Golf:Luke Donald strengthened his bid for a Ryder Cup recall with a third place finish at the Canadian Open.
Donald, who missed the last match following wrist surgery, remains fourth in the table and widened the gap between himself and fifth-placed Edoardo Molinari, who received fewer points for coming third in the Scandinavian Masters.
Meanwhile, less than one point now separates the world’s top three golfers — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood — and any of the three could be number one after next week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
European Ryder Cup Standings
World Points:1 LEE WESTWOOD 422.0, 2 RORY McILROY 271.2, 3 GRAEME McDOWELL 244.1, 4 LUKE DONALD 229.1, 5 Edoardo Molinari 213.0, 5 Ian Poulter 211.2, 7 Justin Rose 190.4, 8 Martin Kaymer 181.5, 9 Padraig Harrington 176.2, 10 Francesco Molinari 160.8
European Points:1 Lee Westwood 3,446,137, 2 Graeme McDowell 2,225,305, 3 IAN POULTER 2,205,624, 4 Rory McIlroy 1,918,290, 5 MARTIN KAYMER 1,554,025, 6 FRANCESCO MOLINARI 1,464,537, 7 MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ 1,442,849, 8 ROSS McGOWAN 1,347,432, 9 Paul Casey 1,327,184, 10 Edoardo Molinari 1,296,533
* Capitals denote players in qualifying positions. The top four on world list qualify, then next five on European points list. Captain Colin Montgomerie adds three wild cards on August 29th.
US Ryder Cup Points
1 Phil Mickelson (USA) 5768.74pts, 2 Steve Stricker (USA) 3402.67, 3 Jim Furyk (USA) 3280.08, 4 Anthony Kim (USA) 3238.30, 5 Lucas Glover (USA) 2980.87, 6 Dustin Johnson (USA) 2936.13, 7 Matt Kuchar (USA) 2890.95, 8 Tiger Woods (USA) 2773.30, 9 Hunter Mahan (USA) 2643.75, 10 Jeff Overton (USA) 2629.84, 11 Ricky Barnes (USA) 2599.19, 12 Ben Crane (USA) 2486.46, 13 Stewart Cink (USA) 2394.03, 14 Nick Watney (USA) 2297.97, 15 Rickie Fowler (USA) 2259.37, 16 Bubba Watson (USA) 2202.31, 17 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 2156.33, 18 J.B. Holmes (USA) 2129.01, 19 Sean O’Hair (USA) 2122.57, 20 Zach Johnson (USA) 2118.39
* The top eight on the list qualify. Captain Corey Pavin will also select four wildcards players for his 12-man team.
World Rankings
1 Tiger Woods 9.97pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.24, 3 Lee Westwood 9.04, 4 Steve Stricker 7.35, 5 Jim Furyk 6.65, 6 Ernie Els 5.71, 7 Luke Donald 5.67, 8 Rory McIlroy5.64, 9 Paul Casey 5.46, 10 Ian Poulter 5.29, 11 Graeme McDowell4.92, 12 Martin Kaymer 4.86, 13 Anthony Kim 4.86, 14 Robert Allenby 4.31, 15 Louis Oosthuizen 4.13, 16 Retief Goosen 4.03, 17 Edoardo Molinari 3.97, 18 Justin Rose 3.96, 19 Padraig Harrington3.93, 20 Zach Johnson 3.81
Other leading Europeans:23 Henrik Stenson, 31 Robert Karlsson, 35 Francesco Molinari, 36 Ross Fisher, 37 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 41 Alvaro Quiros, 45 Sergio Garcia, 49 Peter Hanson, 50 Rhys Davies, 59 Oliver Wilson, 67 Soren Kjeldsen, 68 Soren Hansen, 74 Fredrik Andersson Hed, 76 Brian Davis, 77 Simon Dyson, 79 Anders Hansen, 82 Shane Lowry, 85 Danny Willett, 89 Ross McGowan, 90 David Horsey, 92 Fredrik Jacobson, 93 Stephen Gallacher, 95 Gregory Bourdy, 98 Raphael Jacquelin, 100 Chris Wood