By Mathieu Wood
With the 2023 Ryder Cup fast approaching, we look back to when former World Number One Luke Donald - this year’s European Captain - won the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play 12 years ago.
"I can't describe it - I'm close to tears. It feels amazing. I've put a lot of work in over the last five years and it's nice to see it pay off.”
Winning a big global tournament means a lot at any stage of your career. Especially, but not exclusively, when it acts as the prelude to a run of form that would be the stuff of dreams for any golfer.
For Luke Donald, the WGC Match Play in February 2011 will long be remembered as a pivotal moment in his career.
It provided the catalyst for a year of consistent performances on both sides of the Atlantic that saw him make golfing history.
The Englishman was already among the world’s best players, ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking, when he arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club for the 13th edition of the event in Arizona.
The previous year, he won his third DP World Tour title at the Madrid Masters, sandwiched between a runner-up finish in the US PGA Championship and the Wales Open.
Celtic Manor, the host venue of the latter, would also be the scene of that year’s Ryder Cup.
Donald won three out of a possible four points, including a 1 Up victory over Jim Furyk in the singles as Europe regained the trophy, fully vindicating the decision of captain Colin Montgomerie to select him as one of his three wildcards.
There were also five top-three finishes in the United States in 2010 as he climbed from 28th to ninth at the end-of-year rankings. Still, a third PGA TOUR title and first since 2006 eluded him as he headed to Dove Martin.
After beating impending World Number One Martin Kaymer 3&2 in the final, he admitted the near five-year wait had proved a source of frustration: “It certainly bothered me.”
With the victory, Donald celebrated his sixth career title, first in a prestigious World Golf Championships event and climbed above Tiger Woods to third in the world rankings.
The tournament featured 62 of golf’s 64 highest-ranked players and the four reigning Major champions. Yet, despite the calibre of field, Donald looked a class apart as he never fell behind in any of his six matches.
He flew out of the gate with a 6&5 victory against Charley Hoffman in the first round, before back-to-back wins against Italian pair Edoardo Molinari and Matteo Manassero ahead of a 5&4 success over Ryan Moore which saw him reach the semi-finals.
Another dominant performance saw him ease past Matt Kuchar 6&5, before his win over Kaymer, who had won four titles in his previous ten starts.
He narrowly missed out at The Masters a few weeks later, chipping in at the 18th in the final round to finish in a tie for fourth.
But it wasn’t long before he was celebrating another win as he rode his excellent form to victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. His memorable play-off success against Lee Westwood saw him overtake his countryman at the top of the world rankings.
Donald would then claim the Scottish Open title, before registering top tens at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA Championship in August.
He would further underline his status as the world’s form player by making six consecutive birdies on the final day to win for a fourth time that year at the Walt Disney World Golf Classic.
The result saw him top the PGA TOUR money list, and a third-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship in early December confirmed him as the first player to win golf’s money lists in both Europe and the USA in the same season.
In a year where the Ryder Cup looms large on the horizon, Donald will know full well the impetus this week’s event can have on a player.
