MEN’S PRO
No. 1 With A Birdie
Yes, Luke Donald readily
admitted late Sunday, he was
not pleased.
He had felt written off two
weeks ago at the smug reac-
tion in many quarters after
Rory McIlroy took the world
No. 1 ranking away from him
by winning the Honda Classic.
“I think people thought my
last year was maybe a little
bit more of a, not a fluke, but
you know, I don’t think many
people thought I could do that
all over again,” he said.
Last year, Donald rose to
No. 1 in the world rankings
and won the money lists in
Europe and the U.S. Yet when
he started slowly this year
and McIlroy passed him, it
chafed. And Donald used it as
motivation.
Sunday in Florida at the
Transitions Championship,
Donald calmly fired a closing
66 that got him to 13 under
and into a playoff with Sang-
Moon Bae, Jim Furyk and
Robert Garrigus.
Then he dug an uphill, 170-
yard 7-iron to six feet, seven
inches on the par- 4 18th, which
served as the first extra hole.
When Bae, Furyk and Garrigus
(six feet, 11 inches) all missed
their birdie tries, Donald buried
his for the victory.
“It’s going to be tough,” Els
said, moments after finishing.
“I’m pretty hot now. It’s difficult
to talk with a straight head
here. If I take stock, I think I’m
playing good golf and I’ve got
to head into the next couple of
weeks trying to get a win.”
Padraig Harrington, who
hasn’t won a PGA Tour event
since the 2008 PGA Champion-
ship at Oakland Hills, broke the
course record with a 10-under
61 Thursday. But he followed
that with a 73 on Friday and a
72 on Saturday (St. Patrick’s
Day) to fall back into the pack.
Scott Piercy’s Sunday 62
got him a closing share of fifth
at 12 under with Jeff Overton,
Els and Ken Duke.
RESULTS
