The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 28 September 2010 /

He's in great form and has a great match play record, so don't duck Donald says the Punter...

According to Colin Montgomerie, every member of his team is going to play on Friday and if he isn't bluffing somebody you wouldn't expect to get off to a good start will, but who that will be is anybody's guess? And even if one or two of the team's lesser lights do win their first matches that doesn't guarantee they'll play again until Sunday's singles.

Captain Monty will have his idea of who the cornerstones of his side are but the list of contenders is a long one. Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, and Martin Kaymer, the Molinari brothers and possibly Padraig Harrington and Ross Fisher are all key Euro players but for me Monty's number one talisman has to be wildcard pick Luke Donald.

Luke's having yet another tremendous season, with a plethora of high finishes, and for a change, he's even managed a win - the Madrid Masters. He doesn't win anywhere near as much as he should in stroke play events but his match play record is simply superb.

Unbeaten in four Walker Cup singles matches, his record in the amateur event reads seven points from a possible eight. He's a duel winner of the World Cup and has an impressive Ryder Cup record too, of his seven matches to date; he's won five, halved one and lost just one.

His narrow defeat in Sunday's Tour Championship could be construed as a bit of a negative but when you consider his win in Madrid this year came one week after he'd blown the PGA Championship at Wentworth I don't think we need to worry. Luke has bouncebackability in abundance.

There are few, if any, players in either side in better current form - couple that with his outstanding match play record and you don't need to look any further than Luke.

Verdict: Back Luke Donald @ [10.0]

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