Jamie Donaldson has been absolutely killing it on the greens this year. Coming into the FedEx St. Jude Classic, the stats of the 40-year-old Welshman look to be those of a world beater:

• 3rd in strokes gained: putting (.821)
  • Jason Day, Steve Stricker, and Donaldson are a clear 1,2,3
• 4th in putting from 10-15 feet
• 1st in putting from 15-20 feet
• 7th in one-putt percentage

While Donaldson’s elite putting stroke tremendously aids his overall play, it has not led to great success in 2016. The 2012 Irish Open champion has not finished better than 18th on the PGA Tour this season, or higher than 10th on the European Tour (where he splits time).

THE REASON FOR STRUGGLES

Donaldson’s stats are nearly the opposite of Lucas Glover’s (which I wrote about here), as he’s a dreadful 195th in driving accuracy, despite being a relatively short hitter (285.6 yards).

Donaldson is hoping to break through with his first PGA Tour career win in Memphis, and his first round 4-under 66 is a good first step. But he’ll have to perform like this over a four day period, on a course that is no pushover.

The good news is that Donaldson is a three time winner on the Euro Tour, and even scored the clinching point for Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup, so he has been able to put it all together at certain points in time.

Will this weekend be another high point on Donaldson’s career timeline?