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RIDGELAND, SC Scroll down the Official World Golf Ranking list and click the arrow a few times. Thus, perhaps more than a few how many it takes to get to the 100 men who rank between 501 and 600 worldwide. It’s a hodge-podge group of guys who want them to play better. Some ascend, some fall, some are stuck in neutral.
Use three men ranked back-to-back as a case study. In No. 513 we have Anders Albertson, a 28 year old who is 63rd on the Korn Ferry Tours points list. No one should scoff, but not a whole lot of juice, either.
The No. 515 will not be No. 515 for longer. Its Elvis Smylie, the just-turn-pro teenager from Australia who has three top three finishes in his four starts this year. Trajectory: upwards.
The sandwiched between them at No. 514 is none other than 42-year-old Luke Donald, who sits on the edge of contention these weeks at the Palmetto Championship. Smylie may not remember, but Donald finished those ranks a whole decade ago. The year 2011 was remarkable for the Englishmanhe who has won four times worldwide, was named player of the year on both the PGA and European Tour, and first reached No. 1 in May. The following year, he played on his fourth Ryder Cup team and helped spur Europe’s final day return to Medinah. He finished 2012 ranked No. 2 worldwide.
It has been a steady decline since then. In his prime, Donald did the damage the old -fashioned way: with impossibly accurate wedge play and lighting placement. Perhaps we know that such a formula is not easily digested, especially at a time when the king is reigning. In addition to struggling with some injuries, Donald drops the speed of the rabbit hole in search of addittional miles per hour. He was lost on the road, and he had not yet found it.
Donald has been playing tour last year of a full -time free money list; if he doesn’t post results this year, he’ll find startups harder to make. So he’s kind of playing and kind of missing the cut a little bit. Going to AT&T Byron Nelson last month, Donald missed 11 of his last 12 weekends and dropped to No. 658 in the world.
“I love golfbut sometimes, it kicks you in the teeth,” Donald told Golf Digest after four under 67 Saturdays that put him in a tie seventh before time stopped playing that day. “I still have a desire to find ways to get better. I’ve been a bit down. It’s natural, when you put a decent amount of effort into something and you don’t see any results. I still want to come out. here, I want to compete. I can easily pack it. “
With over $ 36 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour alone, to say his earnings in Europe, did the option to call it quits as a guardian cross his mind?
Always running through your mind when in a bad place, really low on yourself, “Donald said.” But ultimately, I’m here playing for millions of dollars. I certainly do not want to play victims there is no way to live your life. So you keep attaching, you try to change a few things. Try it, try that, see what happens.
For Donald, that means a carousel of swing coaches. He refused to accept disappointments, nor did he let his passion for competing in the biggest stages of games fade. After working with his former Northwestern coach, Pat Goss, since he became a professional, Donald gave many different coaches a try before settling on industry legend Mike Adams. The early return was positive: Donald finished the T-13 with Byron Nelson, and now has the opportunity to bank some serious FedEx Points Sunday in Congaree. Given his current situation, a top five finisher would be massive.
Just happy with this trending the right way right now. You don’t know this game, “he said. It can retreat in other ways. But I definitely feel like good things are happening, and will continue to happen.
It’s the new rage on touring these days 40-somethings, and a left-handed 50-somethings, proving they have but are over. Stewart Cink, 48, had two wins this season. Lee Westwood, also 48, held a back-to-back 54-hole lead during the Florida Swing and finished solo second to Player. Ryan Palmer, 44, has performed well in thinking about the Ryder Cup. Charley Hoffman, also 44, has only finished running five consecutive T-18 finishes or better.
Seeing those people be successful is a great motivator for me. True, it keeps me going, “Donald said.” When I first came out on the Tour, I felt like 40-somethings were dominating the game. The Vijay types. Then, after I got to No. 1, apparently the young guns entered and began to control the game. But lately, oldies have been kind of sticking their heads out to say, we know how to play, we have experience, and it can also go away.
The oldies. Notice that he didn’t say we were oldies, for Donald didn’t join the 40-plus party tours. Somehow not yet.
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