DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SHANGHAI (AP) — Luke Donald has gone back to his old swing coach with no regrets from having tried something new.
Donald had spent just over a year working with Chuck Cook when he decided a few months ago that it wasn’t working. More than a search for more length, Donald was trying to get his shoulders more open to consistently have the club more square at impact.
Whatever he was searching for didn’t work.
“After 13 months, I really hadn’t gotten better,” Donald said Tuesday at the HSBC Champions. “Either I physically couldn’t do it or I just wasn’t getting better. I was frustrated with the game the last three or four months. It was an amicable decision. I just thought it was time to do something different.”
Donald said he measured how open his shoulders were at impact when he started working with Cook, and after 13 months there was no change.
But there was a change in his play.
Donald won the Dunlop Phoenix late last year. He also finished one shot behind at Hilton Head when Matt Kuchar holed a bunker shot. He had only three other top 10s, failed to get past the second playoff event in the FedEx Cup and did not make the Ryder Cup team for the first time since 2008.
A year ago, he was at No. 14 in the world going into the HSBC. This year he is at No. 36.
Donald returned to Pat Goss, his coach at Northwestern. He said Goss had to work more on the fundamentals of short game than ever. Donald suspects that was because the mechanics he worked on with Cook on the long game had invariably crept into his wedge play.
“It has not been much fun on the golf course the last three or four months,” Donald said. “I haven’t enjoyed it. I talked to Chuck and he was very open about what we wanted to do. He felt like his teaching was like keeping a Band-Aid on, and that’s not the way he teaches. I was trying my hardest but wasn’t able to do it. I had a choice to go back with Pat or try someone different. I had a lot of good years with Pat.”
Donald, who last was No. 1 in the world in early August 2012, doesn’t feel the move was a failure because at least he got an answer, even if it didn’t work.
“I would have felt worse if I hadn’t tried it,” he said. “Not many guys have changed their swing pretty radically and been successful. Tiger showed it can be done, but it’s very hard. There are countless examples of people who have tried and had it not work.”
___
ON THE BAG: For the first time in nearly five years, the AT&T logo can be found on a golf bag on the PGA Tour.
It belongs to Jordan Spieth.
Spieth showed up at the HSBC Champions with a black-and-orange golf bag promoting AT&T. He signed an endorsement deal with the Texas-based telecommunications giant earlier this year, and this was the first evidence of the logo while he was on the golf course.
AT&T is one of the top supporters of the PGA Tour, with title sponsorship at Pebble Beach and the Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour, and a Champions Tour event in Texas.
The last player AT&T endorsed on the PGA Tour was Tiger Woods. He had an AT&T bag when he returned from knee surgery early in 2009. The company ended its endorsement deal a month after revelations that Woods had multiple extramarital affairs.
Spieth is playing for the first time since the Ryder Cup. He is headed back home to Dallas after the HSBC Champions, and then returning to Asia to play in the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan and then the Australian Open in Sydney before ending his year at the Hero World Challenge that Woods hosts in Florida.
___
KOEPKA’S DILEMMA: Brooks Koepka is spending a much-needed week of vacation in Thailand before two final events on the European Tour that could shape his schedule next year.
Koepka began his career on the Challenge Tour in Europe, winning three times to earn an instant promotion to the European Tour. He did well enough in his limited starts on the PGA Tour last year — a tie for fourth in the U.S. Open and a tie for third in the Frys.com Open — to earn his U.S. card.
He would like to play both tours again next year, but that can only happen if he’s entrenched in the top 50 in the world. That would make him eligible for the World Golf Championships and the majors, which means he would need only limited starts in Europe to keep both cards.
But right now, Koepka is at No. 60.
Even though he was a European Tour member first, PGA Tour regulations do not allow the Floridian to claim Europe as his home circuit, meaning he would need to get a release to play overseas. Players typically are granted three “conflicting event releases” when playing 15 PGA Tour events, with one more release for every five more PGA Tour events they play.
One caveat is for players to claim an alternative home circuit, but only if they have been a member of that tour at least five years and commit to playing at least 20 times on the PGA Tour. Frank Nobilo of New Zealand went that route when he joined the PGA Tour after several years in Europe.
Koepka finishes his year in Turkey and Dubai, both of which will have strong world ranking points.
___
DUSTIN JOHNSON: That voluntarily leave by Dustin Johnson certainly isn’t hurting his position in the world ranking.
Johnson was at No. 16 in the world after the Canadian Open when he announced he was stepping away from golf to seek professional help for “personal challenges.” He is No. 15 in the world now.
Johnson will start losing points, starting with the HSBC Champions. He won a year ago Sheshan International and is not back to defend.
His agent at Hambric Sports, David Winkle, said Tuesday that Johnson is not expected back until sometime early next year. Johnson’s fiancé, Paulina Gretzky, is expecting their first child and Johnson won’t play again until the baby is born.
“They haven’t announced when the baby is due yet,” Winkle said.
___
DIVOTS: Adam Scott is trying out another caddie this week at the HSBC Champions. He is using David Clark, who works for Cameron Tringale. … Graeme McDowell says he will be joining a task force, only it has nothing to do with the Ryder Cup. McDowell says he has been asked by his alma mater, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, to be part of a group that studies the future of the football program. … Tickets went on sale Tuesday for the British Open next year at St. Andrews. A daily ticket for adults will increase 5 pounds to 70 pounds (about $110) if bought before May 31, and to 80 pounds ($125) after that. Weekly tickets are available for 240 pounds ($380). A daily ticket went for 60 pounds ($95) in 2010 when The Open was last held at St. Andrews. … Davis Love III tied for eighth in Malaysia, his first top 10 on the PGA Tour in two years.
___
STAT OF THE WEEK: Graeme McDowell is the only player with top 10s in every World Golf Championship this year. He was a quarterfinalist at the Match Play Championship, tied for ninth at Doral and tied for eighth at Firestone.
___
FINAL WORD: “I know one thing for sure. We can’t have more than 52 tournaments.” — Henrik Stenson on what the golf calendar will look like in 10 years.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
