Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington: opposites contend in round 2 of the Transitions Championship – Golf News
With the world number one, Rory McIlroy, taking three weeks off prior to the Masters Tournament in April, Luke Donald has the chance of retaking his world number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings with a win at the Transitions Tournament.
Donald lost the number one spot when McIlroy recorded an impressive victory at the Honda Classic, early in this month to replace him on top of the OWGR.
Donald, at that time, said that he was expecting it to happen because he had a poor start to his 2012 campaign.
He failed to keep the same momentum going in the first quarter of 2012 that earned him several awards last year.
However, he appeared to be returning to his form at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida.
He carded a four-under par 67 opening round, followed by a similar performance in the second round. He scored a three-under par 68 to stand tied for the fourth spot on the leaderboard.
With such a strong display of game on the course, Donald has a chance to take his competitors down while maintaining consistency in the final two rounds.
As a successful short-game player, he hit 75 per cent of the greens in regulation to maintain a consistent record on the course.
He is currently three shots off the pace set by Jason Dufner, who has yet to score a bogey in the tournament.
Donald’s critics believe that he will be taking advantage of Tiger Woods’, McIlroy’s and Phil Mickelson’s absence from the tournament.
On the contrary, others favour him by saying that the field includes 18 of the top-50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Therefore, a victory in the event will be equally commendable, as it could have been earned in the presence of the said players
On the other hand, Padraig Harrington has not been consistent as his other opponents are well ahead of him.
Harrington had a spectacular start to the tournament and broke the course record by one stroke when he carded a 10-under par 61 on Thursday. However, he looked completely unimpressive on Friday.
He only managed to make a single birdie against his three bogeys of the round to slip to the second spot on the leaderboard. He is now two strokes behind Dufner at eight-under par 134.
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