in the final were the triumph of his
skills and his steely determination, a
determination that has been on display in the cauldron of the Ryder Cup.
In three Ryder Cups, Donald has an
outstanding 8-2-1 record. A quiet killer.
“I don’t think it was a mental issue,”
Donald says of his lack of career wins.
“Look at my play in the Ryder Cup,
more pressured-packed events than
anything. I’ve always performed really
well in Ryder Cups under pressure,
winning points.”
A lack of victories hasn’t held Donald
back from a rich, full life. He and wife
Diane brought baby elle Georgina into
the world in February of 2010. Donald
also enjoys his red wine, at least when
he’s off the tour and back home in
Chicago where he has a wine cellar of
about 800 bottles.
a smooth-as-silk swing and a
cool composure have made luke
donald one of the world's best
players. much the same can be
said for his wines.
He recently came out with his own wine label in association
with Terlato Wines International of
Chicago. He has a long friendship
with the company CeO Bill Terlato,
who himself is a fine player. Donald’s
tastes in wine tend toward the
Bordeaux style, fully flavored, earthy
red blends. He currently has 2005
and 2006 vintages in release.
“I became friendly with Bill Terlato
about 1999 in college at Northwestern,”
says Donald. “I started playing golf
with him and became interested in
All this hard work, he says, is
necessary because he just isn’t a
Dustin Johnson or Bubba Watson
or Nick Watney in terms of length.
his work and we became good enough
friends to try doing a wine together. My
wines are a blend of cabernet, cabernet
franc, merlot and some petite verdot.
They sell for about $40 and are market-
ed a little toward the younger genera-
tion. My signature is on the label, not a
picture of a vineyard. Wine is a hobby
now and I have a lot to learn. In my
late life I would love to shift gears more
toward making wine.”
Donald has also been a practicing
contemporary artist and collector
of contemporary art, though father-
hood and his golf work ethic have
eaten into his art time considerably.
He has had a few of his works auc-
tioned for charities.
Right now, his focus is on maintaining his high standard of play, of winning a major. He says his focus on the
world rankings is minimal, but he feels
he deserves to be at No. 3. And he feels
he deserves to be declared symptom-free of Luke Donald Disease.
“Hopefully I got the message across
that that’s not Luke Donald,” he said.
“Luke Donald works hard and he’s
always looking for ways to get better
and win.” n
