Amid all the hyperbole, chatter and general noise surrounding Luke Donald's remarkable achievement, it is very easy to forget there were two players who actually scored better than the World #1 and pond-straddling money list winner.
Before Thursday's first round, all the focus had been on whether Rory McIlroy could continue his late surge of fine form and steal the Race to Dubai crown from within Donald's grasp. Ignoring the fact that the chances of success were slim at best (McIlroy needing not only to win but hope for Mr Consistency to finish worse than T-9), the media salivated over the prospect of this outcome, exacerbated by the fact that the two protagonists would be playing together in the first round.
As seems to be a bit of a habit, McIlroy duly handed Mr Donald his trousers in the first round, a scintillating 66 opening up a six-shot margin over his opponent. Round 2 was a slightly different story, McIlroy could only improve his position by a shot, whilst Donald closed in with a 68. That was pretty much as good as it got for the US Open champion and 71 would be his score for both Saturday and Sunday. Donald, on the other hand, showed why he is simply the best right now. Having had a scrappy opening round, his front 9 on Friday was also a mixed bag of three birdies and two bogeys, the second of which (8th hole) would be his last for the tournament.
It is this last fact which underlines both how astonishingly accurate and consistent Luke Donald is and how truly brilliantly both Paul Lawrie and Alvaro Quiros played to finish 1 and 3 shots ahead respectively. In terms of who was fancied for the DWC title, I would bet a pound to a pinch of sheep shit that neither of these players would have been near the top.
Looking at both players cards from the four rounds, you could easily identify key moments when watching commentators would have thought 'Right, that's him done' and expected to see them plumment back down the leaderboard to their relative obscurity
For Paul Lawrie, the 1999 Open champion and a far better golfer than many give him credit, his defining moment came at the end of his second round. Having played beautifully on Thursday on his way to a flawless 65 (bettered only by Peter Hanson), his mixed round had him -1 for the day standing on the 15th tee. Three holes and three bogeys later, he is getting ready for his final tee shot at +2 for the day and, potentially, seeing his challenge crumble. To respond with a birdie on the final hole is, for me, a real indicator of his mental strength and that set him up for his 66 on Saturday and his fine 67 on Sunday.
In the case of Alvaro Quiros, easily one of the biggest (if occasionally wayward) hitters on tour, his approach was somewhat akin to the Real Madrid of the galactico era - it doesn't matter if you score as we'll score one more. With the exception of his astonishing 64 on Saturday, he seemed to mix birdies & bogeys with alarming regularity but, importantly, he always made sure that red numbers followed the blue and that any setback was cancelled out as soon as possible.
For example, his first round was finished with bogeys on 16 and 18, taking the gloss off an otherwise excellent performance - he made sure he got off to a good start on Saturday with a birdie at #2. On Saturday, he dropped a shot at the 1st & the 10th, but made them back on the 2nd and 11th holes. He also dropped a shot on 18, which could have played on his mind for the start of the final round. Any questions were emphatically answered with his streak of three opening birdies on Sunday.
His stats for the 18th hole across the tournament sum up, I think, his approach to the game. Bogey-eagle-bogey-eagle - has anyone else won a tournament with such polar extremes on a final hole? Probably not but it tells you all you need to know about his strength of mind and belief in his ability to score well on that hole. Roy McAvoy eat your heart out.
I am the Part-Time Golfer
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