Luke Donald insists he has got bottle for Open

Luke Donald needs accuracy and bottle if he is to end his wait for a major at Royal Lytham this week – and he showed he had both when he was just three years old.

“A neighbour was being mean to me and I didn’t like it,” said Donald, recalling his earliest memory in life. “So I threw a milk bottle at him from 15 yards and hit him in the head. He had to have stitches.”

Donald has grown since into a well-behaved, well-mannered English gentleman – and the world’s No 1 golfer. What he has not grown into yet is a major champion. Royal Lytham is his 37th attempt and the closest he has come so far is joint third in both the 2005 Masters – his debut at Augusta – and 2006 USPGA Championship.

That came at Medinah close to his Chicago home and, of course, venue for this September’s Ryder Cup. He played with Tiger Woods in the final group on the final day there, and bravely chose to wear a red shirt as well, but shot 74 to the American’s 68 and lost by six.

At the time he was relatively inexperienced. Now he is a proven winner on both sides of the Atlantic and hopes that at 34 his time has come.

While Donald failed to defend his Scottish Open title on Sunday, finishing joint 16th, he was happy enough with how he played in his first outing since missing the cut at the US Open. “I have good feelings about where my game is,” he said. “It was nice to play in a bit of wind (on the final day) and test out what I’ve been working on.

“You had to hit penetrating shots and it felt like I had pretty decent control. Certainly good enough to contend [at Lytham]. I’m ready to go.”

Planning how much to practice before the off on Thursday – especially given the bad weather forecast – was not all he had to do, though. Donald will be receiving the Golf Writers’ Trophy at their annual dinner tonight.

His best finish in 11 previous Opens – he missed the cut in the first five and at Sandwich last summer – was fifth at Turnberry three years ago. If he does get into the hunt his main thought will be “play with no fear”.

“I guess we all have free will, so it’s about going out there and controlling how you feel.”