CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | Golfers need little reminding that the game is one of contrasts and surprises. To get the ball up you must hit down. To strike it better you should swing more smoothly. We were reminded of another apparent inconsistency in the old game in the first round of the PGA Championship in Charlotte, on a hot and steamy day at Quail Hollow. On a course measuring 7,626 yards and lengthened considerably by heavy rain in preceding days, in other words one made for the game’s longest hitters, it was a man even his mother would not describe as a powerful striker who briefly held the early outright lead and finished on the first page of the leaderboard.
Meet Luke Donald, the quietly spoken, cerebral captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup team, who is ranked 871st in the world and at 47 was one of the older men in the second major championship of the year. Having been given the honour of being chosen to hit the first tee shot of the event (as he was last year, too) he completed his round in 67, 4-under par, and one stroke fewer than Keegan Bradley, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Little wonder that a wry smile rarely left Donald’s sunburned face later as he recounted his adventures over the demanding golf course.
“You know, again, I only hit nine greens today,” Donald said. “So I wouldn’t say it was amazing but there were definitely highlights today that were an improvement on previous events. More fairways. A bit better driving. Iron play was decent. But the putting, obviously, was very key and the short game. I got up and down and made good putts when I needed to, and that was sort of the key to my round today.”
At his best, and even when he was not at his best, Donald was notable for using his brain ceaselessly and working diligently to get better. His reward was to be world No. 1 between May 2011 and March 2012. Younger professionals were advised to study Donald and learn from the way he practised (very hard), prepared (very assiduously) and, most of all, plotted his way around and defeated (quite often) golf courses set up to overpower him.
In his victorious captaincy of the 2023 Ryder Cup team Donald revealed his characteristic as if he had undergone a lie detector test. To say he is thorough or diligent is like saying he is a good golfer, hopelessly understated.
Europe’s recent captains in the biennial event have been noteworthy for the fastidiousness with which they prepared, as was Tony Jacklin in the teams of the 1980s. Donald equalled, perhaps exceeded, them. Captains of team events from the United Kingdom have sometimes been labelled Captain Cock-Up or Captain Calamity. Donald should be known as Captain Methodical.
He prepared for the Ryder Cup as if his life depended on it. At the opening ceremony he spoke 15 sentences or so in acceptable Italian, honed by hours of rehearsal on Duolingo, the language app. His speech was well received by the predominantly Italian spectators at the ceremony. Zach Johnson, his opposite number, spoke in Italian for five sentences or so. Donald’s speech neglected no one, mentioning his team, their wives, girlfriends and caddies and the beauty of Rome; Johnson forgot to mention his team’s caddies.
“Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004 or something. So you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into this week. It was a pleasant surprise.” – Luke Donald
There were other reasons for Donald to have a smile on his face Thursday, most to do with the continued good form of numerous potential members of his Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black in September. The Swede Alex Norén, who played in the biennial event in 2018, had a 68. Also on that score were Robert MacIntyre, who was in Donald’s team in Rome two years ago, his teammate Matt Fitzpatrick showing a welcome return to form, and Rasmus Højgaard, who did not play in Rome though Nicolai, his twin brother, did. Rasmus is currently third behind McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the Europe Ryder Cup points table.
The deeds of these men rather made up for McIlroy’s error-strewn 74 and the sight of Jon Rahm falling back from being 2-under par after his outward nine holes to finish on 70, 1-under par.
“Obviously [I am] very pleased with the score, bogey-free in a major,” Donald said. “Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004 or something. So you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into this week. It was a pleasant surprise.”
You might have thought that what with all the Ryder Cup issues whirling around his head Donald’s mind might have been elsewhere. “But … I don’t find it [difficult] – I found it more tricky the first go-around for the captaincy for Rome,” Donald said. “I had less time to prepare for that captaincy. This time, I’ve had a longer time, and obviously second go-around, I’m sort of familiar with what’s going on and what I need to do and the time frames and all that stuff. I’ve been able to balance it quite well. It’s been nice to play a minimized schedule. I still love competing. I love being a competitor. But still giving myself plenty of time to be prepared for New York.
“Probably the first time this year I [played] two weeks in a row. Playing a minimized schedule sounds nice but it’s quite difficult to get in a competitive mode. So you know, playing one week, three weeks off … all that stuff, hasn’t been very easy for me. It’s like stop, start. It’s nicer to play two, three weeks in a row and kind of get a rhythm. That’s always what I enjoyed when I was at the top of my game, as well. So I think just having … consecutive weeks playing was helpful.”