Donald hoping for Open glory
World number one Luke Donald is hoping he can take his form from the Scottish Open to Royal Lytham this week as he seeks to claim a first major title in the 141st Open Championship.
Donald missed the cut at the recent US Open and also has a poor Open record, with just one top-10 finish - at Turnberry in 2009 - in 11 appearances, but finished 16th in the defence of his title at Castle Stuart last week.
"I feel like I did a lot of good work in the last two weeks," Donald said. "And I felt quite comfortable in the competition last week at the Scottish Open. I hit a lot of very solid tee shots, and that's exactly what you need to do around here."
He went on: "I do like this course. I think it's set up great. It's very fair, but it's very tough. It's certainly going to produce the guy who plays the best because there's no escaping some holes; you've just got to step up there and hit good tee shots.
"You aren't going to find lucky lies in the rough. You're not going to be able to get to the greens from the bunkers. It's about hitting fairways, hitting greens, and hopefully I can do that."
Having said that, Donald acknowledges accuracy from tee to green is not his greatest strength - he is ranked 119th in greens in regulation on the US Tour in 2012 - but that he can also take encouragement from the late Seve Ballesteros.
Ballesteros won the Open twice at Lytham despite some famously wild tee shots, including one on the 16th during his victory in 1979 which ended up in a temporary car park.
"I think that should give me some heart, that I've not always been known as the guy who hits it consistently tee-to-green, but I have a great short game," Donald added.
"I have great skills to get the ball in the hole no matter how I'm playing, and I think that's what won Seve The Open Championship in '88. Seve was known as someone that would hit it wild off the tee and use his short game to get out of trouble. No matter where he was, he felt like he could hole a shot.
"I've got to go into this tournament with that kind of fun attitude, that no matter how I'm hitting it, there's always a way to make a score."
