Donald's sights set on the majors

Ryder Cup Race/Tour news: No one could accuse Luke Donald of rushing things, yet his win in the Honda Classic - assuming the mantle of champion from Padraig Harrington - for his second success on the US PGA Tour has left the 28-year-old Englishman eager to move on to the next level.

"The next goal is to win majors," said Donald, who has only one top-10 finish in 10 major appearances in his career, a third place finish at last year's US Masters at Augusta.

But Donald, who has moved to a career high 10th in the latest official world rankings, isn't put off by his relatively poor record in majors to date.

"Do I think I can win majors? Absolutely. I think I have a great game for the majors," said Donald, who, even allowing that these are still relatively early days in the qualifying process, has moved into an automatic place on Europe's team (in fourth position off the world points list) for the Ryder Cup in September.

His steadily upwardly mobile graph would suggest that Donald has the game and the mental capacity to deal with his growing reputation. "I'm very steady, and that's the main reason why I think if I keep playing the way I've been playing, there's no reason why I can't strive to be the best player in the world," added Donald.

Donald is now the second-highest ranked European in the world rankings, with only Sergio Garcia ahead of him.

In adding the Honda to the weather-curtailed State Farm Bureau Classic that he won as a rookie in 2002 (over 54 holes), Donald took his second official US Tour title by hitting fairways and greens and proving that distance isn't everything. He tied for second in driving accuracy (69.6 per cent) and tied for fourth in greens in regulation (69.4 per cent), but was only 64th in driving distance (averaging 290 yards).

While Donald takes a week off from tour for this week's Bay Hill Invitational, Darren Clarke - who missed the Ford Championship at Doral two weeks ago citing a wrist injury - returns to tournament play this week.

He is the only Irishman in the field at Bay Hill, with Harrington taking a week off before resuming at Sawgrass next week, while last year's champion Kenny Perry will be an absentee from Arnold Palmer's event.

Perry underwent surgery yesterday to repair torn cartilage in his right knee. He is likely to be away from play for up to a month, ruling him out of next week's Players Championship and possibly next month's US Masters.

Tiger Woods, however, returns to competition at Bay Hill seeking to build on his fast start to the season which has seen him win four times already.

Paul McGinley returns from a two-week break to play in the TCL Classic in Hainan in China on the European Tour, where he lost in a play-off to Paul Casey last year.

McGinley moves on to Sawgrass next week for the Players. The only other Irish player in the field in China is Stephen Browne, who due to the nature of his card, will be making his first appearance of the year.

World Points

1 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 140.62

2 Sergio Garcia (Spn) 126.45

3 Colin Montomgerie (Sco) 124.84

4 Luke Donald (Eng) 111.07

5 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spn) 103.31

6 David Howell (Eng) 103.22

7 Paul McGinley (Irl) 86.56

8 Nick Dougherty (Eng) 70.42

9 Paul Casey (Eng) 68.65

10 Paul Broadhurst (Eng) 65.53

European Points

1 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 1,569,553

2 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1,376,923

3 David Howell (Eng) 1,317,817

4 Sergio Garcia (Spn) 1,236,372

5 Paul McGinley (Irl) 1,213,028

6 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 895,583

7 Nick Dougherty (Eng) 764,428

8 Kenneth Ferrie (Sco) 735,315

9 Paul Casey (Eng) 688,534

10 Paul Broadhurst (Eng) 667,514

European Ryder Cup Team

(As of now: five qualify off world list, five off European list. Captain Ian Woosnam has two wildcard selections.)

1 Henrik Stenson (Swe)

2 Sergio Garcia (Spa)

3 Colin Montomgerie (Sco)

4 Luke Donald (Eng)

5 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa)

6 David Howell (Eng)

7 Paul McGinley (Irl)

8 Nick Dougherty (Eng)

9 Kenneth Ferrie (Sco)

10 Paul Casey (Eng)

US Ryder Cup Standings

1 Tiger Woods 2,690.000 pts

2 David Toms 1,068.917

3 Phil Mickelson 984.375

4 Chad Campbell 769.602

5 Davis Love 631.875

6 Jim Furyk 521.000

7 Arron Oberholser 477.500

8 Scott Verplank 471.667

9 Chris DiMarco 470.000

10 Lucas Glover 461.376

World Rankings

1 Tiger Woods (USA) 18.12pts ave

2 Vijay Singh (Fij) 8.84

3 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 7.77

4 Phil Mickelson (USA) 7.27

5 Ernie Els (Rsa) 7.15

6 Sergio Garcia (Spn) 6.75

7 David Toms (USA) 5.53

8 Jim Furyk (USA) 5.38

9 Adam Scott (Aus) 5.2

10 Luke Donald (Eng) 4.9

Selected Others: 20 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 3.94, 29 Paul McGinley (Irl) 3.34, 25 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 3.55, 69 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 1.82