Golf:Luke Donald cemented his place as golf's number one as he captured the PGA Tour's money-list top spot with a stunning victory at the Disney Classic last night. The 33-year-old fired an eight-under 64 in a final round that included six back-nine birdies in a row at Lake Buena Vista in Florida.
Donald, who also leads the order of merit in Europe, mixed 10 birdies with two bogeys to record a 17-under total of 271, two ahead of American Justin Leonard.
"That was tough, it wasn't looking good. I really hadn't got on a run and I timed it pretty well, the back nine when everything was on the line," Donald said afterwards. "This was a tremendous year for me. It's very, very satisfying."
Donald's win was crafted with his irons and putter as he leaned on the accuracy that has him on the verge of becoming the first player to win the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic.
"It would mean a big deal to win both money lists," Donald added. "Getting to number one and holding onto it and extending my lead and winning four times now, you know, obviously that's a pretty good year."
It is quite the feat for Donald, who was once known as more of an also-ran than a champion.But with his most recent triumphs, Donald's close finishes are now being considered a sign of his unwavering consistency.
In compiling two wins on the PGA Tour this season, Donald finished outside of the top 25 on just three occasions in 19 tournaments.
He also added two victories in Europe this year, winning the BMW Championship to wrestle the world number one ranking from Lee Westwood in May.
Yesterday’s win stretched his lead over Westwood at the top of the latest rankings, while Sergio Garcia’s 11-shot victory in the Castello Masters has taken the Spaniard from 49th to 31st.
Phil Mickelson has fallen out of the world’s top 10 for the first time since February 2004. Webb Simpson’s sixth-place finish in Florida, even though it was not good enough to deny Luke Donald the PGA Tour money list title, relegated fellow American Mickelson to 11th.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:1 Luke Donald 10.75pts, 2 Lee Westwood 7.48,
3 Rory McIlroy7.31, 4 Steve Stricker 6.24, 5 Dustin Johnson 6.24, 6 Martin Kaymer 6.09, 7 Jason Day 5.72, 8 Adam Scott 5.48, 9 Matt Kuchar 5.40, 10 Webb Simpson 5.36, 11 Phil Mickelson 5.26, 12 Nick Watney 5.24, 13 KJ Choi 4.75, 14 Charl Schwartzel 4.68,
15 Graeme McDowell4.45, 16 Bubba Watson 4.26, 17 Justin Rose 4.13, 18 Hunter Mahan 4.03, 19 David Toms 4.02, 20 Bill Haas 3.76.
Other leading Europeans:22 Paul Casey, 23 Robert Karlsson, 25 Ian Poulter, 26 Thomas Bjorn, 29 Simon Dyson, 31 Sergio Garcia,
32 Darren Clarke,33 Anders Hansen, 34 Francesco Molinari, 36 Martin Laird, 43 Alvaro Quiros, 48 Matteo Manassero, 49 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 53 Peter Hanson, 56 Fredrik Jacobson, 59 Edoardo Molinari, 68 Alexander Noren, 73 Nicolas Colsaerts, 77 Jamie Donaldson,
79 Padraig Harrington,83 Ross Fisher, 90 David Lynn, 91 Brian Davis, 92 Pablo Larrazabal, 97 Fredrik Andersson Hed, 99 Raphael Jacquelin, 100 Carl Pettersson
