Wrist injury puts Donald out of US PGA
Luke Donald will miss next week's US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills as well as this week's Bridgestone World Championship. The Englishman has been out of action with a wrist injury since withdrawing from the US Open during his final round on June 15 and is a huge doubt for September's Ryder Cup.
Qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team ends on August 31. Donald is 11th on Europe's world points list, but only five players are selected off that and he is down in 43rd spot on the separate table based on Order of Merit earnings. Five more are chosen from there. The captain, Nick Faldo, also has two wild cards to hand out next month but admits: "To pick a man who is injured would be a major story."
Ian Poulter, the Open runner-up, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey and Darren Clarke also need wild cards as things stand, but Clarke, winner of the Asian Open in April, received a boost to his chances with an invitation to the US PGA.
The 53-year-old Greg Norman has turned down the chance to join Clarke in Detroit. The Australian finished joint third in the Open at Birkdale, then joint fifth in the Senior British Open at Troon on Sunday, and he is now preparing for the US Seniors Open, at Broadmoor in Colorado Springs starting on Thursday. He has decided that, after playing only a handful of events this year, four weeks in a row would be too many.
The PGA field is, of course, without Tiger Woods, winner the past two years, but it does include the US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger, winner in 1993 after a play-off with Norman.