|
Senior Leader Donnell Eyes Big Year 9/23/2004
Senior Leader Donnell Eyes Big Year For a senior leader on one of the country’s top 25 golf teams, Mark Donnell didn’t play much golf this summer. Instead, he was busy fulfilling the “student” part of his position as one of Vanderbilt’s many student-athletes. Donnell spent the summer in Washington, D.C., interning in the office of Tennessee (Fifth District) Representative Jim Cooper (D). “I’ve never had a real job,” Donnell admitted, “because when you golf, no one wants to hire someone who’s gone every weekend. So I had a real good experience. I’ve always had an interest in office, and I really learned a lot more about it; being there was incredible.” Even though his job largely kept him off the links, Donnell also learned a lot about his golf game this summer — like that it is, ultimately, just a game. He made a splash to begin his Vanderbilt career three years ago, winning the Adams Cup and finishing second on the team with a 74.14 average over 35 rounds. He would also be the first to admit, though, that his stellar play has not been consistent throughout his career, and that he, like most elite athletes, puts too much pressure on himself, even through summer “off” seasons. “Every summer since I can remember I’ve been traveling and playing golf tournaments,” Donnell explained. “Even in college, I’d play in six to eight summer tournaments but this year I didn’t. I was kind of worried that I’d be a little rusty coming back [in the fall]. But actually it helped me, because by the end of last spring we had been playing awhile, and we had gone to the NCAA Tournament, and it was nice to have a little break.” And, like any proficient politician, Donnell used his break from golf to his advantage. He took rare weekend opportunities to play in two tournaments, finishing in the top ten in both. He placed sixth in the Eastern Amateur Open, played in mid-July in Portsmouth, Va., and followed that up with a second place showing at the Montgomery (Al.) Invitational later in the summer. Donnell credits his success with the complete lack of expectations with which he entered the events. “When I went down [to the Eastern Amateur], I had no expectations, I hadn’t played at all, and so [playing well] picked me up a little bit,” he allowed. “When I went down to the Eastern Amateur, I had never looked at a golf tournament as a vacation before, but I had a few days off of work and it was a vacation.” Now he has brought his newfound enlightenment back to campus to concentrate on what is both his last collegiate season and one of the most anticipated seasons in Vanderbilt golf. The team, heralded by some as the best-ever at Vanderbilt, begins the season ranked #23 by Golfweek Magazine and #21 by Golf World. The ten-man team boasts four seniors, three of whom are currently in the top five who travel to tournaments, as well as nationally ranked sophomore Luke List and Brett Lange, winner of this year’s Rudolph Cup, who Donnell calls a “stud freshman.” “The three of us [seniors] who will be traveling are figuring out what we’ve got to do to play well and pass that on to the freshmen and Luke,” he said. “It’s really tough to convince yourself to be loose; it’s a weird thing that I have to work through. [The mental aspect] is unbelievable, even more so in college because the team aspect really has a lot to do with it, and that’s the part you’ve got to try and block out, because the better you can do for yourself the better you do for the team. That’s a hard thing to grasp because you put enough of it on yourself. All you can do on the course is play your best.” While this year’s team goal to always “win the next tournament, and to win the SEC Championship” maintains its place in the forefront of the players’ minds, Donnell and his teammates all have personal goals as well. Donnell, for one, is aiming for All-American status, but to achieve that, he has set specific standards for himself. “I have been very pleased with the team these last few years, but individually, I just haven’t seen the consistency that I need,” he explained. “I don’t have enough of those 15-to-20 place finishes, just solid weeks. It seems like I’m all-or-none. I’m just looking for a little more consistency. “The reason I think that a lot of people say that my freshman year was better was because I started out so well. I think I won my second tournament, but then after that, in the spring of my freshman year, I didn’t play well in the SEC Tournament. Every year I’ve had maybe three top ten [finishes] each year and then I’ve finished between 10 and 20 once in my career, maybe twice. I need to turn my 78’s into 73’s and grind it out a little better.” One variable that will undoubtedly aid him this season is the newly opened short game practice facility at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. “It’s going to make all the difference in the world for me, more so for me than anyone else on the team,” Donnell enthuses. “My wedge game is definitely the weakest part of my game, and everyone on the team knows that. For me it’s just going to be key. Last year we spent 80 percent of our practices on the driving range hitting balls and maybe 20 percent working on our short games, and now it’s completely flip-flopped. I park out there next to the equipment facility and I begin and end all my practices there. My short game’s been a lot better already.” It’s not just his growing confidence in his short game that makes Donnell excited and confident about this season. Between the recent long-term contract extension of Head Coach Press McPhaul and the hiring of new Assistant Coach Craig Dunlap, as well as the cohesive mix among the teammates, Donnell predicts great things for this team. “Our coach is really coming into his own now?he’s still a young guy but he’s definitely found his style, and we all understand it and like the way he coaches,” Donnell says of McPhaul. “And we have Craig now, our new assistant coach, who I played with two years ago. It’s good to have a good friend and coach in the same person; it’s going to benefit us.” Additionally, the team returns all of its top five golfers from last year. “We have guys that are not going to be traveling that would probably be in the top five in other teams in the SEC,” Donnell declares. “We’ve got that much more depth, which is good. It keeps the guys back home realizing they’ve got a chance to get in the lineup and the guys on the road knowing they’ve got to play pretty well to stay in it; competition within the team is the key. We’ve got a good combination because we’ve got a small team but at the same time we’ve got 10 solid guys.” While Donnell and the team radiate confidence, though, they practice with a chip on their shoulder, born of disappointment with their finish in last year’s NCAA Tournament. In typical fashion, Donnell’s dissatisfaction comes primarily from the expectations he has for himself and his team. “I was disappointed last season even though we probably did the best we’ve ever done,” he admitted, “just because I don’t think we did quite as well as we should have. “We need to be a little more aggressive and expect a little more from ourselves. This year I think, even in practice in the first month, the atmosphere surrounding us has been fantastic. I think the one thing we need to be careful of is that we feel so good about our team we have to be careful to use that to our advantage and not get too disappointed if we don’t go out and win every tournament.” In the meantime, though, Donnell is concentrating on his deceptively simple plan for the year: to simply have fun playing the game. “I’m a competitive person and it really bothers me to not play well,” he acknowledges. “I think I take it a little too far sometimes and put too much pressure on myself. I need to put couple good rounds together and loosen up, hit the ball well and not worry about it. When I’m out on the golf course now I’m trying to see where I want it to go and not where I don’t want it to go. You can’t think negatively?the less I can think about the better, and I have so much more fun doing it that way.” When he graduates next May, Donnell will have the choice to play professionally, based on his assessment of this season’s success, or perhaps take a different job opportunity in our nation’s capital. Regardless of his decision, though, it is clear that he appreciates the significance of his final season in black and gold. “To travel around the country playing golf, this has been the greatest – so much more than I ever thought it would be,” he reflects. “I wish I had more time; I don’t feel like a senior until I get on the golf course and everybody’s younger and looking to me and Lance and Ben and Jack. I feel I’m just getting the hang of it, but it feels great and it’s hard to believe that we’re that old now. It’s been really, really great and I’m looking forward to this year. I’ve got a good feeling about it and I think everybody does.” by Meggie Butzow – special to vucommodores.com |
