Flory Van Donck

Flory Van Donck (born 23 June 1912) was Belgium's most successful golfer in the twentieth century.

Van Donck was born in Tervuren, Flemish Brabant. Until Severiano Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer burst onto the golf scene in the late 1970s, Van Donck was one of the few golfers from continental Europe who were able to win regularly in professional tournaments in Britain. 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 to Isao Aoki.

Van Donck won the Belgian national title sixteen times between 1935 and 1968, and held most of the national open titles in Europe at one time or another, including the Belgian Open and Dutch Open (five times each), Italian Open (four times), French Open (three times), German Open and Swiss Open (twice each), and Portuguese Open (once). He was second in the British Open twice: losing to Peter Thomson in 1956 by three strokes and to Gary Player in 1959 by two strokes, and did not finish outside the top five for five years succession. Probably his greatest individual triumph was his last, and ironically came in a team event, when he was the lowest-scoring player (for the International Trophy) at the 1960 Canada Cup at Portmarnock in Ireland, from a field that included Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Kel Nagle.

Tournament wins

"this list is incomplete"
*1936 Dutch Open
*1937 Dutch Open
*1938 Italian Open
*1939 Belgian Open
*1946 Belgian Open, Dutch Open
*1947 Belgian Open, Italian Open
*1951 Dutch Open, Silver King Tournament, North British Harrogate Tournament
*1953 Belgian Open, Dutch Open, German Open, Italian Open, Swiss Open, Yorkshire Evening News Tournament
*1954 French Open, Uruguayan International Golf Championship
*1955 Italian Open, Portuguese Open, Swiss Open
*1956 Belgian Open, German Open
*1957 French Open, Venezuela Open
*1958 French Open
*1960 Canada Cup (individual title)

References

* [http://www.sij.be/flory.php Profile]