Donald back on top of the world

THE ON-off coronation as world number one has become rather repetitive, but on a West Course here at Wentworth suitably bathed in glorious sunshine, there was no begrudging Luke Donald’s latest right to the throne. Again, the Chicago-based Englishman proved he was golfing royalty with a display of noble assuredness in successfully defending his BMW PGA Championship, the tour’s flagship event.

And, again, it was a fellow-Englishman, who was out-duelled down the stretch: a year ago, Lee Westwood was put in his place; this time, it was Justin Rose’s turn to bow in a compelling duel on the Burma Road.

Donald overcame early, uncustomary jitters with the wedge and putter in hand to put on a tour de force to close the deal. The defending champion shot a final round 68 for 273, 15-under par, for a five-stroke-winning margin over Rose and Scotland’s Paul Lawrie.

For Dubliner Peter Lawrie, it proved to be a highly productive championship; although not as productive as it might have seemed when walking down the seventh fairway where Ernie Els inquired of his future plans. On replying that he was headed to the US Open International qualifying (at Walton Heath today), the ‘Big Easy’ responded that he might not need to go. “You could win this,” said Els, earning an automatic exemption into the Major.

And when Lawrie birdied the seventh hole, to move to nine-under and just one stroke behind Donald at the time, Els’s prediction seemed very much on the cards.

Unfortunately for Lawrie, it didn’t take long for Els’ prediction to go awry. On the eighth, having skied his tee-shot, Lawrie pulled his eight-iron approach so far left it evaded the water hazard but stymied him behind a tree.

With nowhere to take a penalty drop, he attempted to clear the hazard and duly dropped the ball in it, running up an ugly triple-bogey seven that was like a punch to the stomach and ended his title bid.

“Ah, taking triple at seven really knock the stuffing out of me,” said Lawrie. To his credit, he bounced back with birdies on the 10th, from two feet, and the 12th before dropping shots at the 14th and 16th.

With a big finish required, he delivered. He birdied the 17th and, then, as he assessed a downhill 15-footer on the 18th, allowed himself a sideways glance at the scoreboard which told him that he was in a share of fourth with South African Branden Grace.

The birdie putt, though, took him into solo fourth . . . and gave Lawrie the second-biggest cheque of his tour career (behind his 2008 Spanish Open winning purse).

The €225,000 cheque also moved Lawrie to a position where he has already retained his tour card for the 2013.

“Now I can play calm, free golf,” said Lawrie, who closed with a 71 for 280, all of seven shots behind Donald.

“Happy, yeah, but also disappointed in the end. I’ve led the driving stats and the greens in regulation. If I could have holed a few more putts, I’d have given Luke a good run for his money. But, in general, I have to be happy with what I’ve done.

“I proved to myself I can play with the best of them. I played great golf with Luke (on Saturday) in front of a big gallery and I played superb golf in front of Ernie.

“I’m just very pleased with that really,” said Lawrie, who moved to 36th in the latest Race to Dubai rankings.

The expletive-driven tirade offered by course re-designer Els on Saturday as he lambasted tour officials and course staff for the bone-hard course had a couple of effects on yesterday’s final round. Firstly, it meant that the hoses were out overnight to dampen the effect of the hot weather; and, secondly, it led to the South African, after he had cooled down, offering a donation to the European Tour’s benevolent fund.

On a tamer course, with the fire taken out, overnight leader Donald’s task became somewhat easier.

In truth, this was another impervious performance from Donald on a course reduced in length for the final round, with the 18th, for instance, reduced by 50 yards. When Donald bogeyed the par-five fourth, doing the unthinkable when taking four to get down from 100 yards with wedge in hand, there was a chink of light for those in pursuit.

But back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh kicked off an error-free run for home and Donald added further birdies on the 10th, 12th and 16th to leave him out of reach of everybody and successfully defend a title for the first time in his career.

“I thought last year’s (win) would be hard to top in going head-to-head with Lee (Westwood) and finally getting to that world number one ranking, but it’s pretty special to come back (and win).

“It’s the biggest event we play on the European Tour. It wasn’t all that easy, looks can be deceiving . . . but I certainly played very nicely the whole week. It’s a course which really favours a lot of patience,” said Donald.