The Promise of 2013 - Luke Donald
It has been dry for the OWGR no. 2 ever since the Dunlop Phoenix win in Japan last week. Although the win did move him up the ranks past Tiger Woods, 34-year-old Luke Donald still hopes for a Major breakthrough in the following season.
Reassuring much, Golf.com’s contributors have short-listed him alongside Adam Scott on the ‘Best Players Not to Have Won a Major’ list.
Donald had been no. 1, having had earlier on taken the top spot from Rory McIlroy. The 23-year-old returned in what became a fiery eight-win victory on Sunday. Britain's finest, appropriately, was left merely spectating.
McIlroy’s win at the expense of Donald, and a historic back-to-back tournament victory later that same year are rumored to have brought home UK’s High Performance Award to the young Irishman’s coach, Michael Bannon.
2012, it had long been speculated, would be the year Donald finally shed that awful mantle of best player without a major.
What we got, instead, was a despondent Donald, abashed, shaking head in dismay.
Now, he is readying to wait out another eight months for the Augusta Masters, the soonest crack he will be getting at the game again.
"I've won twice this year but I look at this year as somewhat of a disappointment in terms of the majors," he said, adding of course, "You always gear your season up to peak at these events and I haven't quite figured that out yet".
Arriving in Dubai last year, Donald was on the cusp of making all-time history. He became the first golfer in the game’s history to win both Tours (the PGA and the European), on both sides of the Atlantic.
The record win of both the money titles, however, was quickly overshadowed by McIlroy, who, at a much younger age of 23 years, has managed to repeat the older Brit’s feat.
The Chicago-based Donald has, despite the way critics would have it, been playing better golf than when he had first turned professional, stepping into the limelight.
He contributed to the European Ryder Cup team win, led by Jose Maria Olazabal. More decisively still, him finishing off Bubba Watson, helped launch Europe’s comeback.
All this arrived just on the heels, “in the nick of time” of winning the Dunlop Phoenix Open win in Japan, his first.
"What I did last year brings back a lot of great memories," said Donald, who finished third last year in Dubai to clinch the Order of Merit title.
"It's an event with the top (57) guys from the year and another chance to obviously play against some of the best players in the world and try to win a tournament".
Season 2013, if Luke Donald tees off with the promise of a major, may also be his most memorable.
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