His best finish was 13th at the Hawaiian Open right at the start of the year

His best finish was 13th at the Hawaiian Open right at the start of the year.It is something that has begun to frustrate Donald and he puts it down to pressing too hard at critical moments. “I think if I can just play my own golf without worrying about anybody else, I’m going to be successful out here,” he said. “It’s when I keep looking at the scoreboards and pressing too hard on the golf course that I get myself in trouble. If I can just play solid golf every day, then I’m going to do fine.”Donald played seven tournaments last year after turning professional but has still found the transition to playing a full season on the Tour difficult. “Playing a few events at the end of last year really helped me coming into this year, because I was able to see what it was all about and what I needed to do to my game to be successful here.”But the biggest thing I have found this year is that it is very hard to pace yourself out here It’s easy to try and play every week. It’s very tempting to do that, and I kind of did that at the beginning of the year.

If I went on a stretch where I played four in a row, I found that the fourth tournament was just a bit too much for me. I think it’s very important to pace yourself and be very patient to play well every tournament.”However, the experience of being a rookie is something Donald relates back to his first year at college. “It’s all about getting used to life out here and knowing things like where to stay. All of the little things you are learning about for the first time add up to making it harder out here.”I think it has been somewhat similar to my freshman year in college, where everything was a little bit new to me I had just come over from England and I had never won. My second year, though, I won five times, so I’m hoping that will happen out here.”A tournament victory may not be that farfetched a goal.

Bob Burns, who held off a charging Tiger Woods to win the Disney Classic last week, was 118th on the money list before he became the 16th first-time winner on the US Tour this season.The myriad of statistics collated by the US Tour suggest two areas where Donald may have to improve to join the winner’s circle. While he is around 30th in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation, Donald ranks 155th in driving distance and 164th in putting. Those two weaknesses mean he rates a lowly 178th in par-five birdie conversions. As steady as his game is, at some point he has to gain a few extra yards off the tee, to which end he has switched to a new ball which gives him an extra 15 yards, and his putter has to get hot.But these are considerations for the winter. The “steady as she goes” approach this season has shown Donald is a swimmer rather than a sinker.. The Great Britain coach, David Waite, resigned himself yesterday to being without Sean Long again as he named the squad with only one scrum-half and no specialist full-back for the Test series against New Zealand. “Last year we took a risk on guys hoping they would recover,” said Waite, recalling similar injury woes in the series against Australia.