Golfer Luke Donald has hit out at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after claiming that they had "belittled" him.Donald was nominated for the award back in 2011 after becoming the world number one and held the title for 40 weeks.Nevertheless, he feels the nomination went sour thanks to the montage that the BBC showed that year and expressed his disappointment via Twitter the day after this year's ceremony.Donald was replying to a post on Sunday night from fellow golfer Eddie Pepperell, who was also criticsing the awards. He said: "I grew up loving SPOTY. I even dreamed one day of winning it!"But with age I've either grown incredibly cynical, or it's become a complete shambles of an award."Donald replied with "Felt very privileged at the time to be nominated for SPOTY, then they belittled my achievements with a montage of me making a bunch of putts using a lightsaber."

Donald had a phenomenal year in 2011 and rose to the top of the rankings after winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. One year later he was awarded an MBE for services to golf.

Following the public vote for SPOTY, Donald finished fourth behind Mark Cavendish, Darren Clarke and Mo Farah, who actually won the accolade this year.

Farah was a 50/1 shot before the event and somehow came through to be crowned the winner thanks to the public vote.

A huge number of viewers were left disgruntled and amazed when boxer Anthony Joshua and four-time and reigning Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton didn't even make it into the top three.

World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea and athlete Jonnie Peacock were the closest contenders to Farah.

Some viewers have even claimed the vote was a fix after spotting the trophy with Farah before the voting had even begun.