Luke Donald fails to capitalise on his magnificent start
Luke Donald opened his DP World Tour Championship with a bang, as he carded bogey-free round of 65. The Englishman continued his good run of form from his victory in Japan.
For over three rounds, the world number two went on a bogey-free round, as he registered birdie after birdie but, for some reason, Donald faltered in the end.
Carding 68 and 66 in the second and the third round, respectively, meant that he started on Sunday tied for the first place, with the world number one, Rory McIlroy.
Donald was off to fast start on Sunday as well. He took the early ascendency. The Englishman birdied his second hole of the day but faltered right on the next one.
Luke’s 102-hole bogey free run at the Jumeirah Golf Estates finally came to an end with a bogey on the third hole. From then on, it was tough ride for Donald, as Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose made their pushes towards the top.
A stretch of pars was followed by bogey on the 12th. However, the Englishman did manage to pull some shots back by birdying the 14th and 16th hole but it was too late then.
The way Rory started on the later stages of the day must have put Donald under immense pressure, as he failed to make progress.
McIlroy, as usual, continued to make inroads on the back nine, as he shot five consecutive birdies on the last five holes to snatch the lead from Justin Rose.
After the tournament, Donald was full of praise for the fellow Ryder Cupper, McIlroy.
"That was like Tiger Woods in his prime," said the world No. 2. "To able to do that when needed, that is the sign of a great. It was extremely impressive and it shows us all how hard we will have to work to stay up with him".
In the end, Luke Donald had to settle for a disappointing T3 finish, considering the fact that he led for three days.
Reasons for Luke Donald’s dismissal performance are difficult to decipher. However, from the looks of it, it seemed that he could not handle the pressure.
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