Masters Odds 2012: Frustrated Luke Donald Will Be Fueled by Lack of Attention

All week long, Luke Donald has been wondering, What about me?

He's the top-ranked golfer in the world, and yet his odds of winning the 2012 Masters are 15-1, far behind those of Tiger Woods (4-1) and Rory McIlroy (5-1).

It's clear from Donald's commentary this week that he's frustrated. He probably feels slighted, disrespected and not to mention a little bit confused about why his odds are so long, at least compared with those of Tiger and McIlroy.

Though he's never won a green jacket, Donald finished fourth in last year's tournament, and he has five wins in the last 14 months en route to a No. 1 ranking. He's never won a major, but he hopes to change that this weekend at Augusta.

For him, it won't necessarily be about playing his best golf; it'll be about strategy. In addition to adjusting his short game to fit Augusta's greens, he'll need to stay consistent on the fairways as well.

Donald told the Journal Sentinel's Gary D'Amato:

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I have to play very solidly. If I play my best, I would hope that it would certainly be good enough. But I feel like what I've learned, especially from the last year or two, that I don't need to play quite my best. I just need to play good golf.

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Though the Woods-McIlroy circus has certainly left him feeling a little bit slighted, Donald insists that he will use the lack of attention to his advantage. After all, it leaves him with more time to focus, more time to practice. He doesn't have to deal with the constant speculation and attention and adoration.

Sure, he might like to have a little bit of it, considering he is the top-ranked golfer in the world. It wouldn't be weird if some people actually predicted him to do well or even win. But for whatever reason, he's being counted out, so he will have no other choice but to use it as fuel for the fire.

He told the Telegraph's Oliver Brown:

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Tiger is always the guy who pushes the needle the most, and obviously Rory gets a lot of attention now. But for me, that’s probably a good thing. I can just get on with things.

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If it seems as though Donald and some of the other Forgotten Ones are acting a bit defensive, it's not your imagination. There seems to be a confusion among Donald and Lee Westwood, in particular, over being ignored as potential winners in this year's tournament.

But what can they do besides use it to their advantage? What can they do besides get in that extra round of practice instead of playing in the Par 3 Contest and commit themselves fully to proving that the oddsmakers got it wrong?

Donald will do just that this weekend, and, fortunately for him, he won't have to withstand immense media pressure to do it.