Donald ready to come of age

LUKE DONALD was clearly not ready when he was thrown in with Tiger Woods at the 2003 British Open championship. But this week looks different.

At Sandwich, Donald was not in the world’s top 100, had played in only four majors -making the halfway cut in just one of them.

“I felt quite nervous on the first tee,” he remembers. “But Tiger went right, lost a ball and made seven. I felt a bit better after that.” Nevertheless, with rounds of 76 and 79 he, not surprisingly, made another early exit.

Now the 27-year-old appears to have come of age. While Sergio Garcia is seen as Europe’s best hope of victory at Pinehurst, there are many who believe the ultra-calm and efficient Englishman is the man to pull off this long awaited victory. He is quoted at 25/1 and could make good each-way value.

He’s also one of those Ryder Cuppers who spoke loudest about a European winning a major, any major, since Paul Lawrie in the immediate aftermath of the victory at Oakland Hills.

“I’m not really sure if I can explain the recent poor record of Europeans in the majors,” admitted Donald who, in spite of spending four years at college in the States, had never been to Pinehurst. “I think it has something to do with how the courses are set up. They’re definitely set up differently in Europe but you still don’t see these kind of grasses, the thick Bermuda rough and undulating and very fast greens. I’ve been playing here for a good number of years and feel more accustomed to those conditions and they shouldn’t go against me.”

Donald regards partnering Tiger Woods over the first two days as something of a poisoned chalice but it’s clearly an assignment he is keenly awaiting: “It will be loud and busy and sometimes it’s hard to get the crowd to stand still when you’re hitting. Tiger is obviously a crowd favourite. But it’s going to be fun, too.

“Chris DiMarco is there as well and that’s the kind of grouping I want to play with. I’m looking forward to it. I feel like I’m a different player than when I last played with Tiger.”

With the exception of Darren Clarke the entire European Ryder Cup team is here, along with another dozen from our side of the Atlantic. It’s a record representation as high in quality as in quantity. As you skip through the bookmaker’s odds, you see much that catches the eye - like Lee Westwood and Miguel-Angel Jimenez at 66/1 and Thomas Bjorn at 100/1.

Then there’s the Irish trio of Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley. Even though he has now slipped from his lofty position of sixth in the world to 11th, Harrington is seen as the most likely to fly the flag, though his recent form seems to make him moderate value at 33/1. Even he himself has been describing his form as “shabby” and with his father’s illness a source of deep and ongoing concern, he has many distractions that must impact on his concentration.

“I’m certainly no more confident going into this US Open than I would have been at any of the other seven I’ve played. Nowadays in Europe we’re setting up the courses with 22-24 yard wide fairways just like here and the rough is inclined to be heavier as well. So the Europeans are getting used to it, there are more playing in it as the years go by so I think we’re going to get a few wins in the US Open.”

McDowell is on offer at 150/1 and talking so positively about his golf game and liking for the course that you have to expect a big performance from him. He is also very home on American courses after a glittering collegiate career over here, and he has spent the last two weeks preparing and acclimatising at the house he recently purchased from South African golfer Trevor Immelman at Lake Nona, Orlando.

Few players have shown greater resilience over the years than Paul McGinley, the most impressive example being the way in which he came from nowhere to make last year’s Ryder Cup side.

“I feel like my season is only starting, that I’ve had little more than a month of golf so I’m fresh. And I do like this course, it’s a thinking man’s course.”