Donald Swaelens

Donald Swaelens (1935 – 25 April 1975) was a Belgian professional golfer.[1]

Donald Swaelens
Personal information
Full nameDonald Swaelens
Born1935
Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
Died (aged 39)
Sporting nationality Belgium
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins13
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipT7: 1974

Golf career

Like his father Jules, Swaelens made his career as a club professional at Royal Latem Golf Club. He also worked as a touring professional, intermittently playing on the European circuit. He won the 1966 Woodlawn Tournament, played at the Ramstein Air Base in West Germany,[2] the 1967 German Open, and the 1971 Agfa-Gevaert Tournament, also in West Germany.[3]

In 1972, Swaelens joined the European Tour during its inaugural season. In 1973, he finished tied for second, with Dale Hayes, in the Viyella PGA Championship held at Wentworth, three shots behind Peter Oosterhuis. This would be the best finish of his European Tour career.[4] In 1974, he finished third in the Dutch Open at Koninklijke Haagsche Golf & Country Club. He also finished T-7 at that year's Open Championship, the best finish of his career at a major championship.

Until Nicolas Colsaerts played in 2013, he was the only Belgian golfer to be invited to the Masters Tournament,[5] although the cancer prevented him from taking part.[6] Swaelens died two weeks after the 1975 Masters Tournament at the age of 39 from cancer.[7]

Memorial Tournament

The Donald Swaelens Memorial (later called the Donald Swaelens Challenge) is played each year celebrating his memory.[8] The tournament was originally an 8-man professional tournament sponsored by Laurent-Perrier but is now an amateur tournament.

Winners of the trophy include:

Professional wins

European circuit wins (4)

Other wins (9)

Results in major championships
Tournament 1958 1959
The Open Championship T11
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
The Open Championship CUT 23 44 CUT CUT T30
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
The Open Championship CUT T49 CUT CUT T7

Note: Swaelens only played in The Open Championship.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1968 and 1970)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

References
  1. Alliss, Peter (1983). The Who's Who of Golf. Orbis Publishing. pp. 326–327. ISBN 0-85613-520-8.
  2. "AF-sponsored golf to Belgian". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 1 August 1966. p. 54. Retrieved 8 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Swaelens cops Agfa golf meet". European Stars And Stripes. Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. p. 18. Retrieved 20 April 2020 – via Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Career Records – D. Swaelens". European Tour. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  5. Feron, Hugues (1 April 2009). "Le Royal Latem a cent ans d'histoires". La Libre Belgique (in French).
  6. Borremans, Vincent (11 May 1998). "On s'est remémoré l'ancien champion Nicolas Colsaerts a remporté le "Donald Swaelens"". Le Soir (in French).
  7. "A century of golf in Sint-Martens-Latem" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
  8. Borremans, Vincent (9 May 1997). "Les amateurs belges disputent ce week-end le challenge Donald Swaelens, l'hommage à un champion modeste". Le Soir (in French).
  9. "Donald Swaelens". The Times. 29 April 1975. p. 18.
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