Lu Lu CC’s Danner stands second in Mid-Am;
Golf’s more of a distraction for Mike Danner of Lu Lu CC these days. Especially considering what happened to Danner and his baby daughter a couple weeks ago. On May 8, two men who robbed a game store near his home in Chalfont, Pa., entered Danner’s house through an unlocked kitchen door and forced he and his 5½-month-old daughter to accompany them to Allentown, Pa. Needing Danner’s car for transportation, one of the robbers drove while the 32-year-old Danner held his baby girl in the passenger seat. The robbers then released Danner and his daughter upon reaching their destination but those frightful memories are sure to last a lot longer than that. |
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"I really didn’t have any aspirations," said Danner, "but I chipped and putted unbelievably.
"[The kidnapping] is something you never will forget, obviously. I was just so thankful they let us go."
At Commonwealth National GC on Tuesday, Danner needed just 28 putts on the slippery greens, recording 15 pars, two bogeys and a lone birdie.
Danner opened on the front nine with two bogeys – No. 2 (par 4, 390 yards) after a poor approach shot and the lengthy and difficult No. 9 (par 4, 466 yards) when he failed to get up and down from left of the green.
He started the tougher back nine with six straight pars that included an impossible chip from behind the green on No. 10 (par 4, 419 yards), which he rolled up to three feet; a smooth bladed wedge play from over the green on the demanding 13th hole (par 4, 440 yards); and a pair of up-and-downs on Nos. 14 (par 4, 427 yards) and 15 (par 4, 417 yards).
He carded a birdie on No. 16 (par 3, 190 yards), downwind, by knocking a 7-iron to five feet before finishing with two more pars. On the final hole Danner again used that greenside magic to get up-and-down from the back right rough.
"It would be awesome," said Danner of possibly winning his first GAP Major title. "I’ve been playing a long, long time and if [I happen to win it], it would be awesome."
Sitting near the lead isn’t totally a foreign experience for Danner, either. He’s led the Lynnewood Hall Challenge Cup at Huntingdon Valley CC before and found himself in contention in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Amateur Championship in 2003 at Scranton CC.
"You try to learn from those things," said Danner.
All those lessons learned, though, can’t trump the scariest experience of his life.
"It’s put a new perspective on everything as much as plan, you never know. I used to take golf much too seriously. Golf is fun," added Danner.