³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Donald has been one of Europe's most impressive performers at Celtic Manor. Photo: Getty

Donald has, perhaps unfairly, earned a reputation as a man playing in a comfort zone, happy to bank nice cheques (career earnings are in excess of $18m) but without really making the most of his talent.

Coincidence or not, since turning to Alred in January, and agreeing to "throw the kitchen sink at it for a year", the 32-year-old has surged from outside the world's top 30 back into the top 10.

In May, he lifted his first title in two years when , sandwiched between a second place in the PGA Championship at Wentworth and third in the Wales Open here at Celtic Manor. That's alongside five top-three finishes on the PGA Tour, including in America.

Alred, as he did with Wilkinson and others, has been trying to mould a "mindset for performance" with Donald. And it seems to be working.

"People fall into the trap of thinking it is about the night before a tournament, but it's a whole being that changes," Alred tells me.

"You then relish the challenge and pressure and that's where you get performances like you saw from Luke today [Sunday] and yesterday [Saturday].

"In particular, when you're faced with a challenge your mindset is 'I can and I will' rather than 'I hope'."

The basis of Alred's technique is to turn practice into a pressurised environment so that rather than just hitting shot after shot, you put yourself under pressure by setting goals, or "absolutes" as he calls them.

"I'm almost drowning him in enthusiasm to get better in every aspect of his golf. It's not a million miles from the work I've done with rugby players, just a different venue, but the pressure and challenge is the same.

"I try to use metaphors that indicate a mode you need to operate within. If you were to characterise a surgeon you'd need him to be very precise, very specific, very careful, with the patient's health paramount at all costs.

"Or a back-row forward in rugby - when they haven't got the ball they're trying to be the ultimate destroyer; when they have got the ball they're trying to be the ultimate attacker. So there are mindset changes that go on.

"Take goalkickers in rugby - when you haven't got the ball and you're faced with a back-row forward charging off the back of a line-out, the 10 and 12 have got to make their tackles. Then the whistle blows and something changes and all of a sudden you've got to kick a penalty and it's a totally different mindset. So it's about dropping into those mindsets to allow you to perform.

"With Luke I suppose an 'assassin' is the simplest, most tangible metaphor, where you're ready, it's one shot, one opportunity and you need to hit right between the eyes because you don't get a second chance.

"It's about making sure all the technical work done with [his coach] Pat Goss reproduces itself when he is under the cosh and he is becoming increasingly more successful in doing that."

Alred has worked with Jonny Wilkinson on his kicking for many years. Photo: Getty

Alred says Donald and Wilkinson are similar in that they are like sponges, desperate to soak up knowledge.

"Jonny and Luke are enthusiastic and the more you work with them, the more they want to learn," he says. "It challenges me as much as it challenges them and that's the exciting bit. If I want to take a player where they've never been before, then I need to go there as well."

So what will Alred be telling Donald ahead of Monday's decisive singles session?

"I prefer not to think in terms of 'day of reckoning' or thoughts such as 'this is it'," he says.

"An old player, who'd won 50-odd caps, once told me he'd got bored of hearing his coach say, 'this is the biggest game of your lives'. By the end of his career he'd had 50 'biggest games of his life'.

"There's always tomorrow and the next day. It's about getting better, whatever happens."

The clash with Furyk is a chance for Donald to avenge his narrow defeat in the Fed Ex Cup. The American may play for the 'Dark Side', but the Force is strong with "Luuuuuke".