Donald Offers Hope For The Rest Of Us

March 13, 2006

Luke Donald’s victory at the Honda Classic this last weekend was a victory for the everyman—the guy who can’t hit it 330 yards off the tee and reduce every par four to a drive and a wedge.

Ok, so he still averaged 290, but that was 64th out of 73 weekend players.

But where Donald won the tournament was in keeping the ball in play—like golf was meant to be played. He hit 70% of the fairways and greens. In the second round, he hit 13 of 14 fairways from the tee, while in the third round he was 15 for 18 in greens in regulation. Twenty five percent of his approach shots landed within 15 feet of the hole.

Now THAT’s how to win a golf tournament.

And there’s a lesson in this for us weekend hackers: keep the ball in the fairway and work on your short game. Both of those are things that your average golfer can do.