Donald eyes perfect gift

England’s Luke Donald will celebrate his 29th birthday tomorrow by looking to claim a second World Cup title in three years in Barbados.

Donald partnered Walker Cup and Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey to victory in 2004 and finished second with David Howell in the rain-shortened event in Portugal last year.

The world number nine has won almost a million dollars in those two appearances in the two-man, 24-team event, and he and Howell will start favourites to boost their bank balance by another £354,550 each when the contest gets under way at Sandy Lane with the opening round of fourballs.

“Obviously, it was frustrating to only play 54 holes last year,” said Donald, who has a superb record in team events, with two Walker Cup victories and two Ryder Cup triumphs to his name.

“We played very well together and would have loved to have a crack at it on the Sunday. Hopefully, the weather will be better this year although I’ve heard it’s not going to be great.”

England can boast the only team with two players ranked in the world’s top 35 (Donald is eighth and Howell 16th) while Casey – unfortunate to miss out the last two years – is ranked 14th.

Unsurprisingly, they are rated 4-1 favourites to lift the trophy on Sunday but Howell is not getting carried away after getting his first view of the course on Tuesday following his arrival from Sun City, where he finished 10th in the 12-man field at the Nedbank Challenge.

“There are numerous strong teams and we obviously feel we are one of them,” Howell said. “But if you don’t play well then you won’t win.

“We shot 13 under par on the first day last year but I don’t think that’s going to happen here. It’s not the hardest course in the world, but it’s no pushover and the greens are going to be very tricky to putt on in this wind.

“It’s a slightly unusual lay-out, with par fives back to back on 14 and 15 and then two par threes in the last two holes. The par-three 18th over water could provide an exciting finish, especially with foursomes on Sunday.”

The injury-prone Howell has declared himself fully fit for once and admits he finds it frustrating his body seems so vulnerable to breaking down.

The 31-year-old’s bid to win the European Order of Merit in 2006 was hampered by a number of different problems and he was only 50-50 to compete in the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama at the end of October.

“It’s really strange how I can go from feeling great one day to being in pieces the next,” Howell added.

“I had to pull out of an event in Las Vegas because I just couldn’t play at all and then, four or five weeks later, I’m feeling as good as ever.

“It’s very frustrating but that’s my little world and I’m just getting used to it.”

Wales’ Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd have returned to the defend the title they won on the Algarve last year, while Ryder Cup team-mates and 1997 winners Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley team up again for Ireland.

Scotland are represented by Colin Montgomerie and 2006 European Tour rookie of the year Marc Warren, with Montgomerie making his first appearance in the event since 1999.