8th June 2011, 04:56
Luke Donald savours world number one status with wholesale golf clubs
Luke Donald put his money where his mouth is and came out on top of the world. Donald said at the start of the week that he felt like the best player in the world and after a roller-coaster four days at the PGA Championship at Wentworth he proved it with wholesale golf clubs (http://www.golfsaleworld.com/). The pre-tournament hype for the European Tour's flagship event talked up the quality of the field - the top three players in the world, six out of the top seven in the world rankings, all four major champions, most of the European Ryder Cup team. In the end it came down to a straight duel between the world's top two and Donald delivered the crucial blow in a sudden death play-off to topple Lee Westwood. Donald, 33, becomes the third Englishman after Sir Nick Faldo and Westwood to be crowned world number one and the 15th overall since the rankings were introduced in 1986. Like Westwood before him, though, Donald said that the top spot is flattering but not a goal in itself. "It's obviously a special accomplishment, something I'll remember forever," Donald reflected. "It's something that will be a great story when I'm an old man telling my grandkids that I was once the best player in the world at wholesale golf clubs. It's a little surreal. "I'm not going to lie, it feels fantastic, but winning is always at the top of the list. Winning is what got me there. A big win at the Match Play and a big win here. I've still got a lot of work to do and a lot of titles to pick up." Donald says his daughter has helped inspire his rise up to world number one. There will be those who say, like they did with Westwood, that a world number one without a major victory is not worthy. But does, for instance, one major title in an otherwise undistinguished career better the feat of being recognised as the most consistent - and therefore, for that spell, the best - player on the wholesale golf clubs? Ultimately, though, majors are the currency in which golf careers deal and Donald's singular aim at the beginning of the year was to contend in all four majors. He was fourth at the Masters and goes to the US Open at Congressional in two weeks on a high. He has now finished in the top 10 in 13 of his last 14 events, including nine in a row, won the WGC Match Play title in February and was second in the World Match Play Championship last week. His current run of form and his biggest stroke play victory to date should now silence the criticism that dogged earlier parts of his career.
Luke Donald put his money where his mouth is and came out on top of the world. Donald said at the start of the week that he felt like the best player in the world and after a roller-coaster four days at the PGA Championship at Wentworth he proved it with wholesale golf clubs (http://www.golfsaleworld.com/). The pre-tournament hype for the European Tour's flagship event talked up the quality of the field - the top three players in the world, six out of the top seven in the world rankings, all four major champions, most of the European Ryder Cup team. In the end it came down to a straight duel between the world's top two and Donald delivered the crucial blow in a sudden death play-off to topple Lee Westwood. Donald, 33, becomes the third Englishman after Sir Nick Faldo and Westwood to be crowned world number one and the 15th overall since the rankings were introduced in 1986. Like Westwood before him, though, Donald said that the top spot is flattering but not a goal in itself. "It's obviously a special accomplishment, something I'll remember forever," Donald reflected. "It's something that will be a great story when I'm an old man telling my grandkids that I was once the best player in the world at wholesale golf clubs. It's a little surreal. "I'm not going to lie, it feels fantastic, but winning is always at the top of the list. Winning is what got me there. A big win at the Match Play and a big win here. I've still got a lot of work to do and a lot of titles to pick up." Donald says his daughter has helped inspire his rise up to world number one. There will be those who say, like they did with Westwood, that a world number one without a major victory is not worthy. But does, for instance, one major title in an otherwise undistinguished career better the feat of being recognised as the most consistent - and therefore, for that spell, the best - player on the wholesale golf clubs? Ultimately, though, majors are the currency in which golf careers deal and Donald's singular aim at the beginning of the year was to contend in all four majors. He was fourth at the Masters and goes to the US Open at Congressional in two weeks on a high. He has now finished in the top 10 in 13 of his last 14 events, including nine in a row, won the WGC Match Play title in February and was second in the World Match Play Championship last week. His current run of form and his biggest stroke play victory to date should now silence the criticism that dogged earlier parts of his career.