Donald desperate to kickstart career at his happy hunting ground
Former world No 1 Luke Donald will take heart from the revivals of a trio of Ryder Cup team-mates as he looks to arrest his alarming slide down the world rankings in the RBC Heritage.
Donald reached top spot in the rankings in 2011, the year in which he won four tournaments worldwide and became the first player to top the money list on both the PGA Tour and European Tour.
The 40-year-old also won three times the following year and in Japan in November 2013, but has not tasted victory since and is on the verge of falling outside the world’s top 200 for the first time since 2002.
Injuries and a health scare when he was taken to hospital with chest pains before November’s RSM Classic have not helped the situation, but Donald has an amazing record at this week’s event with five runners-up finishes and two top-threes in 12 starts.
“Other players have had struggles as well and tough times and slipped down the rankings and come back,” Donald told a pre-tournament press conference at Harbour Town. “Those kind of players and experiences give me heart that I can do the same.
“Ian [Poulter] is an example, Henrik Stenson is another one, Lee Westwood. All these guys have gone through tough patches in their career and come back. I’ve had a similar career to all those guys so if they can do it, why can’t I?”
Donald, pictured, who finished a shot behind Wesley Bryan last year despite a closing 68, has made just two halfway cuts from seven starts in 2018, with his best finish a tie for 37th in the Genesis Open. “A few injuries have made me not be able to hit as many balls as I would like to, but I feel my game is a lot closer than the results are showing,” added Donald, who saw former Walker Cup and World Cup-winning partner Paul Casey win the Valspar Championship recently. “In off-week games with buddies everything looks good, it’s more a case of just going out and trusting it in competition more than anything, going out there and seeing the results, seeing good results and putting strings of good rounds together and getting some momentum.
“I often look at videos of my swing now compared to 2011 and there really isn’t a tonne of difference.
“It’s been a tough couple of years on the course. I haven’t had the consistency I had a few years back. Sometimes it only takes one tournament or a couple of rounds to get that going again.
“You always want to come back to places where you play well and there’s no real place that I’ve played better than this place. It would be silly of me not to put this one on my schedule.” Johanna Konta will lead Great Britain’s bid to reach the elite level of the Fed Cup when they take on Japan in the World Group II playoffs later this month.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Kontaandheatherwatson will be the singles players for the tie on hard courts at the Bourbon Beans Dome in Miki, while doubles specialist Anna Smith and debutante Gabi Taylor make up the four-woman team.
Britain have not played in the World Group since 1993, which was also the last time they had a home tie in the competition, and there was dismay at yet another away trip when the draw was made in February.
Anne Keothavong’s side negotiated the Europe/ Africa Zone comfortably to reach the play-offs for the fourth time in seven years and will hope to go one better than in 2012, 2013 and 2017, when they lost to Sweden, Argentina and Romania, respectively.
Last year’s tie was overshadowed by the shocking behaviour of Romania captain Ilie Nastase, who was subsequently banned for various offences, including verbally abusing Keothavong and Konta on court.
Ahead of the tie from 21-22 April, Keothavong said: “I am delighted to name our strongest possible team. We have been so close since 2012 and hopefully the fourth will be a charm.
“Women’s tennis in the UK is at its highest point in over three decades and we now have eight players inside the world’s top 250, led by Johanna and Heather. Japan will have home support and a very capable team.”
The concern for Britain is that both Konta and Watson are struggling for form. Konta has slipped from ninth in the rankings at the start of the year to 23rd while Watson, ranked 77th, is on a run of seven straight losses and has not won a match since January.
In contrast, Taylor has enjoyed a stunning start to 2018, winning three lower-tier titles and climbing from 323 in the rankings to 175.