2015 Golf: Luke Donald On The Comeback Trail

Aug 31, 2014; Norton, MA, USA; Luke Donald hits his tee shot on the 9th hole during the third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship golf tournament at TPC of Boston. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Luke Donald ended his 2013 golf season ranked 50th in the Race To Dubai Championship, and the now 37 year-old from Hemel Hempstead in Herfordshire decided that to get his game back to where he felt comfortable, he needed some changes. Those changes could be made with a new swing coach.

Donald fired long-time swing coach, Pat Goss, and hired Chuck Cook to add some distance to his game. Cook had coached fellow countryman, Justin Rose to the 2013 US Open at Merion, and looked to be a good fit as someone to add some distance to his game.

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It looked promising in the early going as Luke Donald finished with top 10’s during the Florida Swing at the Honda Classic, and the Valspar in Tampa. Things started to go South when he missed the cut at the Masters, and had a disappointing 38th place finish at the Players Championship.

After the poor finishes in Augusta and Ponte Vedra Beach, Donald dropped out of the top 30 in World Rankings for the first time since 2008. He held the 54 hole lead at the RBC Heritage before losing to Matt Kuchar on Sunday, and a third at The BMW Championship returned him to the top 20.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was missing a berth in the Ryder Cup after helping Team Europe to a Sunday victory at Medinah in 2012. In fact, he wasn’t even considered by Paul McGinley as a Captains Pick. Luke Donald fired new coach, Chuck Cook, and re-hired Pat Gross.

Luke Donald, who makes his home in the Chicago area, and is a graduate of Northwestern, has 16 professional wins, with seven coming on the European Tour, and five on the PGA.

His last wins came in 2012 when he beat Robert Garrigus, Sang Moon Bae, and Jim Furyk at the Transitions Championship, and a win later in the year at the BMW Championship where he beat Paul Lawrie and Justin Rose by four strokes.

Donald has never been a big driver of the golf ball, but has one of the best short games on any tour. His Putter, like everyone’s runs hot and cold, and when he is on, is a legitimate player.

A third place finish at the Nedbank Challenge has Donald once again in the top ten in Race To Dubai points early in the season. He fired a nine under par 63 on Saturday to take the 54 hole lead into Sunday’s finale’. He lost to a determined Danny Willett with red-hot Ross Fischer taking second place.

Although Luke Donald has never won a major to this point, he has finished in the top ten at all events. He finished third at the 2005 Masters, and third at the 2006 PGA Championship. He entered the 2012 season ranked number one after wining all of the top awards for his 2011 season, but lost the ranking to Rory McIlroy and overtook Tiger Woods late in the year to claim the number two place.

Now that he is back with his old swing coach, and accepting the fact that he will never be a big hitter, I look for Luke Donald to return to being the solid player we know he is, and to the top of the world rankings. He is off to a nice start in 2015, and all he needs to do is keep up.

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