Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald tees up chance for eighth DP World Tour win

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will start only two shots behind the leaders on the final day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour.

Ben Smith

12 Nov 2022

Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald tees up chance for eighth DP World Tour win

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will head into the final day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour only two shots behind the leaders.

After 54 holes, Donald sits on 7-under par and will attempt to chase down Belgian Thomas Detry and the young Danish superstar Rasmus Hojgaard on Sunday.

Former World No. 1 Donald held a share for the lead earlier in the week having opened with a 65. He followed with a 71. On Saturday, he signed for a 1-over par 73.

The tournament has been affected by vast amounts of rainfall and some players in the field played as many as 33 holes on Saturday.

Perhaps the longest day belonged to the young Italian Guido Migliozzi, who made a 10 on the par-4 17th at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

Sky Sports' on-course commentator Wayne "Radar" Riley claimed the 25-year-old Ryder Cup hopeful had more hits than The Beatles as he came unstuck.

Leader Detry told the media:

"Putting [has been key]. I struggled on the greens the first day and I've managed to find some great confidence and I'm seeing them roll in.

"My game has been in great form for the last couple of months and I feel like everything is clicking again."

When asked if this was the form of his life, he added:

"You could say so, yes. We'll see what tomorrow brings, I'm really excited. I'm playing some really confident golf, I'm hitting all of my targets, driving it well and putting well, so not much really can go wrong.

"I think 14 under will be the winning number, so I'll just stay aggressive, take care of the par fives. There are a couple of tough holes out here, so hit the fairway and that's it."

Elsewhere, the South African duo of Thriston Lawrence and Branden Grace are one shot back, just ahead of Donald and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

England's Tommy Fleetwood is also in contention and currently sits in T-7 after a third round of 70.

If Donald were to win then it would be his eighth win on the European-based circuit, formerly known as the European Tour.

Donald, now 44, will lead Ryder Cup Europe into battle in September at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.

His preparations have been hampered by the emergence of LIV Golf and even he admitted that he was "in limbo" about who will potentially be in his side.

One of the shots of the day from @BrandenGrace #NGC2022 pic.twitter.com/y5nT1KXdif
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 12, 2022

That is because a court hearing in February will determine whether or not the DP World Tour will be allowed to ban members who have teed it up in LIV Golf events.

Two of those players who were fined include England's Richard Bland and Spain's Adrian Otaegui, who sit T-10 in this tournament at 5-under.

New Zealand's Ryan Fox has continued his glistening form and is also in the top-10.

Next week Fox will try and win the DP World Tour Championship and pip Rory McIlroy to the Race to Dubai.

He would overtake McIlroy in the standings with a win on Sunday.

Next page: Bob MacIntyre had the best and worst luck this week