Once upon a time there was a young man named Luke Donald and he was No. 1 in the world.
For the past two days, that same Luke Donald was there in Powell, Ohio, struggling with a bunch of no-names and college kids, trying his darndest to get a spot in next week’s U.S. Open.
He shot rounds of 68-69 but that wasn’t good enough, he had to survive a six-man playoff, and he did.
It took one of the six missing a short par putt to get Luke in but that’s what happened and Luke is in next week to take on Oakmont.
Sectional qualifiers were staged nationwide on Monday, some carried over to Tuesday, like the one Donald played in, outside Columbus after he played in the Memorial.
One player who beat out a bunch of tour lesser-names was University of Texas freshman Scott Scheffler, who was the best Texas golfer on the course a week ago when the Longhorns got beat by Oregon. Keep an eye on Scheffler, he’s tall, strong, hits it long and has an excellent short game. Could be on the PGA Tour after another year at Texas.
