PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – After shooting 66 early Sunday at The Players Championship, Luke Donald decided to hang out for a while.
‘I think with the obviously dramatic finish there is here,’ he said, ‘I’m going to probably have to stick around.’
Donald eventually left before Matt Kuchar won at TPC Sawgrass. The Englishman finished in solo sixth place at 9 under par. That wasn’t enough to lift him back into the No. 1 ranking; he needed to finish solo fourth or better to overtake Rory McIlroy.
Donald also narrowly missed breaking the scoring record on the Stadium Course’s back nine. After making the turn in even par, he rattled off six birdies on the back, becoming the 12th player to shoot 30 on those nine holes.
‘I just thought to myself, Let’s try and birdie the last four to shoot 29,’ Donald said, ‘because I thought that would be kind of cool around the back nine at Sawgrass.’
