donald to learn from ace woods

By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Chicago

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Luke Donald is convinced that the next time he clashes with Tiger Woods - possibly at the Ryder Cup - he will be better prepared to put up a fight.

"I'll learn from this and be a stronger player," said the deflated 28-year-old after Woods won their duel by six in cruising to his 12th major title at the US PGA championship in Chicago.

Donald, tied for the lead with the world number one going into the last round, did not have a single birdie and with a 74 slipped to joint third with Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott.

While the two Europeans were unable to end a drought in the majors going back to 1999 - for Garcia it was his 12th top-10 finish - they have at least clinched their places in next month's match at the K Club.

That was the good news for captain Ian Woosnam. The bad was that David Howell suffered a shoulder problem on Sunday and thought about pulling out as he crashed to an 82.

Pushed down from first to fourth in the points table by the performances of Donald, Garcia and Swede Henrik Stenson at Medinah Howell is to receive treatment in the hope of being able to play in this week's world championship in Akron.

"I felt my shoulder on my last few shots on the range and thought nothing of it," said the injury-prone European tour number one. "But it soon became a bit of a problem and I thought about withdrawing with five to play.

"I don't like to blame adversity, but clearly it was affecting me."

Howell, who was out of action for two months with a torn stomach muscle last year and after the Masters in April had a month off with back trouble, was also feeling his right knee over the weekend and added: "I'm in the wars."

Donald was in contention for a major for the first time and commented: "I really just couldn't get the putts to drop.

"It's obviously a lot of pressure and he (Woods) has been under a lot more than I have. I really didn't feel like I played badly and I'll learn from this and be a stronger player.

"I just needed a few breaks, but he's solid and you've got to play your best to beat him.

"He has great mental belief in himself. He's obviously got a good game, but he just kind of wills it into the hole and every time he gets in trouble he has a great short game.

"He could have made four or five bogeys, but he made only one. I'm hopefully going to come back with encouragement and know that if I get in that position again I'm not going to hit bad shots, I'm going to hit good, solid shots - and hopefully a few more putts will drop."

While the American Ryder Cup table did not alter at all in their final counting event there were big changes in the European race with two weeks left.

Amazingly, Paul McGinley improved to ninth even though he was not playing.

McGinley, who pulled out so he could attend the funeral of Darren Clarke's wife Heather, moves up a spot because Jose Maria Olazabal was bumped off the world points list from which the first five places in the side come.

The Spaniard, who had been third, is now 10th and in danger of missing out on an automatic spot, although he plays in Ohio and fifth-placed Colin Montgomerie - certain of his place - is missing the event to take part in a celebrity tournament at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Collated final scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 72 (x) denotes amateurs):

270 Tiger Woods 69 68 65 68 (£645,842)

275 Shaun Micheel 69 70 67 69 (£387,505)

276 Adam Scott (Aus) 71 69 69 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 70 67 70, Luke Donald (Gbr) 68 68 66 74 (£186,576 each)

277 Mike Weir (Can) 72 67 65 73 (£129,168)

278 Steve Stricker 72 67 70 69, KJ Choi (Kor) 73 67 67 71

279 Ryan Moore 71 72 67 69, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 70 70 68 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 68 68 74

280 Sean O'Hair 72 70 70 68, Chris DiMarco 71 70 67 72

281 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 68 73 72, Tim Herron 69 67 72 73

282 Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 70 72 69, David Toms 71 67 71 73, Woody Austin 71 69 69 73, Phil Mickelson 69 71 68 74

283 Jonathan Byrd 69 72 74 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 74 71 70, Fred Funk 69 69 74 71, Harrison Frazar 69 72 69 73

284 Chad Campbell 71 72 75 66, Stewart Cink 68 74 73 69, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 69 75 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 71 70 71, Steve Flesch 72 71 69 72

285 Dean Wilson 74 70 74 67, Heath Slocum 73 70 72 70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 73 69 72, Lee Westwood 69 72 71 73, Jim Furyk 70 72 69 74

286 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 71 70 72, Davis Love 68 69 73 76, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 73 68 75

287 Richard Green (Aus) 73 69 73 72, Graeme McDowell (Gbr) 75 68 72 72, Billy Mayfair 69 69 73 76, JB Holmes 71 70 68 78

288 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 67 76 73, Billy Andrade 67 69 78 74, JJ Henry 68 73 73 74, Justin Rose (Gbr) 73 70 70 75, Chris Riley 66 72 73 77

289 Lucas Glover 66 74 77 72, Olin Browne 75 66 73 75

290 Jerry Kelly 70 74 74 72

291 Joey Sindelar 74 70 73 74, Nathan Green (Aus) 71 71 74 75, Rich Beem 75 69 72 75, Corey Pavin 72 71 72 76, Ryan Palmer 70 73 72 76, Kenny Perry 72 71 71 77

292 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 73 79 70, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 73 71 78 70, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 74 75 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 69 74 75, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 72 68 75 77

293 Steve Lowery 70 72 76 75, Ben Curtis 72 72 73 76

295 Jeff Maggert 75 68 78 74, Charles Warren 73 70 77 75, Jason Gore 70 73 75 77

296 Bob Tway 72 71 75 78, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 73 75 78

297 David Howell (Gbr) 71 71 73 82

300 Don Yrene 71 72 77 80, Jay Haas 75 68 74 83

301 Jim Kane 71 71 80 79