The Open: Positive Luke Donald still dreaming

Published on 23/07/2012 00:00

World No 1 Luke Donald recorded his third top-11 Open finish in four years to leave him still dreaming of winning a major. The 34-year-old, who topped both the United States and European money lists last year, shot a final-round 69 yesterday to finish two under.

It was well short of getting anywhere near the lead on the last day and the ultra-consistent Englishman, whose best score at Royal Lytham was Friday’s 68, had to put his ambitions of making his major breakthrough on home soil on hold again.

“I think it would be fantastic to win one here,” said Donald, who missed the cut at Royal St George’s 12 months ago but had joint-11th and joint-fifth 
placings in the previous two years.

“Even being somewhat in contention, having the crowd really behind me, is a special feeling. There’s nothing quite like walking down 18 with the crowds cheering you on and really behind you.

“I can only imagine what that would be like with a one-shot lead – and hopefully I’ll have that opportunity one day.”

Donald felt his putting prevented him from making a serious challenge at Royal Lytham. But having missed the cut at last month’s US Open, the Englishman was much happier with the majority of his game.

“It could have been really special. I did a lot of good things,” he added. “It could have been four or five better with a few putts, but I’ll take a lot of positives away from this week. Certainly I’ll leave this week knowing my game is definitely good enough to win majors.

“It’s a big step forward for me from a few weeks back. I felt a lot more comfortable in terms of my game coming into this week as opposed to the US Open. Sometimes you learn a lot by playing poorly like I did at the US Open and not living up to my expectations.”