Golf World Monday - December 12, 2011

tim;roSaforte long;year;pays;off;for;donald

last month at his home in chicago, luke donald called a team meeting. it occurred just after an emotionally draining week during which the world’s no. 1 golfer experienced the death of his father, colin, and the birth of his second child, sophia, but donald wanted to press onward.

was everything from scheduling to approach shots to donald’s fitness levels. for donald, the group analysis was something new.

average, a streak of 449 holes without a three-putt, and during one stretch, 10 straight top-10s.

work hospitals classic for the arnold palmer trophy and mcilroy in dubai for the european order of merit.

the pga tour money title was already his, but there were still events in south africa, the united arab emirates and australia along with the ultimate goal of a historic double by winning the money title on the european tour. donald challenged not only himself, but everyone in his camp.

“i’m obviously massively
proud of him and hope he
gets a great deal of satisfac-
tion realizing the improve-
ment he’s made,” alred
said sunday after donald
became the first player in
history to officially win the
pga and european money
titles with his third-place
finish at the dubai world
championship. “but he’s
equally enthusiastic about
the improvements we can
still make.”
at 5-foot- 9, 160 pounds,
he hopes to take those
experiences with him to
augusta, the olympic club,
royal lytham and kiawah
island, while playing with
the toughness instilled by
his rugby coach. donald
told me earlier this year
he’s proudest of getting to
no. 1 as a non-traditional
modern-day player. he
hopes to stay there through
unconventional ways of
preparation.

assembled in the room
were donald’s manager,
Jon wagner, swing coach
pat goss, caddie John
mclaren, strength coach
and nutritionist ben shear,
along with rugby perfor-
mance coach dave alred.
discussed over six hours
with tiger woods return-
ing to form and rory mc-
ilroy and lee westwood
rejoining the pga tour,
donald knows he needs
to get better to stay atop
the world ranking and
the money lists. his chal-
lenge will be improving on a
career-best scoring aver-
age and final-round stroke
more immediately, donald’s
challenge is to trek to the
Jbwere australian masters
this week in melbourne
without a letdown. “it’s
interesting in that we have
one more tournament, and
it’s important we go into
melbourne with all pro-
cesses firing, so when we
have a break, we go back to
a behavior that is ingrained,”
alred said. “we’re desperate
to finish on the up, regard-
less, so the memory of this
season makes you hunger to
come back next year, want-
ing to discover more.”
boot camp starts at the
bear’s club in Jupiter, fla.,
the beginning of february.

the next discovery is a major. in big moments this year donald beat martin kaymer in the wgc-ac-centure match play, westwood in the bmw pga championship for the no. 1 ranking, webb simpson at the children’s miracle net-