Luke Donald admitted Wednesday he’d have to win his last two European Tour events of the year to retain his merit title — while contending with a “scary” operation facing his baby daughter.
The Englishman said he needed victory at this week’s $7 million WGC-HSBC Champions, and another at the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai to have a chance of closing Rory McIlroy’s $2 million advantage.
World number one McIlroy is now in line to emulate Donald’s feat of last season, when he became the first player to win the money races on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Rory is making it tough on us. He’s playing very consistently every week,” Donald said before the WGC-HSBC Champions.
“He’s won some big events that count on both tours and hence, he’s in a very similar position that I was last year where he has a chance to win both money titles.
“He’s got a pretty big lead. I’m going to need to pretty much win out. I’m going to need to win this event and win Dubai for any chance.”
Donald, 35, added that he will skip his title defence at next week’s PGA Tour event at Disney while his youngest daughter Sophia, who is not yet one, undergoes a routine operation.
“She was born with a skin defect on her ear. She’s already had one operation to remove most of it. She has the second one next week,” said the world number three.
“It’s still scary as a parent whenever your child is put under for an operation, and I just want to be there with my wife to support her and make sure everything goes well.
“It’s a routine operation, it should be fine. But as parents, you always worry about these things.”
Donald needs two wins to trump Rory
