Donald withdraws from Champions tournament in Shanghai

REUTERS: World number one Luke Donald has withdrawn from this week’s WGC Champions event in Shanghai to be at home in America with his wife Diane who is due to give birth to their second child.

Donald won the U.S. PGA Tour money-list title in dramatic fashion last Sunday when coming from five strokes behind to take the Disney Classic.

He is now trying to clinch the European Race to Dubai (money list) to become the first player to win the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic in the same season.

Donald can still be caught on the Race to Dubai. Second-placed Rory McIlroy trails him by 1.3 million euros ($1.8 million) and the Northern Irish U.S. Open champion and world number three is playing in China where around 900,000 euros is on offer for first prize.

“Making history in the sport is very important to me, but the roles of husband and father are the most important in the world to me and being there for my wife and family is where I have to be,” Donald said in a statement issued by his management company on Saturday.

“My goal has been to try to top the money list on the PGA Tour and the European Tour and I still hope to accomplish that. The WGC Champions is a world-class event, and as a player you look forward to competing against the best.

“I think it is great for the game to have such an important event in Asia, and I look forward to being able to participate next year.” ($1 = 0.705 Euros)