RBC Heritage at Hilton Head

Luke Donald finished runner-up to Matt Kuchar in the RSA Heritage. Donald started the final day with a two shot lead, but double bogeyed on the 6 whilst Kuchar made a charge. Kuchar has a reputation for choking. At the Royal Melbourne, he double bogeyed the last hole to present the Australian Open to Adam Scott. He looked like he would do the same when he missed a three foot putt on the 17th, but he holed out on the 18th from the bunker. Donald was one shot and 3 holes behind. His approach shot on the 18th was wayward but he made a valiant effort to sink his chip which finished only a few inches to the right of the pin.

Donald is not a big hitter but has a marvellous short game. He has changed coach and is experimenting with a new swing. This is rather like a football club rebuilding the side. Some, like Padraig Harrington, never recover their game. Others, like Nick Faldo, go onwards and upwards, like his golf ball. Donald was certainly inaccurate off the tees and had to rely on his short game to obtain birdies. It was a exciting final back nine, not least as a I had a fiver on Donald.

Steve Palmer in the Racing Post was fulminating against himself as he eliminated Bubba Watson for Sergio Garcia in his Masters selection. He admires Sergio and he frequently appears as one of his picks but there is a reason why he is yet to win a Major. Donald too, though an enormous money winner, has yet to achieve this but he seems comfortable in his skin. Lee Westwood won the Malaysian Open over the weekend but you sense the absence of a Major, and the fact that its often raised, riles him. There are a number of golfers, Tom Kite being one, who make enormous earnings on the circuit but the elusive major victory  comes  late in their career. If I was Steve Palmer, I would put money on Donald to win a Major, but not Westwood.