Donald? There Was Never a Doubt

Who in the world--in his right mind--would ever pick Mike Donald to win a U.S. Open?

His mother? No, she was on hand, looking worried every step of the way.

Las Vegas? Don’t be silly. They’re too smart for that. This is a guy who has won only one tournament in 11 years on tour. This isn’t one of your megastars.

An Open isn’t that easy to win. Arnold Palmer won only one. Jack Nicklaus won four--in 34 tries. Sam Snead never won any. And he had more tournament victories than anyone who ever played the game.

So who would pick a Mike Donald out of this Open crowd?

You’re looking at him. Little old me. I picked Mike Donald last Tuesday, two days before tee-off, when USA Today asked me who I liked to win the Open.

I had him all to myself.

Now, I have missed sports prognostications. I liked Denver in several Super Bowls. I thought Sonny Liston would beat Muhammad Ali. I liked San Francisco in the Series last year.

But I’m still alive with Mike Donald.

When that paper asked me for my pick and printed it, one of the people who thought it was funny was Mike Donald.

Not any more. Mike is alive and well in this U.S. Open. Nobody’s won it yet, but Mike Donald is one of two golfers who can in a playoff for the championship today.

At 2:55 p.m. Chicago time Sunday, Hale Irwin won this U.S. Open for the third time. Or thought he had.

There were still 26 players on the course at the time. But they still had Medinah’s Hall of Horrors--Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18--left to play.

Irwin knew these sociopaths were laden with bogeys and heartaches. He had made a 45-foot putt on No. 18 to go eight under par and, even though there was a fellow out there who was nine under, Hale wasn’t worried.

Hale wasn’t worried because the fellow was Mike Donald, and Hale was, doubtless, one of the ones who who wouldn’t pick Mike Donald. In fact, Hale obviously threw out Nick Faldo, Curtis Strange, all the Simpsons and Joneses and anyone else out there with a three-iron in his hand. When he sank his sea-going monster putt on 18, Hale took off on a victory gallop that took him around and around the green, high-fiving the officials, blowing kisses to the crowd and acting like a man who had won a lottery--or his third U.S. Open.

Hale liked the idea of being able to sit there in the clubhouse and watch the field crash and burn out there. Hale knew the wind was up, the greens were drying out, and, if Hale was worrying about anybody on the golf course, it sure wouldn’t be Mike Donald.

Hale could see what the course was doing to his playing partner, the great Greg Norman. He knew what Medinah was capable of--chopping down your swing, scaring you with lightning-fast greens, inviting you to yawning traps with downhill slopes in front of them.

Hale buzzed happily down to the media center and scampered a few more victory laps down there. All he had to do was wait two hours and get his victory speech ready.

He was almost right. The Faldos, Stranges, Jack Nicklauses and Seve Ballesteroses fired and fell back. The course had them in its withering crossfire. They were being cut down on the barbed wire.

But here came Mike Donald. He was dodging bullet after bullet. The guy who was 70 lifetime tournaments behind Nicklaus, 16 behind Hale Irwin and about $4 million in lifetime earnings behind Curtis Strange was not wilting.

Finally, he cracked. The par-four 16th, a boomerang-shaped torture chamber that has more trees on it than some rain forests, mugged him. He had a three-iron to the pin for his second shot to a green that looked like something that fell off a letter. A three-iron is harder to hit than a house fly in a hot, dark room, and Mike Donald dumped it in a sand trap. You knew he was looking at his first bogey of the round. But maybe not his last.

No. 17 is not a golf hole. It’s a public enemy.

But Mike Donald did not give in. He remembers turning to his brother, Pete, who was caddying for him. “I could feel my heart really pounding,” he recalled. “I got goose bumps. I thought, ‘This is the Open!’ But I told my brother, ‘This is what I’ve practiced for 20 years for. This is why I’ve hit all those balls, stroked all those putts.’ I said to myself, ‘Now, don’t get wishy-washy. Just play the way you’ve been playing for 70 holes for two more.’ ”

He did. He parred in to the clubhouse. He didn’t do any dancing on the green, he didn’t circle the traps (although he had given some thought to somersaulting on the apron if he sank his birdie putt). He simply stood there where nobody (well, almost nobody) thought he would. Tied for the, by God, lead in the United States Open.

And today? Well, he’s spotting Hale Irwin two U.S. Opens and a lot of experience. But Hale Irwin is spotting him 11 years. Irwin would be the oldest winner in Open history. Mike Donald would only be one of the least expected.

If he wins, I’ll try not to say I told you so. Nobody likes know-it-alls. But I had him in the pool, too.