After a record-breaking year filled with incredible highs and great sadness, world No. 1 Luke Donald has set some lofty goals for his 2012 season. Donald, whose father died suddenly just days before the birth of his second daughter, had a break-out year as the first golfer to win the money titles on both the PGA and European Tours and both organizations’ Player of the Year honors -- but he wants more.
Specifically, Donald hopes to win a major and make it onto next year’s European Ryder Cup team.
“There are certain things in my career I haven’t achieved yet -- winning a major, obviously,” Donald said Wednesday in his sixth diary entry of the year on the Mizuno Golf website. “In the modern game pros are judged on how they do in the majors and how many they’ve won.”
Donald cited the multiple majors that the game’s giants (including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Seve Ballesteros) have won, but noted he had achieved great feats without that elusive major championship on his resume. His latest piece of hardware -- the 2011 trophy for best European golfer from the Association of Golf Writers, which he added to his collection on Tuesday -- proved his point.
“The golf writers’ award, from the people that really know golf, told me a lot,” Donald noted. “It said...you didn’t win a major but you still played the best of anyone this year.”
Donald also put the Ryder Cup on his 2012 to-do list. Currently 20th on the points list, Donald noted that his proximity to the course (the Chicago resident lives 30 minutes from Medinah Country Club) allowed him to become quite familiar with the old layout and that he would play the re-design “a few times” before the biennial matches begin at the end of September.
“There’s talk of me reporting back to [captain José María Olazábal] about the course,” said Donald, adding that he was sure he would make the squad.
“Obviously I’ve got to make sure I’m on the team,” he said. “If I keep playing the way I am playing, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
There was, of course, a dark shadow over Donald’s otherwise brilliant 2011 season, as the 34-year-old Englishman lost his father toward the end of the year.
“The loss of my father came at what was supposed to be a time of great joy for Diane and [me],” he said. “My dad died at the birth of our second daughter, so that produced a wide range of emotions. It was something you can never prepare for.”
While Colin Donald, who died on November 7, did not live to see his son finish 2011 as a two-tour money winner and Player of the Year, Donald took heart in knowing that his father recognized all he had accomplished.
“Dad was immensely proud of my achievements,” said Donald.
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