Championship events

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

*Through the 2015–16 season.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional