Donald eager to make up for lost time
It was supposed to have been a big year for . He'd made subtle swing changes and heading into the meat of the season he was wondering whether he could challenge for a first major and secure a third successive place in a .
Critics were still wondering why his best rounds were coming after he had played himself out of contention, others were saying he would never have what it takes to win a big one.
But Donald was upbeat and ploughing on with optimism. 2008 had begun pretty well with third place and runners up finishes recorded on the PGA Tour by the beginning of March.
Not much happened for a while after that, but at he was encouraged, feeling that the alterations to his action were falling into place.
At in late May he fired a final round 65 to finish third in the European Tour's flagship PGA Championship. The next week he opened the Memorial with a 68 and went on to finish sixth.
The curve was encouraging with the coming into view at where he'd done well before. Donald opened the second major of the year with two steady 71s - just two shots worse than eventual champion .
In round three it fell apart, the Englishman drifted out of contention and a day later his season was in tatters, not that he thought so at the time.
Donald suffered a wrist injury during that final round and withdrew. "You always have in the back of your mind that it might be serious," he told me on Five Live this week. "But when I saw the first doctor he though it was just some tendonitis and I'd be back playing in two to three weeks.
"Obviously that didn't turn out to be the case and five months later I'm just about getting back to playing a good standard of golf. It was a lot longer break than I anticipated, but these things happen sometimes."
Donald thought intensive treatment would be enough to repair the damage but that didn't prove the case. With each week that past it became more and more apparent that the only option was surgery.
"I tried to go down the natural way of mending it and I went down that way for a good five weeks but the tear was just too significant and it was never going to repair by itself and on August the 11th I went under the knife.
"It all went great, to be honest, it's a timely process but now it should be fixed for ever," Donald added.
The timing could hardly have been worse, especially in a Ryder Cup year. "Missing the majors and the Ryder Cup and having to watch them from afar was the hardest thing," Donald said.
"Especially the Ryder Cup. Hats off to the American team but I just wish I had been out there to see if I could have made any kind of difference for the Europeans."
Donald has had time to come to terms with the injury and now as he contemplates he does so in a philosophical mood.
"It just wasn't to be, but it has made me appreciate that from time to time you are going to get these kinds of setbacks."
And he is convinced that he is now returning better equipped than ever before. "The one thing I think that I have going for me is that I was able to build up my game from the ground up," he said.
"Six weeks after the surgery I was able to start putting. After eight weeks I was able to do some light chipping, from that it was twenty yards shots then thirty yards and so on.
"It's actually a good way to practice and to work your way to the longer shots. Now I've been hitting balls for fully for two or three weeks now.
"It is tough at times but once I get a few tournaments under my belt and get those competitive juices flowing again then it should all come back to me.
"I've worked a lot on my short game and my short game fundamentals are as good as they have ever been. My swing is improved as well and the longer clubs are the ones that I'm finding hard to manipulate and so I'm working hard on getting good fundamentals to make sure injuries like this don't happen again."
Donald says he enjoyed the fact that he didn't have to travel as much during his absence and watched "way too much of the Olympics in the summer."
As an art graduate from he also devoted time to his passion for painting, completing a work he had previously started and producing a modern art piece.
But now it is all about playing again and putting attractive numbers on leaderboards. He plans to maintain a schedule that takes in the European Tour as well as the PGA Tour and may play up to fourteen events in the .
"I've got to manage my expectations and not expect everything just to fall into place like it was before. The first two tournaments will give me an idea of where I stand.
"That's the next step for me, go out there play some competitive rounds and try to improve from there."
Donald turns 31 in early December and is entering the prime of his career. He's won twice on the PGA Tour and twice in Europe, along with victories for England in the and in Tiger Woods' limited field event.
There have been occasions when he has flickered in the majors and Europe did miss his steadiness at the Ryder Cup.
It's good to have Donald back and his progress will be well worth watching.
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Comment number 1.
At 28th Nov 2008, kwiniaskagolfer wrote:A healthy Luke Donald could well have been an asset at the Ryder Cup but he wasn't in the automatic qualifying positions when he damaged his wrist, partly due to a daft schedule.
Yes, "he'd done well before" at Torrey Pines, which made it all the more surprising he hadn't played it early 2008, apparently chasing appearance money elsewhere.
And, typically?, his first two events back are limited field events where he'll cash in big time just for turning up. Time to get yourself back to proper competition Mr.Donald while we can still remember your brilliant long iron to win the Honda.
In reality, the look on Lukey's face when he realised he'd missed the Masters cut summed up his whole season.
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Comment number 2.
At 1st Dec 2008, goldwolf wrote:An interesting read. I like Luke Donald.
It will be interesting to see if he can come back stronger, to really compete for majors. I definately think he would have had a positive effect on the RC.
Looking forward to seeing him in action at Wentworth in May '09.
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Comment number 3.
At 1st Dec 2008, kwiniaskagolfer wrote:gw,
I like Luke Donald as well, very much so, just wanted to make the point that he was an outside bet at best to make the RC Team, a superficially decent season salvaged by his extraordinary short game but shockingly bad stats otherwise:
Driving distance: 153rd.
Driving accuracy: 158th.
Greens In Reg: 194th.
None of which was addressed in Iain's piece, nor was his absurd schedule. (What is it with Brits and their schedule in Ryder Cup years? Only Westwood seemed to get it right in 2008.)
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Comment number 4.
At 2nd Dec 2008, Iain Carter wrote:Kwini,
Good point on the stats - they're not impressive. Bear in mind, though, that poor stats don't always mean poor scoring - just ask a certain Mr Woods. As for the Ryder Cup, Donald was more than an outside bet for the team - when he was injured he was eighth on the world points list so effectively just three places outside the team. As I say in the piece his game was starting to come together in the weeks prior to his injury.
As for his schedule - many players' baffle me with where and when they play - it might be good for their bank balances, but how does it help their scorecards in majors? A subject we'll no doubt return to....
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Comment number 5.
At 2nd Dec 2008, kwiniaskagolfer wrote:Hi Iain,
Ah ha,
But although Tiger is typically close to the bottom of the stats in fairways hit, we know he can hit it as far as he wants to and, for the past three years, he's led the Tour in gir, the past two years top three in putting. Which is unbeatable stuff.
Luke Donald has always been "short but straight" which can work; but short and crooked can't work consistently which his abject gir figure illustrates nicely.
As for schedules, I should have added that Graeme McDowell's performances have improved significantly now he's not hopscotching across the Atlantic, unlike Messrs Casey, Poulter and Rose, not to mention Monty.
Hopefully Ross Fisher and Oliver Wilson won't fall into the Poulter trap. Anyway, think we agree on that!
Bottom line from here is: Good luck Luke, we need you!!
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Comment number 6.
At 9th Dec 2008, stickywill22 wrote:I am a big fan of luke donald, his swing is such ease to watch. His big flaw when hes doing well, is that he hurries through his swing and doesnt complete his backswing fully, this was very evident in a big american comp few years back, each time he had driver on the tee and during his swing i could tell where its going to go, as he only completed 90% of his normal swing rhythm. Im hoping he'll come back better than before, and if hes improved his short game, this is another big plus, as his putting was never the same class as the top players in the world. Good luck Luke!!
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Comment number 7.
At 23rd Dec 2008, kwiniaskagolfer wrote:OK, Iain, What's the verdict on Lukey?
He looked a bit rusty in his first three rounds at Sherwood, but spectacular in his final round, even including one of the biggest shanks I've ever seen.
Any idea what his 2009 schedule looks like? It was a mess last year so let's hope he concentrates on what's best for his game and not the lure of sponsors and appearance money.
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