Donald set for Tiger showdown

If Luke Donald is to win his first major title tomorrow it will be achieved the hard way – he has to go head-to-head with Tiger Woods at the US PGA Championship in Chicago.

The 28-year-old Englishman needs no reminding that Woods has won all of his 11 major titles from the front on the final day. On nine of those occasions he has been the outright leader and, as is the case now, the other two when sharing top spot.

Donald, joint halfway leader with Henrik Stenson, Billy Andrade and Tim Herron, left them trailing behind by adding a 66 for 14 under par.

But Woods was only one off his lowest-ever round in a major with his course record-equalling 65 and would have matched it but for three-putting the 16th for his first bogey since the opening hole on Thursday.

The statistics are frightening for Donald as he prepares to tackle the world number one. Woods is not just going for a second successive major after his triumph in the British Open at Hoylake last month, but also a third tournament win in a row.

He has shot in the sixties in 13 of his last 14 rounds – and he won this title when it was last held at the Medinah Country Club in 1999.

Donald said in March that he thought the only way for him to catch up with the 30-year-old American superstar was to “start believing I’m as good as him”.

Well, after 49 holes he was not just as good, but two better than Woods – and led the race for the final major title of the season.

No European has won any major since 1999 and none has lifted this trophy since Tommy Armour way back in 1930.

But Woods, who made a 30-footer for par on the first and turned in 32, had a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th and then, after his slip on the next, made a 12-foot putt for his eighth birdie of the day.

Donald birdied four of the first six and chipped in on the ninth for an outward 31, but then came seven pars in a row and, after he had salvaged a four on the 16th with a brilliant bunker recovery, he fired in a brilliant tee shot to five feet at the next.

Woods said: “I’ve really hit the ball well. After the second hole I was off and running. It does not feel like a major – normally you are mostly making pars, but here you’ve needed a bunch of birdies.”

Canadian Mike Weir lies third on 12 under after he also returned a 65. And the left-hander can tell Donald how hard the task he faces is.

On the same course seven years ago Weir shared the lead with 18 holes to play, then slumped to an 80.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy, like Woods going for his second major victory of the season, started his round with a double bogey, but then showed the qualities which won him the US Open in June with six birdies.

He is in fourth place, while Sergio Garcia, the man pipped by Woods at Medinah last time, is four behind in joint fifth place with 2003 winner Shaun Micheel after both shot 67.

On a day of spectacularly low scoring following overnight rain there was one moment early on when 10 players shared the lead.

Defending champion and Masters champion Phil Mickelson, out-scored by three by Woods in their duel over the opening two rounds, was one of them and so was Chris DiMarco, the man Woods denied at the Open last month and at the Masters last year.

But they both bogeyed the last and finished the day on eight under. Probably too far back considering who it is they are chasing.

Ian Poulter is another on eight under after a 68, but he has a duel purpose tomorrow – trying to win, of course, but also trying to re-ignite his bid to save his Ryder Cup place.

As for Stenson, virtually certain to be making his debut at the K Club, he fell off the pace by bogeying two of the first four.

Stenson finished with a 73 for seven under, while Herron had a 72 and Andrade, who had a quadruple bogey seven on the 17th, a 78.

Donald, who has had a base in Chicago since his student days, is playing in only the 16th major of his career and his only top 10 finish came when he came out of the pack at last year’s Masters to third by playing the last eight holes in six under.

He will be centre stage when he tees off for the final round.

“I’ve not really contended in a major before,” he said. “This will be a little different pressure, but it’s what I practise for. It will be fun.

“I saw a little bit of the early golf and knew I needed a fast start. Saving par on the first was key – you never want to bogey the first – and after birdies on the next two I was off and running.”

There was an early indication that it was going to be a spectacular day’s scoring.

At the fifth American Joey Sindelar holed a three-wood for the first albatross in any major since England’s Gary Evans in the 2004 Open at Royal Troon and just the third in the event’s history.

Justin Rose, playing his first major for two years, had a 70 for three under, but Northern Ireland’s

Graeme McDowell had to be content with a level par 72 for one under and David Howell and Lee Westwood were unable to make the move they really wanted.

Both were out in “only” 36 and Howell finished with a 73 for one under, while Westwood, three under overnight, had a 71 for four under.

Normally in a major a round under par takes a player forward. Not this time, though.

As for the American Ryder Cup race, which ends after the final round, Davis Love’s 73 for six under dropped him to 18th and he needs to be eighth to claim an automatic spot.

Herron requires a seventh place finish to knock out Brett Wetterich, who missed the cut, and will resume joint eighth.

Woody Austin and JB Holmes lie joint 12th, but have to be third and first respectively at Medinah.

If they all fail to achieve their goals Tom Lehman’s wild cards are expected to go to Love and Stewart Cink.