English hopes fade on Saturday
July 22, 2012

The week began with hopes of the first English winner of a British Open in England since Tony Jacklin at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1969. Going into the final round, the best hope is the No. 1 player in the world.

That would be Luke Donald. He was 10 shots behind.

Donald felt like he didn't miss a shot over the first hour Saturday and was 1 under through five holes until he tried to blast out of a deep bunker on No. 6 to get it close enough to save par. The gamble failed, and he wound up with a double bogey. Donald didn't make another birdie until the 17th hole, and by then it was too late. He had to settle for a 71 that left him too far behind Adam Scott.

There's nothing left for him to do Sunday but ''go out there and enjoy it.''

''I'm probably too far back to have a chance, but as always, I'll give a go out there, give it my all,'' Donald said. ''You never know when you're going to learn something, even though you don't have a chance to win. Try and see how good I control the ball in the wind.''

Donald had his caddie, John McLaren, back on the bag with him in the third round. McLaren left Friday because his wife, Helen, was due with their first child. She had a girl they named Georgina. But there wasn't a lot of chatter about babies.

''But he was certainly beaming when he walked in the door this morning,'' Donald said.

Donald now has to wait three weeks until the final major of the year, the PGA Championship, at Kiawah Island on the South Carolina shore. The only positive to take out of the Open is it's the first major this year he will tee off after lunch. He wasn't even around Sunday at the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut.

''I'm getting closer,'' Donald said. ''My record isn't that great in this championship. But I'll take some confidence from the last few days. Certainly after the disaster at the U.S. Open, this is much improvement. And as I said, I'll walk away from this week knowing that my game is good enough. It just needed to happen at the right time.''

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