MARANA, Ariz. — Luke Donald had only two victories around the world in the past five years, so not many would have given him a snowball’s chance in Arizona of winning the Match Play Championship.
Turns out be he was more unbeatable than anyone in the 13-year history of the tournament.
Donald polished off Martin Kaymer on the 16th hole Sunday, becoming the first player to go an entire week without trailing in any match. He played only 89 holes in six matches, another record, and led after 81 of them. And he was so dominant he became the first player to win any golf tournament without playing the 18th hole.
Ultimately, all that mattered to Donald was simply winning.
“To come here and beat the top 63 players in the world is very gratifying,” Donald said after his 3-and-2 victory. “It’s been an amazing week. I had a lot of good things happen - made a bunch of birdies, never trailed in a match.Kind of one of those weeks where a lot of things went my way.”
A late winter storm dusted Dove Mountain with nearly an inch of snow, and the fairways were blankets of white in the morning. Donald looked out his hotel room and suggested on Twitter that a snowball fight determine who had honors on the first tee.
“It was definitely a shock,” Donald said.
The snow melted when they teed off, although dark clouds on the horizon loomed. Sleet began falling when the championship match reached the third green, and play was stopped when sleet covered the fourth fairway.
“Do we have to keep playing?” Kaymer asked chief referee Mark Russell.
Play resumed after about 10 minutes as the fairways turned from white back to green.
The match’s turning point might have been No. 10.
Kaymer had all the momentum and blistered a tee shot down the middle, while Donald went from a scrubby lie in the desert to a waste area short of the green. Donald, however, blasted out to 3 feet for a conceded par.
“I think he’s probably the best in the world in the short game at the moment,” Kaymer said. “I played with Phil Mickelson a few times and it is unbelievable. But what Luke is doing at the moment is a joke. Wherever he is, you know that he will get up-and-down.”
Donald took the lead on the 11th by making an 8-foot birdie putt as Kaymer missed his birdie from just inside 6 feet, and Donald regained all the momentum on the next hole when Kaymer came up short into the sand and took bogey.
Donald went 3 up on the 15th when Kaymer missed a birdie putt from inside 4 feet, and the Kaymer conceded the match on the 16th when he failed to hole a 30-foot birdie putt.
Kaymer did not win, but he did rise to No. 1 in the world with his runner-up finish.The next world ranking will be Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Donald and Graeme McDowell. It’s the first time since March 15, 1992, that the top four spots have been occupied by Europeans.
Matt Kuchar defeated Bubba Watson in the consolation match and will go to No. 10 in the world.
“We’ve really had a purple patch on world golf,” Donald said. “Having Lee become No. 1 a few months ago, now Martin No. 1, obviously Graeme has been playing great, and to make a jump like this ... whether I deserve No. 3 in the world, I don’t know. But certainly in terms of my work ethic and wanting it, then I do deserve it.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/28/2011