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Donald leaps into Ryder Cup places

Luke Donald has not won a PGA Tour title for four years © Getty Images

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Luke Donald admits things are 'going in the right direction' after he forced his way into the automatic Ryder Cup qualification places with a third-placed finish at the Canadian Open.

Donald has been in consistent form of late, tying for 11th place at the Open Championship, and his efforts have been rewarded by a leap up to seventh in the world rankings. He moves ahead of fellow Brits Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey.

Crucially, Donald has also penetrated the top four in the world points list for the Ryder Cup. Qualification criteria dictates that the top four players on the world points list are automatic Ryder Cup picks.

Donald's move is significant because the other four automatic picks are based on the remaining players' positions in the European points list, where Donald is currently 10th. The likelihood is that the 32-year-old would be one of Colin Montgomerie's captain's picks should he miss out on an automatic place, but with the likes of Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey all in a similar position, Donald would rather sew things up himself.

"I obviously picked up some good world ranking points this week, so I'm looking pretty decent on both point systems," he told the official PGA Tour website. "So yeah, all's going in the right direction.

"I need to win more tournaments. Just contending isn't good enough if you want to be the best. You've got to go out there and beat the best continually, which I haven't done in the last few years."

Donald's last PGA Tour win came four years ago at the Honda Classic, but he confesses that, having reached No. 7 in the world, he dreams of going all the way to the top.

"Certainly with Tiger coming back to the field, it's certainly a possibility now in terms of numbers. But I've still got to get a little bit better before I can think about being No. 1. It would be a great goal. That would be a dream."

World Rankings:
1. Tiger Woods (USA), 2. Phil Mickelson (USA), 3. Lee Westwood (Eng), 4. Steve Stricker (USA), 5. Jim Furyk (USA), 6. Ernie Els (RSA), 7. Luke Donald (Eng), 8. Rory McIlroy (NI), 9. Paul Casey (Eng), 10. Ian Poulter (Eng), 11. Graeme McDowell (NI), 12. Martin Kaymer (GER), 13. Anthony Kim (USA), 14. Robert Allenby (Aus), 15. Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), 16. Retief Goosen (RSA), 17. Edoardo Molinari (Ita), 18. Justin Rose (Eng), 19. Padraig Harrington (IRE), 20. Zach Johnson (USA)

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