SECURING VICTORY IN a tournament doesn't necessarily guarantee that you were the best player during the week. That sentiment can be multiplied when you take the volatility of match play into account, but when Luke Donald defeated Martin Kaymer three and two to claim the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship he left no doubt -- he was the best player in the tournament. So thorough was his dominance that he led after 81 of the 89 holes he played and never once played the 18th hole. It's his first victory on American soil since the Honda Classic in 2006.
Where it was won and lost: In a tournament format where the championship literally comes down to two players, you can really pinpoint a few spots that had a profound impact on the outcome. While generally you would prefer to be closer with your approach, sometimes in match play it can be an advantage to play first and put the pressure on your opponent. At the 11th Kaymer knocked his approach to a tidy five-feet, while Donald managed to get to eight-feet. Donald rolled in his birdie putt and Kaymer missed his -- a big surprise given his track record of pressure putts and that he had made more than 90 per cent of his putts under 10 feet for the week.
Shots of the week
Stat of the week: Donald won 41 holes and lost just 16 and set a number of records in the process: he was the first player to win without ever trailing in a match; his 89 holes played were the fewest by a winner and he was the first to win without playing 18.
How I did:
Rickie Fowler - third round
Charl Schwartzel - second round
Jeff Overton - first round
Bill Haas - first round
Ross Fisher - second round
Early look at next week
-Villegas defends at the Honda. Why has his 2011 started off so poorly? We'll examine
-Who I like: Robert Allenby, JB Holmes, Marc Leishman
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