Golfing News

Luke Donald has been forced to concede defeat in his fight to be fit to play the British Open next week at Royal Birkdale. Its hard luck for Donald who will miss his home country major after failing to recover from the wrist injury which forced him to retire from the US Open at Torrey Pines, California last month. Donald has so far resisted surgery by trying to allow the injury to heal naturally. Donald is currently ranked 19th in the world rankings and he is 9th in the European Ryder Cup Table.

Donald has been quoted by PA News Saying

My preference is to try to do everything I can to rehabilitate the injury naturally and leave surgery.

I consider The Open Championship to be at the top of the list of the four biggest tournaments I play each year, so it is obviously extremely disappointing to not be able to be at Royal Birkdale,”

Donald is likely to miss 3 to 4 week, and it comes at the worst time as all players are trying to qualify for their ryder cup teams. Donald will be looking to get fit for the Ryder Cup, and the missed tournaments may mean he wont automatically qualify will be relying on a Wild Card from European Team Captain Nick Faldo to be sure of a place at Valhalla in September as Europe look to retain the cup won in Ireland 2 years ago.
Luke Donalds place at the British Open will be taken by Pat Perez, who was first reserve for the third major of the summer.
Donald, a former NCAA champion at Northwestern, is No. 9 in the Ryder Cup standings based on world ranking points earned since September. His injury means European captain Nick Faldo might have to use one of his two picks on Donald, if he is healthy enough to play at Valhalla in September.

European Ryder Cup World points as at 30 June

1 Lee Westwood Eng 224.48
2 Miguel Angel Jimenez Spa 174.86
3 Robert Karlsson Swe 173.28
4 Justin Rose Eng 167.46
5 Sergio Garcia Spa 163.70
——————————————————————————————————
6 Henrik Stenson Swe 163.02
7 Martin Kaymer Ger 148.45
8 Padraig Harrington Ire 135.82
9 Luke Donald Eng 134.66
10 Daniel Chopra Swe 123.59

Top five players from world list plus next five best from Euro list qualify

European Ryder Cup Euro points as at 7 July

1 Lee Westwood Eng 2,085,621.56
2 Robert Karlsson Swe 1,966,232.06
3 Miguel A Jimenez Spa 1,789,641.51
4 Soren Hansen Den 1 328,157.44 Q
5 Martin Kaymer Ger 1,305,447.80 Q
6 Henrik Stenson Swe 1,293,239.75 Q
7 Justin Rose Eng 1,260,626.97
8 Oliver Wilson Eng 1,251,857.70 Q
9 Graeme McDowell NI 1,221,023.57 Q
10 Ross Fisher Eng 1,190,618.18

Q = currently in qualifying position in addition to world list top five

Donald will need to get some tournaments in before the European Ryder Cup World Points List cut off on 31st August 2008.

We wish Luke Donald a fast recovery and hope he can qualify on merit before the Ryder Cup Team Cup off.

Popularity: 2% [?]

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR LATEST OFFERS