Luke Donald has faced Michael Jordan on the basketball court. Tussled with Tiger Woods. Reached No. 1 in the world. Never been on a losing Ryder Cup team.
The Englishman, 42, touched on these and many other subjects recently in a chat with Golfweek. Sheltering at his home at the Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife, Dianne, and young daughters Elle, Sophia and Gigi, Donald has quickly adapted to the new normal since the COVID-19 global pandemic halted play on the PGA Tour.
The winner of five PGA Tour victories, six more European Tour titles and 17 professional wins in all – plus more than $40 million in on-course earnings – cherishes the quality time with his family. While he hasn’t played much golf or spent time on the range, Donald, with the help of his daughters, has produced more than 20 videos full of golf tips he’s posted on various social platforms. He genuinely enjoys the coaching role but don’t envision him becoming a Butch Harmon or David Leadbetter in the future.
“I’m not sure if that’s something I’ll do down the road but there’s certainly been positive feedback and that means a lot to me,” Donald said.
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Donald, who in 2011 became the first player to win the money list on the PGA Tour and the European Tour, won the Race to Dubai that year and was the player of the year on both circuits, has rarely been the biggest guy in any room. Thus, as the game moved into an era of power, Donald had to adapt. A wrist injury born from his efforts to keep up with the big boys knocked him off the course for six months in 2008 but in turn gave birth to his best years.
“I had to build my game around my strengths,” he said. “Spent a lot of time working on my short game and my putting and things that I could control and that really became the bedrock of Luke Donald golf. It propelled me to No. 1 in the world. It was a proud moment for me to do it my way.”
Donald, however, has endured some lean years and fallen to No. 369 in the world. He last won in 2013 at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament.
“Like any good book, there are going to be some highs and some lows,” he said. “Certainly the last few years haven’t been to my liking and it gets harder and harder to be competitive the older you get. I still feel the golf ball doesn’t know how old you are. I still feel there is great golf in me.”
There was a lot of great golf in Donald when he wore Europe’s colors in the Ryder Cup. He was 10-4-1 as a player on the victorious teams in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012. He also was a vice captain when Europe won in 2018 in Paris.
In the video, Donald talks about the 2012 Miracle at Medinah when Europe stormed back from a 10-4 deficit, specifically the Saturday four-balls match where he was teamed with Sergio Garcia against Woods and Steve Stricker. Donald also gave his take on this year’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin possibly being played without fans.
He chats about the first time he played with Woods – the 15-time major winner made a triple-bogey 7 on the first hole – and talks of his time with Jordan on the golf course and the basketball court. Donald only played against Jordan once with basketball in hand, a game in the Bahamas that also included six-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady and major champion Keegan Bradley.
“It’s been nice to call Michael a friend,” Donald said. “And the tenacity and will to win. The Tigers and MJs, there aren’t many of them around.”
While he’s enjoying his time at home, he can’t wait to get back out on the PGA Tour.
“This whole situation has made it very clear that we in general love to be social,” Donald said. “We love to be around other people. And being around fans and them enjoying seeing a birdie putt go in and hearing those roars and shaking hands and high-fiving my caddie. The little things I think we all took for granted.
“Hopefully through this hardship that the gratitude for what we are missing will be that much higher. I miss people.”
Scroll back up the watch the video interview.
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