Jamie in control of desert destiny
WHEN you’ve clinched the winning point at a Ryder Cup and won big tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Ireland, you might think fourth place in a middling European Tour event would hardly bear comparison.
That, however, doesn’t take into account the stark circumstances facing Jamie Donaldson when he turned up at Valderrama last October for the Andalucia Masters. As he put it: ‘It was all or nothing. I knew I had to deliver or I’d have been spending this season selling hot dogs.’
It’s a characteristic of the 42year-old Welshman’s career that he invariably delivers when nothing else will do. ‘I don’t know why, the mental process that’s happening makes it work out that way,’ he said.
‘Valderrama’s a hard course as well to score on so, yeah, I was buzzing at the end. That week ranks up there with the best of them.’
Fourth place lifted Donaldson to 99th in the Race to Dubai — the top 100 kept their cards — and he celebrated by falling as if poleaxed fully-clothed into a nearby swimming pool. Now he’s come back up for air, he’s hellbent on getting his career back on track. Following up a first-round 62 is never easy but Donaldson made a pretty good fist of it with a 69 to lead after the second day of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. A three-hour fog delay, however, meant a lot of players didn’t finish, including the hot favourite Rory McIlroy, so Donaldson may not lead after the completion of the second round this morning. McIlroy didn’t make it on to the course until 3.15pm but once there he started playing like a man expecting to be holding the trophy tomorrow. He picked up three shots over the first six holes to move within three of Donaldson before notching his first bogey of the tournament at the eighth. The four-time major winner, who marked his first competitive start since October with a tie for third in Abu Dhabi last week, bounced back with a birdie on the 10th and parred the next before play was suspended for the day. He will start this morning on the 12th, three adrift.
Donaldson is at least guaranteed to be playing in one of the final groups for the third round and he will be digging deep into the memory banks to recall what it’s like being in contention at a big event at the weekend.
‘I’ve still got plenty of dreams and while I don’t want to talk about them you can be sure I’m still aiming high,’ he said.
‘I need to win a big event like this one and then that changes everything. Suddenly, you’re getting into the majors and WGCs (world golf championships) and that’s what needs to happen if I’m to have a chance of fulfilling all my ambitions.’
Donaldson’s week began with a practice round alongside three men with no worries when it comes to getting into the game’s elite events — Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Ross Fisher.
‘They’re all absolutely flying, as we know, so to hold my own alongside them really helped me going into this event,’ said Donaldson.
The other thing that’s helped are a couple of sessions with the Southport putting wizard Phil Kenyon, who’s done so much for McIlroy, Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, among others.
Paul Dunne slipped out of contention on day two with a disappointing 74, which leaves him four under par for the tournament alongside Graeme McDowell who had a better day — birdieing the last two holes — as he picked up four shots.
Darren Clarke is bottom of the pile on five over after a second round 77.