It's way early but after 11 holes in 1st round Luke leads in the RBC Heritage. Just eagled a hole to take the lead. He deserves some good breaks.
Donald leads
- Thread starter WildcatWillie
- Start date
Threw out my back last week and am just trying to recoup! Saw Donald take double bogie on number two with an out of bounds shot. Thought he was done for! Comes back with stellar play, five under the rest of the way, while the leaders choked all day. Real tough Course and Luke's exemplary short game was on display. Made a nice half million bucks or more! With his advertising,a million dollar day for sure.
H'town is a unique course. It is only 7,099 from the tips but requires precise driving to the correct side of the fairway or trees will block approach shots. The greens are extremely small , so GIR are usually low requiring a good short game to score
There are lagoons along many of the holes, so double bogeys are not that uncommon. Luke had a double bogey on #2 today,unfortunately that is the easiest hole on the course ,essentially giving up almost 3 strokes to the field. #2 requires a drive down the left side of the fairway and most pros can reach the par 5 in two
The collection of par 3"s may be the best on the PGA tour. All are difficult pars with double bogeys fairly common because there is water in play on 4,14 and 17. #7 has a large tree overhanging the left side of the green and traditionally the Sunday pin tempts players to flirt with disaster
The recent hurricane knocked down some critical trees on the course, necessitating transplanting some 60' oaks from Florida. I am sure I will be getting an assessment to pay for them
There are lagoons along many of the holes, so double bogeys are not that uncommon. Luke had a double bogey on #2 today,unfortunately that is the easiest hole on the course ,essentially giving up almost 3 strokes to the field. #2 requires a drive down the left side of the fairway and most pros can reach the par 5 in two
The collection of par 3"s may be the best on the PGA tour. All are difficult pars with double bogeys fairly common because there is water in play on 4,14 and 17. #7 has a large tree overhanging the left side of the green and traditionally the Sunday pin tempts players to flirt with disaster
The recent hurricane knocked down some critical trees on the course, necessitating transplanting some 60' oaks from Florida. I am sure I will be getting an assessment to pay for them
Nice summary! Luke played the 2nd hole poorly on Saturday also. He eagled the hole on day 1! If he just pars that hole on the weekend,he wins by two shots! Luke clearly had the best short game out there!
Luke is now 15th on the career PGA tour money list! He bumped Rory Mcilroy,Jason Day,and Bubba Watson today! Since Luke played a good deal on the European tour,if you take those winnings,Luke is inside the top 8-10 in career earnings!
If Luke was even an average driver, his record would have been really impressive but short and wild does not work. His game fell apart when he searched for increased driver distance
Rugby wrote: Luke is one of the poorest drivers on tour-short and wild !!!
Disclaimer: I don't play the game and what I don't know about golf would fill many volumes.
But recently I followed Luke on a relatively average round of the Houston Open and saw every stroke. That day, playing with relatively average Tour drivers, he was usually not 1st to hit the 2nd shot -- meaning of course that he wasn't shortest off the tee. To my eye his bigger problem was fairway woods and long irons, too often sprayed into bunkers. Putts didn't always fall yet his overall score was respectable. Based on what I saw personally (one day) I wouldn't necessarily have concluded he was a poor driver.
A look at the most current PGA stats, however, considerably align with Rugby's statement. Donald is in the bottom 10% in average driving distance, and only near the top of bottom quartile in accuracy. Rassler is right about 280-yd distance but that must be compared with others on tour and the numbers show that to be quite below average among the big boys.
I'd never really looked at driving rankings. There are interesting surprises. Jim Furyk, for instance, is currently last in distance but among the tops in driving accuracy. On balance I'd think the latter is more important and probably what concerns Luke the most. Perhaps indeed his change of swing coach, in reported search of increased distance, has truly harmed overall efficiency.
Stats indicate Donald is still among the very top putters on Tour.
All of the above is probably well known to golf aficionados but of interest to a casual follower, and (unfortunately) support Rugby's assessment. Let's hope for improvement.
Disclaimer: I don't play the game and what I don't know about golf would fill many volumes.
But recently I followed Luke on a relatively average round of the Houston Open and saw every stroke. That day, playing with relatively average Tour drivers, he was usually not 1st to hit the 2nd shot -- meaning of course that he wasn't shortest off the tee. To my eye his bigger problem was fairway woods and long irons, too often sprayed into bunkers. Putts didn't always fall yet his overall score was respectable. Based on what I saw personally (one day) I wouldn't necessarily have concluded he was a poor driver.
A look at the most current PGA stats, however, considerably align with Rugby's statement. Donald is in the bottom 10% in average driving distance, and only near the top of bottom quartile in accuracy. Rassler is right about 280-yd distance but that must be compared with others on tour and the numbers show that to be quite below average among the big boys.
I'd never really looked at driving rankings. There are interesting surprises. Jim Furyk, for instance, is currently last in distance but among the tops in driving accuracy. On balance I'd think the latter is more important and probably what concerns Luke the most. Perhaps indeed his change of swing coach, in reported search of increased distance, has truly harmed overall efficiency.
Stats indicate Donald is still among the very top putters on Tour.
All of the above is probably well known to golf aficionados but of interest to a casual follower, and (unfortunately) support Rugby's assessment. Let's hope for improvement.
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