Martin Dempster: Donald’s Miracle win in Orlando converts the non-believers

HOW the tune has changed. It didn’t seem so long ago that everyone in the land of Uncle Sam was shooting holes in Luke Donald’s ascent to world No 1, yet now they’re shouting his name from the rooftops.

What has brought about that U-turn in opinion was a performance that must surely rank in the top ten of golf’s greatest displays – the Englishman’s remarkable victory in the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in Orlando.

To win is one thing; to do so when you need to is another. It was do or die for Donald in Disneyworld and to reel off six consecutive birdies on the back nine en route to a phenomenal closing round of 64 was quite astonishing.

‘Where Dreams Come True’ are the words on the arch above the entrance to the Orlando theme park and Donald’s certainly did on this occasion. He’s the first European to top the PGA Tour moneylist and is on the verge of becoming the first player to win the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Helped by wins in the BMW PGA Championship and Scottish Open, two of the biggest events on the circuit, Donald leads the European Tour money-list by just over £1.3 million with eight events to go. The win at Wentworth, where he beat Lee Westwood in a play-off, hoisted the 33-year-old to the top of the world rankings yet, over the last four or so months, there have been many in the game, Americans in particular, who’ve refused to give him credit for that. They seemed uncomfortable with the fact he hadn’t won a major. Some pointed to his last strokeplay success on US soil having been back in 2006. Others seemed to resent Donald being consistent rather than spectacular.

What we have to bear in mind here, of course, is that a large percentage of those Americans still can’t see past Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and seem reluctant to do so despite their stars descending dramatically at a time when the likes of Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley are on the up. People will point to the major titles won by Woods and Mickelson and rightly so. There’s no denying the pair made a huge impact on the game over the last decade or so. But they can’t keep living on past glories.

At long last, the world rankings reflect current performances and Donald deserves to be the No 1 every bit as much as Woods did when he could hit fairways and rarely missed those clutch putts.

Donald’s statistics this season are jaw-dropping. On the PGA Tour alone, he chalked up 14 top-tens in 19 starts. He’s already secured the Arnold Palmer award for topping the money-list, the Vardon Trophy for lowest stroke average and the PGA of America’s Player of the Year award.

Still up for grabs is the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year prize, which is voted for by the membership. The same people voted for Rickie Fowler over Rory McIlroy in the Rookie of the Year category 12 months ago, so we certainly can’t take anything for granted. However, it would be a shocking day for the game if Donald was overlooked as will be the case when the various honours are handed out on this side of the Atlantic in the next two or three months.

“I think I answered a lot of critics’ questions, coming to Disney knowing I had to win and coming up with the goods when I needed to,” said Donald. “I feel like I’ve answered all the questions thrown at me.” He certainly did and it’s no surprise that players in all corners of the globe are looking at him in a different light these days and using him as their inspiration.

Richie Ramsay, who finished third behind Sergio Garcia in Spain on Sunday to give his hopes of playing in the season-ending Dubai World Championship a considerable boost, spoke recently about how his frequent trips to America were fuelled by seeing Donald make up for a lack of length off the tee by having such a good short game.

“Like everyone else, I’m always trying to get a bit extra length,” said the Aberdonian. “But, at the end of the day, there are some people who hit it long and others who don’t. It’s like saying someone is 6ft 4in and someone is 5ft 8in. There’s maybe a few things you can do to get taller but you can’t really change that.

“Luke Donald is the perfect example. I played with him in China last year and it was a great illustration of someone who may not be overly long but has a short game that is dynamite. It was the best chipping and putting I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure.”