Luke Donald won his first PGA Tour event after only three rounds, thanks to two days of rain showers. Now he’s doubled both his career PGA victories and added to the number of rounds it took to win each of them. The Blonde Briton shot a final-round 69 (-3) with a clutch birdie on the 72nd after he stuck his approach to four feet and increased his lead to two. Donald believes this is just one step toward his goal, “I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Anytime you can win, especially out here on the PGA Tour, it’s a huge boost of confidence. Hopefully this will just keep the momentum going.”
Donald’s 72-67-68-69 was good enough to hold off Australian Geoff Ogilvy by a two-stroke margin. Ogilvy, who carded 15 birdies, three eagles, and one double-eagle, played three rounds of excellent golf, but brought home four bogies in the final round to finish outright in second place.
Donald’s win marks the first time an Englishman has won on the PGA Tour since Lee Westwood (1998) and it has bumped him from 31st to sixth on the money list. He joins Padraig Harrington (defending champion) as one of sixth foreign winners of this event. The two are also similar in the way they went about winning the event. Harrington flew under the radar for most of the week on the way to his victory only to explode in the final round with a stellar 7-under performace. Likewise, Donald got off to a slow start on Thursday shooting an even-par 72 and finished the day five off the lead. However, he got right back on track scoring a 67 the next day – with a round featuring six birdies and an eagle. He finished the weekend strong with a two-day combined total of ten birdies and only three bogies. Luke felt he played well – saying: “I was pretty proud of the way I finished today and finished the job off… I held it together.” This victory ensures that Donald will have full exemption on the PGA Tour for a solid two more years.
Pos Player R1 R2 R3 R4 Tot 1 Luke Donald 72 67 68 69 276 2 Geoff Ogilvy 67 71 71 69 278 T3 David Toms 67 67 76 69 279 T3 Billy Mayfair 68 67 72 72 279 5 Tom Pernice 74 71 67 68 280 6 Dudley Hart 69 72 71 69 281 T7 Stephen Ames 70 69 75 68 282 T7 Frank Lickliter 71 70 70 71 282
Female Phenom Annika Sorenstam chalks up another victory on the LPGA Tour after successfully defending her victory at the MasterCard Classic. She held off Helen Alfredsson, Seon Hwa Lee, and Natalie Gulbis, finishing her final round at two under par. She was the wire-to-wire winner, but needed her patented Sunday onslaught to ensure victory. She said she owed her W to several pressure shots she executed well: “I really pulled out some clutch shots when I needed to. That is why I love doing this. Coming down the stretch and hitting those shots, there is nothing better.” This win catapulted Sorenstam to third on the money list after only one event.
Pos Player R4 Tot 1 Annika Sorenstam -2 -8 T2 Helen Alfredsson -5 -7 T2 Seon Hwa Lee -2 -7 T4 Natalie Gulbis -6 -6 T4 Paula Creamer E -6
Photo Credits: © PGA, The Tribune.
Pretty golf swing or not, a jerk is still a jerk in my book.
I wonder if Donald was unimpressed with all the boring untraveled and opinionated Americans? It must be hard for him to suffer through a whole weekend listening to untraveled fools making dumb comments.