IF Disney hadn’t already have made The Rookie, a story about a sporting underdog who peaked with a glorious feat that will live in infamy, they’d probably be on the phone to Jamie Donaldson’s agent this morning.

While the real life tale of baseball player Jim Morris was fun enough – 35-year old High School science teacher played by Dennis Quaid agrees to try out for the big leagues to inspire his kids and ends up signing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and plays at Yankee Stadium – it didn’t quite have the climax of Donaldson’s late-bloomer tale.

A European journeyman who scratched around trying to retain his card for many years and who feared a bad back might end his career prematurely, to the point where he’d avoid walking onto curbs, Donaldson has endured.

He didn’t win a European Tour event until he was 35 – the same age Morris found fame – and yet his tale doesn’t end with his four stroke victory at the Irish Open in 2012; not even close.

The Pontypridd man has now won three times on tour and impressed so much during limited appearances in America that next season he’ll join the golfing glitterati across the pond full time.

All that meant Donaldson qualified outright for the Ryder Cup – four years after we actually staged a Ryder Cup – and last week I rather boldly predicted he’d play in four of the five sessions and pick up two-and-a-half points.

The reaction on social media was that he was highly unlikely to play that much, but his form and rapport with McGinley exhibited at the Celtic Manor Wales Open had convinced me otherwise (and I gave it a lot of thought, I’m obsessive about the Ryder Cup).

Incredibly I undersold Donaldson, who won two points in three sessions with Lee Westwood though I did get the number of appearances correct.

However, all people will remember in ten, fifteen or twenty years and more is Donaldson’s sublime 146 yard wedge shot on 15 that finally ended Keegan Bradley’s resistance, Donaldson utterly dominating a major winner and not for the first time at Gleneagles as he was the man who enjoyed the glory moment of winning the Ryder Cup.

What next for him?

First and foremost Donaldson must ensure this doesn’t become his entire legacy, as the Ryder Cup is for Phillip Price (public perception wise).

If he can maintain his form into 2015 then Donaldson should have eyes not only on the 2016 Ryder Cup but also a major championship.

He’s proved unequivocally he belongs on the big stage and Donaldson can be the first Welshman since Woosie to bag a big one. Trust me, he's the only person who causes me to make accurate predictions.