Luke Donald climbing back up golf’s mountain at Valspar Championship

Luke Donald had a hard fall from golf’s mountaintop. Now he’s working to climb back up this week at the Valspar Championship

The Luke Donald who’s in contention this week at the Valspar Championship is a far cry from the player who was once atop the golfing world.

Donald, now 41, shot one-under 70 on Friday at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course to finish the second round just a shot behind the leaders. It’s a spot Donald, with five career PGA Tour wins, once found himself in with regularity. But in the past few years, the man who rode his iron and wedge game to the top has been all but forgotten on leaderboards, surpassed by players who can hit it far by him.

Donald spent 56 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, a spot he first assumed in 2011 when he became the first player in history to win both the PGA Tour money list and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. Only six players have led the world rankings for more weeks. He’s been No. 1 longer than Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, players with a combined 71 more wins than he does. He’s also spent 56 more weeks at No. 1 than Phil Mickelson, who’s never been able to call himself the best player in the world.

In 2012, when Donald was at his best, he won the Valspar in a four-way playoff. Seven years on, though, that remains his last win on tour. He hasn’t even had a top-10 finish in nearly two years. Donald has fallen all the way to 919th in the world coming into this week, the time when he could say he was the best long gone.

For the past year, Donald has struggled with a back issue that forced him to miss almost all of the 2018 season. He’s playing this year on a medical exemption, giving him 15 starts to earn enough FedEx Cup points to regain full-time status. He’s only played once since last April, however, a missed cut at the Sony Open in January.

Needless to say, neither Donald nor anyone else gave him a second look at the start of the week. “I had pretty low expectations,” he said after his round on Friday. “The goal was to try to play four rounds.”

Donald has done more than just make the cut. When he chipped in from a greenside bunker for birdie at the par-five fifth hole, his 14th of the round, he took sole possession of the lead. He bogeyed two of his last four holes, however, to fall a shot behind leaders Paul Casey and Austin Cook at five-under.

The disappointing finish aside, Donald is taking nothing but positives from his play so far this week.

“Overall pretty pleased, you know, seeing how this is my first event back since the Sony and really haven’t had too many reps,” he said. “Overall I’m in a great position and thankful that I feel good and healthy and ready for a weekend. It’s been awhile.”

Getting back into contention is a bit of nostalgia for Donald. He’s had to endure so much and work so hard to climb back up, but now that he’s on his way he’s not ready to slide back down again just yet.