In 2005, Donald made his debut at the Masters Tournament and finished tied for 3rd place. He described his debut at Augusta National as "a great performance – I am very happy with that". Donald rose in the World Rankings from 130th at the turn of the year to 13th in the world in April 2005 after his top-3 finish at the Masters. Later in the year Donald, along with Tom Watson, was one of two players to play with Jack Nicklaus in the final two rounds of golf in his career, at the 2005 Open Championship at Old Course at St Andrews.