After a superb season in 2011, Englishman Luke Donald has firmly taken hold of the number one golf player of the year mantle in the World Golf Rankings.
However, time waits for no man – his challengers have already indicated that he is in their sights for this year’s season. As if to prove the point both Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood have announced they are joining him full time on the PGA Tour with indications that Tiger Woods is also ready to rejoin.
Donald won twice on the PGA Tour last year and will open his season in three weeks at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where his rivals for the crown – Westwood, McIlroy and Woods – also will be on hand.
Last year, Donald did not start on the PGA Tour until the Northern Trust Open in February and missed the cut. However, from then on the statistics speak for themselves. Out of 18 PGA tour events he played, Donald finished in the top 10 in 14 of these.
Before last season, everybody said his main problem was not winning enough with a total career score of only five previous victories.
The Englishman nearly matched all that in 2011, however, by winning the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the BMW PGA Championship, the Barclays Scottish Open and the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. When you add in the fact that he also ended up in the top 10 a staggering 20 times in his 25 tournaments around the world then all that’s missing from this man’s resume is that all-elusive first major championship.
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