Meet the Americans: Lucas Glover

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Lucas Glover is making his second Presidents Cup appearance.

Oct. 1, 2009

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Lucas Glover came into the 2009 PGA TOUR season with one victory to his credit, the 2005 FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World, but his play in recent years was impressive enough that Jack Nicklaus made him a Captain's Pick for the 2007 Presidents Cup Matches. That Glover would win this year's U.S. Open was not really a surprise to anyone familiar with his amateur career. He was a first-team All-American in 2000 and 2001 at Clemson University and was an honorable mention selection as a sophomore in 1999. He was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference choice from 1999-2001. He won three tournaments for Clemson during his career and was a member of two NCAA runners-up teams (1998 and 2001). He was a three-time South Carolina Amateur champion from 1998-2000 and a member of the 2001 U.S. Walker Cup team and 2000 and 2001 Palmer Cup teams.

The Glover file

FULL NAME: Lucas Hendley Glover

HEIGHT: 6-2

WEIGHT: 195

BIRTHDATE: Nov. 12, 1979

BIRTHPLACE: Greenville, S.C.

RESIDENCE: Greenville, S.C.; plays out of Berkeley Hall CC and The Thornblade Club

FAMILY: Wife, Jennifer

EDUCATION: Clemson University (2005, Communication Studies)

SPECIAL INTERESTS: Music, fishing

TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 2001

Q SCHOOL: 2004

NATIONWIDE TOUR GRADUATE: (2003)

Personal info

Lucas Glover is both an avid Clemson Tiger sports fan and an avid reader; he read four books during his rain-hampered 2009 U.S. Open victory. He credits his grandfather, Dick Hendley, for giving him his start in golf. Hendley gave him a cut-down club when Lucas was 3 and first took him to the Masters at age 6. His grandfather was a standout in football and baseball at Clemson, where he is a Hall of Fame member, and played one season (1951) with the NFLs Pittsburgh Steelers. Lucas was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in the fall of 2007, but since he was in Chicago playing in the BMW Championship, the third leg of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, his parents represented him at the presentation.

Playing record

PGA TOUR VICTORIES: (2) 2005 Funai Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort. 2009 U.S. Open.

2009 PGA TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: Lucas Glover played well early in the season, tying for third place at the Buick Invitational for his first top-10 of the year. But the big news came at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black where he shot a final-round 73 to win a wet U.S. Open by two strokes over third-round leader Ricky Barnes, Phil Mickelson and David Duval. He began the final round Monday morning tied for the lead with Barnes at 7 under. He dropped three strokes in the first nine holes, but he then put together five straight pars to get back on track. Then after bogeying the par-4 15th -- the toughest hole on the course -- he bounced back with his only birdie of the round at the par-4 16th to move back to 4 under. He parred the last two holes to win the title. The day after his U.S. Open victory, he went on a whirlwind media tour of New York City, appearing on Regis & Kelly, reading the Top-Ten List on the Late Show with David Letterman, visiting the top of the Empire State Building for a photo session and calling into various national sports radio talk shows. On the first tee of the next weeks pro-am at the Travelers Championship, he received a congratulatory shaving cream pie in the face from friend Johnson Wagner.

NATIONAL TEAMS: The Presidents Cup (2), 2007, 2009; Walker Cup, 2001

PRESIDENTS CUP RECORD: 2-3-0

RYDER CUP RECORD: None

COMBINED RECORD: 2-3-0

All-time playing partners

Stewart Cink (1 Four-ball)

Charles Howell III (1 Four-ball)

Scott Verplank (2 Foursomes)