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Cool Hand Luke
2006 The Honda Classic March 13, 2006 By SAL JOHNSON
Contributing Writer, GOLFONLINE Here are the key reasons why Luke Donald won by two strokes over Geoff Ogilvy at The Honda Classic, contested March 9-12 at the Sunrise Course at Mirasol (7,384 yards, par 72) in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.:
When Donald won at the 2002 Southern Farm Bureau Classic for his first PGA Tour victory, it was the first time he really contended on the Tour. It was his 43rd PGA Tour event, and after three rounds he had a one-stroke lead. Donald got a great gift when bad weather canceled the final round thus giving him the victory. In his next 70 starts on the PGA Tour, Donald had 11 chances to win again, but each time he faltered down the stretch, either not making the right putt at the right time or coming up with the key shot needed.
He put that behind him on Sunday, as he played a great final eight holes to win. Donald did it thanks to making key putts at key times, like his 10-foot birdie putt at 13. That would be the start of six straight one-putts. On the next hole, which played the hardest for the week, Donald hit his approach shot 26 feet away and made that putt for birdie. On the par-3 15th, Donald missed the green and chipped to within 5 feet and made that one for par. But his key to saving the round came at the 16th hole. After a poor drive forced him to lay up way short of the green, and a third shot to 17 feet away, Donald drained par putt to maintain his one-stroke lead. Needing a par on 18 to win, he hit second shot to 4 feet and sank the birdie putt to finish in style. In the other times that he was in contention, he was never able to finish strong like this.
In this age of so many players hitting the ball a long way, Donald is a short hitter who relies on crisp iron play. Of the 73 players who made the cut, Donald ranked 64th in driving distance at 290.4 yards per drive. For the year, Donald's average is 280.0, ranking him 156th (out of 190 players listed in the stats). That makes him the shortest hitter among the PGA Tour winners in 2006. If you look at all of the winners from last year, Donald's 2006 rank would have made him the seventh shortest hitter of all the winners in 2005.
While he doesn't hit it long, Donald does hit the ball very straight. He was T2nd in driving accuracy at the Honda Classic and is T13th in that category for the year, the highest rank of all the 2006 winners. Of the nine other winners on Tour in 2006, the next highest ranked in driving accuracy is David Toms, who is T35th.
Donald hit 69.4% of the greens in regulation, fourth best in the field, and he played the par 4s in 4 under, best of anyone in the field.
Donald played his first 25 holes in 2 over par, but played his final 47 holes in 14 under par with one eagle, 15 birdies and only three bogeys.
Donald's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 39 of 56 (T2nd)
Driving average: 290.4 (64th)
Greens hit: 50 of 72 (4th)
Putts: 113 (28.25 a rd) (T24th)
Putting breakdown:
0-putt greens: 34
1-putt greens: 33
2-putt greens: 1
3-putt greens: 4
Eagles: 1
Birdies: 19 (T5th)
Scrambling: 16 of 22 (72.7%) (4th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win Means
Donald moved into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He and Sergio Garcia are the only two potential European Ryder Cup players in the top 10, while there are four potential U.S. Ryder Cup players in the top 10: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, David Toms and Jim Furyk.
The 28-year-old Donald is the fourth winner in his 20s this year on the PGA Tour, joining J.B. Holmes (FBR Open), Rory Sabbatini (Nissan Open) and Geoff Ogilvy (Accenture Match Play).
Donald is the sixth foreign-born winner of the Honda Classic since 1994, joining Nick Price ('94), Stuart Appleby ('97), Vijay Singh ('99), Jesper Parnevik ('01), and Padraig Harrington ('05).
Donald had a short commute to the office this week, as he lives just down the road in Palm Beach Gardens. The last PGA Tour player to win at home was Fred Funk in his Players Championship win last year.
You can E-mail Sal Johnson at sjohnson@golfonline.com.
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