Luke Donald continued his fine run of form to beat Lee Westwood to the BMW PGA title at the first extra hole after an enthralling day at Wentworth, and leapt to the top of the world rankings at the same time.
It was probably fitting that the world's top two ranked players ended up head to head in one of the European Tour's flagship events, much hyped this week as overtaking The Players' Championship in tournament stature.
Yet the actual conclusion to this championship was a damp squib for Westwood. Coming down the par-5 18th for a second time, both players had laid up with their second shots to leave themselves short pitches to the green. Donald's ball responded superbly, landing at the back of the green before spinning back towards the pin.
Westwood played a similar shot but his ball 'bit' too much, spun back too far on an unforgiving green and ended up in the water. Seven strokes were ultimately played by the Worksop man before Donald - free of pressure - rolled his putt in for a birdie.
The new world number one has had a great year with 10 top-10 finishes (including two victories) from the 11 worldwide tournaments he has played in the 2011 calendar.
The next step for Donald and Westwood must be to try and win a so-far elusive Major.
No comments:
Post a Comment