Luke Donald falls short of reclaiming his world number one title in the final round of Players Championship
World number two Luke Donald almost shattered the record for the back nine on the final day of the star-studded Players Championship but fell short of a mere few strokes to land the title and eventually reclaim his lost throne on the Official World Golf
Rankings (OWGR).
Starting off the day trailing the overnight leader Kevin Na by six strokes, Donald remained level-par on the front nine.
He pulled in a birdie on the second hole of the day but dropped the shot at par-four, 4th to stay level-par for the rest of the front nine.
He made the turn to light up the sprawling Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass, carding a whooping six birdies to close his round for six-under, 66, still short of four strokes from the winner Matt Kuchar.
He said, "I think with the obviously dramatic finish there is here. I'm going to probably have to stick around”.
Known for the immense resilience and consistent form, Donald was eager to post at least a joint fourth which could have helped him regain the world number one position from Rory McIlroy.
He finished for an outright sixth and the battle between the two formidable giants of the sport continues to further events ahead on the calendar.
Donald added, "I just thought to myself, Let's try and birdie the last four to shoot 29, because I thought that would be kind of cool around the back nine at Sawgrass”.
Donald lost the crown earlier in the year when he was overtaken by the young Northern Irishman McIlroy who surged to the top of the OWGR for the first time this year.
The merry-go-round between the two players continued and the two players switched the title at least twice during the rest of the current season.
Donald, who landed the unprecedented accolade of finishing on top of the money list on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, had to suffer a setback on the PGA Tour towards the closing season when Webb Simpson surged to the top of the money list, toppling
Donald off to number two.
The Englishman landed the last event on the PGA Tour to reclaim the title and eventually turned out to be the only man in the history of the sport to land the accolade.
Donald is now tied up in a stiff battle to once again soar to the top of the OWGR and does not at all appreciate the fact the young Ulsterman is breathing down his neck every now and then.
The two players will now meet at the HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, Texas to settle the scores.
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