ESPN Golf

LEMONT, Ill. -- Luke Donald has always drawn attention at the Western Open. These days, though, it's for more than having Northwestern's Willie the Wildcat mascot in his golf bag.

A painting he did of defending champion Stephen Ames was used as this year's tournament poster, and also graces the covers of the souvenir program and pairings guides.

The way he's been playing lately, they might be putting his picture on the tournament poster soon.

"I think success breeds more success,'' Donald said Wednesday. "At the end of last year, I won a couple of times in Europe and forced my way onto the European Ryder Cup team, and I think that gave me a lot of confidence, knowing that I could play with the big guys. My game has gone from strong to stronger from then on.''

Donald won the NCAA individual title in 1999, and was named the top college player. He turned pro after graduating from Northwestern in 2001, and quickly established himself as one of the top up-and-coming players. He got his first PGA Tour victory in 2002, at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, and became the 11th rookie in tour history to earn $1 million.

Donald dropped to 90th in the rankings in 2003, but climbed all the way to 35th last year. He won twice on the European Tour and had four top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a tie for third at the Western.

Now he's in the midst of a breakthrough season. He tied for second at the Buick Invitational and The Players Championship, and was third at the Masters. In 11 events, he has four top-10 finishes and nine in the top 25.

And it's not even July.

"Obviously, I've had a good year this year, but I haven't gone over the edge by winning,'' he said. "I definitely feel ready. I think it's important for me to not press, push it too hard, but just to let it come to me.

"There's no reason why I'm not good enough.''

And what better tournament than the Western?

Donald was born and raised in England, but decided to live in Chicago after he graduated. Though he's got more interview requests and people calling for tickets this week, it also means he gets to sleep in his own bed.

Then there's that painting. Donald was an art major at Northwestern, and he's always been an avid painter. After Ames won last year, Donald was asked to do a painting of it.

"I've always worked in trying to create a movement within the sport, and that's what I wanted to accomplish here, something rather than just doing a stationary shot of the golfer,'' he said. "I also wanted to correlate to the Cialis Western Open by painting a picture that people would recognize.''

The oil painting, which took about 10 to 15 hours, is done mostly in vibrant greens, and shows Ames hitting into the 18th green at Cog Hill Golf Club.

Donald usually uses photos when he's painting, but he couldn't find any showing Ames from behind. So he got a videotape, freeze-framed it at the top of Ames' backswing and took a picture off the television.

"That was good enough to get the idea of where his swing was and what I wanted to do with it,'' Donald said. "... I'm quite critical of my work usually, but I quite enjoyed doing this one and I thought it turned out OK.''

Now if he can just create a finish this week that he likes as much.

While Donald is considered one of the favorites this week, the field is tough. Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh, who've been trading the No. 1 ranking since last fall, are here, and both are playing well.

Woods has already won three times this year, including his fourth Masters title, and was a runner-up at the U.S. Open. He's a three-time champion at the Western, and hasn't finished lower than 23rd since he turned pro.

Singh also has won three times this year, and has 11 top-10 finishes.

This is also the last tournament for many players before the British Open.

"It's nothing like the British Open site, so it's not a preparation,'' Woods said. "It's a great event, and you treat it as such.''

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press