Golf:Luke Donald booked his place in the semi-finals of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson with a polished last-eight win over Ryan Moore. The 33-year-old beat Moore 5&4 to send out an ominous warning to the remaining members of the field.
The win was his second-largest at the competition, not quite matching his 6&5 success over Robert Allenby a year ago, but that will have mattered little to Donald man as he rarely gave Moore a chance.
He was four shots up on his opponent at the turn after five front-nine birdies, and carried on in a similar vein on the back nine, wrapping things up with a 15-footer with four holes to spare.
The one hole Moore did manage to win after the turn could also have gone Donald’s way, with him chipping in from off the green on the par-five 11th, having driven into the sand.
“I‘ve been working hard and it‘s nice to see the work paying off. I made a bunch of birdies and made it hard for Ryan,” Donald said. “You do the same things, try and hit it close, give yourself opportunities and put pressure on your opponent.”
Donald will face another American in Matt Kuchar in the semi-finals later today. Kuchar overcame Y.E Yang 2&1 to build on his victory over Rickie Fowler yesterday, knocking out Graeme McDowell‘s conqueror in the process.
He had led by four at the turn, but after Yang dug in to win on the 10th and 13th holes, Kuchar held his nerve to chip onto the 17th green and then putt from three feet to win the match.
Martin Kaymer, knowing he will replace Lee Westwood as the world‘s best player if he makes it through to the final, had to cling on to get the better of Ryder Cup team-mate Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The German did not drop a shot on the front nine and was four up with four to play before Jimenez mounted a rousing fightback. Kaymer had chances to halve the hole and win the match on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes but failed, leaving the Spaniard to birdie two of them and win all three to take the match down to the final hole.
Kaymer looked to have driven himself into a dangerous position, but a fine recovery with his third shot forced Jimenez to concede, giving Kaymer the win 1up.
