Donald stretches lead over Westwood to more than a point in world ranking

Luke Donald stretched his lead over No. 2-ranked Lee Westwood in this week’s edition of the Official World Golf Ranking, to the point that Westwood now needs no worse than a runner-up finish at the British Open to stand any chance of regaining the world No. 1 spot.

Six weeks after going to the top of the chart for the first time in his career with a playoff victory over Westwood at the BMW PGA Championship, Donald won the Barclays Scottish Open by four shots at Castle Stuart on Sunday.

If Westwood wins his first major at Royal St. George’s, Donald would have to be second to remain No. 1. If Westwood finishes solo second, Donald would still stay top with a top-21 finish. No other player has a chance to go to No. 1 by winning the British Open, regardless of how Donald performs.

With Donald winning in Scotland and No. 5-ranked Steve Stricker winning the John Deere Classic, there was very little movement in the rankings this week. The biggest change came with Matt Kuchar’s rise from No. 8 last week to No. 7 last week as he edged above Jason Day.

The idle Tiger Woods continued his tumble, as he slid from No. 17 down to No. 19 this week as he contnues to rehabiliate his injured left leg.

In all, the second 10 includes No. 11 Charl Schwartzel, No. 12 Dustin Johnson, No. 13 K.J. Choi, No. 14 Paul Casey, No. 15 Bubba Watson, No. 16 Ian Poulter, No. 17 Adam Scott, No. 18 Robert Karlsson, No. 19 Woods and No. 20 Hunter Mahan

Donald is the first Englishman to head to Royal St. George’s as world No.1 since Nick Faldo in 1983 -- and he couldn’t have sent a louder message to Rory McIlroy and the rest than he did in Inverness. Donald produced the lowest round of his European Tour career -- a dazzling 9-under-par 63 -- to win his third title of the year by four shots over Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed.

"I see it as all positive," Donald said of his showing at Castle Stuart. "I'll be high on confidence, I'm obviously hitting the ball nicely and to do it on a links course is even better. That's why I decided to play in Scotland this year. There's always a little added pressure when you're No. 1, but hopefully I've proved I can handle that."

This was Donald's third win of the season and his second in a row in Europe after the playoff victory over Westwood at Wentworth.

"The challenge is always to have your game the week of a major," he added. "Looking at the history of how I've played, I like going on runs -- when I play well I tend to play well the next week.  It's just managing those expectations, not getting too ahead of myself and still sticking to the processes of what I need to do to improve.

"I'll still practice pretty hard,” he said. “The ground, I'm sure, is a little bit firmer [at Royal St. George’s than it was at soggy Castle Stuart], so I'll be working on some short-game stuff, getting a feel for the speed of the greens."