By Bob Harig
ESPN.com
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DUBLIN, Ohio — The circumstances were such that Luke Donald could have passed Lee Westwood for No. 1 in the world simply by finishing ahead of him at last week’s BMW PGA Championship outside of London.
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As long as both Englishmen were in the top 45 — and Martin Kaymer didn’t have a high finish — Donald was headed to the top.
But what fun would there have been in that?
The way it worked out was far better, with Donald having to beat Westwood in a playoff at the European Tour’s flagship event.
“To be honest, I would have loved to have won by 10 and not had to go through all that stress,” Donald said Wednesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where he is playing in this week’s Memorial Tournament. “I didn’t have my best golf last week.
“That’s what was more satisfying to me than anything else, that even without really feeling totally in control of my game, I was able to get it done. And obviously to do it in that circumstance going head-to-head with Lee and to have everything on the line made it much more special.”
Say what you want about the Official World Golf Rankings and its myriad permutations, but Donald has clearly emerged as the best player in the world over the past nine months. He doesn’t have a major championship like Kaymer — who went to No. 1 earlier this year despite losing to Donald in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play — but he has a remarkable run of consistency.
He’s been in the top 10 in 14 of his past 15 events in the world, including nine straight. He has won at the WGC Match Play and Europe’s top event outside of a major. He lost in a playoff at the Heritage and was second in the Volvo World Match Play to Ian Poulter. Since missing the cut last year at the PGA Championship, Donald has been outside of the top 10 just twice in 16 official events.
“He spends his time chipping and putting, chipping and putting, and, I mean, he wears out the practice greens,” said tournament host Jack Nicklaus, who noted how hard Donald works on his game at the Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla., where both play. “I think the effort he has put into it has been rewarded.”
“His short game is incredibly sharp,” said fellow Englishman and defending Memorial champion Justin Rose. “His wedge play is fantastic, as we saw at Wentworth. And I think, 10 foot and in, his putting is as good as anybody I’ve ever seen. ? Every time I do see him over the ball, at least, it looks like it’s going to go in. He’s obviously on a huge sort of high with confidence right now, and that’s very good.”
Donald finds himself in a unique position, leading the money lists of the PGA and European tours — a feat that has never been accomplished at year’s end.
But Donald might be excused if he is a tad weary this week. After tying for fourth at the Players Championship three weeks ago, he headed to Spain for the Volvo Match Play, then to London for the BMW.
Then, after a night of deserved celebration, he headed back across the Atlantic and is playing his fourth straight week. And that will be followed by a tuneup round next week at Congressional, site of the U.S. Open.
“I’m looking forward to going back there, and obviously I’ll be high on confidence, so hopefully that will push me a long way,” Donald said.
