GOLF: BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:A TERRIBLE beauty has been born, if the scoring in yesterday's first round of the BMW PGA Championship is any indicator.
On a course beefed-up by Ernie Els’s design inclinations, and with a swirling wind to accentuate the examination, many players – among them the four current Major champions – struggled to find the answers in how to handle the famed West Course at Wentworth.
Yet, it was conquerable. Luke Donald – seemingly on an inexorable rise to becoming the latest world number one – proved the course could be mastered with a commanding round of 64, seven-under-par, that left him two shots ahead of nearest pursuers Sweden’s Johan Edfors and Italian teenager Matteo Manssero.
A bit like an out-of-body experience? The question didn’t faze Donald. “Yeah, I guess you’d feel a little invincible,” responded the Englishman, adding: “You’re out there and you have a lot of good feelings, there’s not a lot of negativity that creeps in. Everything is positive, you’re seeing the shots well and everything is working. That doesn’t happen very often.”
For sure, Donald was indeed a rare breed. On a day when the swirling wind mixed with rain – and even, at one point late in the afternoon, a thunderstorm with the threat of lightning that forced play to be suspended for 36 minutes – to add to the challenge, Donald’s play tee-to-green was exemplary. And, once on the greens, he used his blade like a wand. He required only 26 putts in his master-class.
As US Open champion Graeme McDowell wistfully observed, “It is difficult to play alongside a guy who’s got it on a piece of string at the moment and his putter is just so hot right now. His iron play is off the planet and he chips and putts like God. Luke’s got it on a frozen rope right now, whereas my rope melted a long time ago.”
Indeed, all four Major champions struggled: McDowell, sniffling with a head cold, shot a 75; British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen opened with a 76; US PGA champion Martin Kaymer had a 74, and new US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel signed for a 79. Yep, a tough old day for many.
Donald has been on a quite remarkable run since missing the cut at the Los Angeles Open in early February. Since then, he has embarked on a sequence of 1st-10th-6th-4th-2nd-8th-4th-2nd which started with his win in the Accenture Matchplay up to his runner-up position in last week’s Volvo World Matchplay.
In a round which defied the conditions and saw him produce eight birdies and a solitary bogey on the 12th, where he hit a rare poor approach, Donald took the initiative. The disruptive weather didn’t impede him in the slightest. “There are guys that don’t like the bad weather or don’t have the talent to compete in it. I think it makes the field smaller in terms of people who have the ability to win. I like the fact you have to grind it out,” remarked Donald.
With the focus on trying to claim this title, having finished runner-up to Simon Khan here a year ago after blowing up on the 17th in the final round, Donald’s mind isn’t straying to the battle for the world number one spot with Lee Westwood. “My goal is to try and win this event, and if I finish ahead of Lee, then great,” he said.
But his Ryder Cup captain from Celtic Manor wasn’t so reserved. “Luke’s a much better player than I ever was,” observed Colin Montgomerie, an eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner. “He has a much better, much tighter short game than I ever had.”
Donald – more than anyone given his closure rate when the pressure is applied at the business end of tournaments – will be aware this race is far from run yet, especially with players of the calibre of Manassero chasing. With two tour titles before his 18th birthday, Manassero is part of the new generation challenging for big titles.
Manassero, last year’s “rookie of the year” on the European Tour, said he was inspired by a video dedicated to Seve Ballesteros at the players’ awards dinner on Tuesday night. “Brilliant, amazing,” he said of that video, before explaining: “I’m changing my swing a little bit, so I’m not exactly where I want to be yet.”
Edfors was a bit more flamboyant than Manassero in negotiating a 66 to join him as chief pursuer. His round included a birdie three on the 11th, where he pushed his tee shot into the trees only to execute a recovery with a sliced approach that finished four feet from the cup. He sank the putt.
