Luke Donald Defeats Martin Kaymer to Win WGC- Accenture Match Play Championship

It took only 73 holes for Luke Donald to reach the World Golf Championships- Accenture Match Play Championship where he defeated Martin Kaymer, on Sunday. It's the first PGA TOUR win for Donald since winning The Honda Classic in 2006. 

(Luke Donald set a new Accenture Match Play record needing only 73 holes to win. Photo PGATOUR.com)

The 73 holes to reach the finals is new Accenture Match Play record. The previous was held by Tiger Woods who needed only 77 holes in 2003. Including the finals, Donald played a total of 89 holes. He never trailed in any match and never had to play the 18th hole. In 89 holes Donald made an impressive 32 birdies.

The win over the current top player in the world gave Donald a boost in the Official World Golf Rankings. Donald jumped from 9th to 3rd, behind Kaymer and former #1 Lee Westwood.  Graeme McDowell is ranked #4 while Tiger Woods slides back to 5th in the rankings. 

How They Reached The Finals

Martin Kaymer started the tournament as the #2 player in the world and was the #1 seed in the Gary Player Bracket. He defeated Seung-Yul Noh in round one (7&6), Justin Rose in round two (in 20 holes), Hunter Mahan in round three (2&1), Miguel Angel Jimenez (1up) in round four, and Bubba Watson in the semi-finals (1up). The win over Watson moved him to #1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Luke Donald started the tournament as the #9 ranked player in the world and was the #3 seed in the Bobby Jones Bracket. In round one he made quick work of Charlie Hoffman (6&5), Edoardo Molinari in round two (2&1), Matteo Manassero (3&2) in round three, Ryan Moore (5&4) in round four, and Matt Kuchar (6&5) in the semi-finals.

Luke Donald won the champiosnhip over Martin Kaymer 3&2 while Matt Kuchar beat Bubba Watson in the consolation match 2&1.

 The PGA TOUR moves to Florida next week for The Honda Classic. 

Comments

[Gilbert@namebadges]

This generated some nice discussion in our office (as everyone loves golf!) but also confusion. Jimenez and Justin Rose have been playing so well recently!