Lady Luck deserted me - Donald

Luke Donald was left cursing his luck after failing to take the Sony Open in Hawaii into a play-off.

The 29-year-old Englishman finished a shot behind American Paul Goydos on Sunday after a 57-foot eagle chip at the final hole clattered against the pin but stayed out.

“It always had a good line but it was going very fast,” said Donald. “It would have taken a bit of luck to go in.”

In contrast, Goydos enjoyed a huge slice of fortune at the same hole, his overhit chip hitting the flag to set-up the subsequent birdie, which proved crucial.

The win at the Waialae Country Club doubled Goydos’ PGA Tour career victory tally, and came nearly 11 years after his only previous success in 361 tour starts.

“This was a week where hitting fairways was imperative,” said his caddie, Scott Saginac.

“You don’t have to make a ton of birdies. Paul hits it the same week in and week out, hits a lot of fairways and greens.

“He keeps it in play all the time and he can keep the ball down (under the wind) easily, whereas a lot of guys struggle to hit the knockdown shot.”

Goydos, ranked 10th on tour last year for driving accuracy, finding 73% of fairways, but fourth last for driving distance, at 274 yards. On the greens, he was 138th in putts-per-green in regulation, 92nd in total putts per round.

Saginac claims Goydos was particular about his schedule, avoiding courses suited to power players.

“LA (the Nissan Open) is a prime example. He does not play LA because they've lengthened the course,” Saginac explained.

The 42-year-old Californian overcame a horrible start to the final round to collect the US $936,000 (€723,000) first prize after carding a 14-under-par 266.

His second victory on the PGA Tour followed his previous triumph at Bay Hill in 1996.

“I do try to win every decade, so I’ve accomplished that,” joked Goydos.

He three-putted the first and third holes for bogeys, missing a short putt from inside two feet at the latter, but picked up six birdies and one more bogey on the remainder of his round on the way to carding a three-under 67.

He took the lead with a 16-foot birdie at the par-four 16th, but fell back into a tie with Charles Howell after a bogey at the 17th.

His second shot at the 18th came up short of the green, 25 feet from the hole, before he chipped against the flag, virtually ensuring victory.

“It’s lucky the ball hit the hole,” added Goydos. “I never thought it could go in. I’m very fortunate to be sitting here right now.”

Goydos was still forced to wait for Donald to miss to secure the win, while Howell also had a chance to force a play-off.

But he pushed a 15-foot birdie putt wide, condemning the 2000 NCAA champion to a ninth runner-up finish on the tour following his lone victory in 2002.

“This one hurts,” said Howell, who had a two-shot lead at the turn, but bogeys at the 12th and 13th proved costly.

Goydos added: “I was just trying to hang in there and try to take it one shot at a time.

“It sounds like a cliché, but things weren’t going well early.

“After the third hole, I really played pretty good and just kept grinding it out and luckily I made a couple of long (putts) on 15 and 16, and got as lucky as you can get on 18.”