After being in the top 3 ten times last year, and even with a win in Madrid, Luke Donald felt a huge relief win his win over his friend and Ryder Cup colleague Martin Kaymer and a world class WGC field in the sometimes snowy desert just outside Tuscon.
"I can't describe it - I'm close to tears."It feels amazing. I've put a lot of work in over the last five years and it's nice to see it pay off.
I watched most of it and he got a bit sloppy on the 9th when he took a 7 after finding his ball unplayable to fall back to AS but he made a good putt to save a half at 10 and I thought the turning point was when he made his 9 footer on 11 and Martin missed his from 6 to put this little Englishman into a lead he would never surrender, eventually winning it 3&2.
At times he was 40-50 yards behind Kaymer in the fairway, but remember in match play that can be an advantage because you get to play onto the green first, and with his exquisite iron play he kept putting pressure on all his opponents this week, including Martin, who had a great week himself, a cheque for $850,000 and the #1 spot in the world !!
He never trailed in a match all week and never did have to play the 18th. He wins over $1.3 million US, his first win in the States for 5 years. By the way nice to see that RBC logo on his shirt and bag !!
Here are some other goodies he gets..
• Moves to top of the Race to Dubai with €1,027,923.
• Moves to a career-high of third in the Official World Golf Ranking.
• After a wildly successful week for the European Tour his victory it means European players occupy the top four places; Martin Kaymer (one), Lee Westwood (two), Donald (three) and Graeme McDowell (four). This is the first time since March 15, 1992 when Ian Woosnam (one), Sir Nick Faldo (two), José Maria Olazábal (three) and Seve Ballesteros (four) have the top four places been filled by Europeans. Tiger Woods is now 5th
• This victory for Donald also means European Tour Members have won four of the last five WGC events. They are: Ian Poulter (2010 WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship), Ernie Els (2010 WGC – Cadillac Championship), Francesco Molinari (2010 WGC – HSBC Champions) and Donald (2011 WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship).
*Gains a European Tour exemption until the end of 2014.
• His eighth professional win.
In the all-American third place play-off, meanwhile, Matt Kuchar beat Bubba Watson 2 and 1
He is a pleasure to watch with his perfect balance, he holds every follow through perfectly balanced, and he compensates for his Mike Weir like lack of length off the tee with that fantastic iron play and of course a short game that rivals anyone in the world.
Here is the latest top 10
Rank Player Country
1. Martin Kaymer Germany
2. Lee Westwood England
3. Luke Donald England
4. Graeme McDowell Northern Ireland
5. Tiger Woods United States
6. Phil Mickelson United States
7. Paul Casey England
8. Rory McIlroy Northern Ireland
9. Steve Stricker United States
10. Matt Kuchar United States
PGA tour
David Hearn had his best week thus far in 2011 a T35 at -6 in Cancun at the Mayakoba Classic
Johnson Wagner got the big cheque beating Spencer Levin on the first playoff hole.
Bryan Angus
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