donald rues first-round bad habit

By Phil Casey, PA Sport

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Luke Donald carded a second-round 68 in the Open at Hoylake - but admitted he had already dug his own grave.

Donald fired six birdies and an eagle but also carded four bogeys to lie two under par, 10 shots off the lead held by Tiger Woods.

The Ryder Cup star has struggled in the opening round of all three majors so far this season, carding a 74 at the US Masters, 78 at the US Open and 74 here.

"It's the opposite of last year, I was all in the 60s last year and this year I've struggled," explained the 28-year-old world number 11. "I have to work on trying to find the balance.

"This is the tournament I want to win the most and the harder you try the worse you do, that's how golf is, and I definitely got caught doing that yesterday.

"It's a mental thing, trying to make it seem like it's not as big a deal as it is. You try to make it like every other week but it's easier said than done."

Donald, who still finished 12th at Winged Foot last month, went to the turn in 32 and birdied the 10th and 11th to stand five under for the day.

But he then bogeyed the next two holes and, after an eagle on the 16th, dropped another shot on the 17th and failed to birdie the par-five 18th.

"There was a lot of good in there, six birdies and an eagle," Donald added.

"I tried to play a little more cautiously today but still hit fairway bunkers on the first and 17th. You try to take them on and get a little greedy and it gets you.

"I knew I'd dug myself a bit of a grave yesterday and I thought with good conditions 15 under or better could win this tournament and Tiger and Ernie (Els, on 11 under) are proving that.

"There are birdies to be had and I had my fair share today but just too many mistakes."