Donald trails Simpson by $363,029

When Luke Donald sank a birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the Tour Championship to finish in a tie for third, it appeared as if he would become the first person in history to capture both the PGA Tour Money List and the European Tour Race to Dubai (or Order of Merit).

With his T3 in Atlanta, Donald supplanted Webb Simpson as the PGA money leader by just $68,971. It may seem like a bunch of money to us, but for these guys it’s really only the difference between a few places. Donald was all set and ready to have a nice, relaxing off season and welcome his second child into the world.

(Sidenote: These golfers are shrewd. Last week, Ben Crane had a baby. Next week, Donald is set to have a baby. I’m willing to bet a lot of Tour players have children celebrating birthdays around this time of year. They even plan their child-having around their tournament schedules. Ingenious.)

That was when Webb Simpson decided to tee it up last week at the McGladrey Classic. Simpson didn’t really need to light the world on fire, he just had to make 70k, so a top-12 finish would do the trick. Simpson decided to do a little better than 12th, coming out of the gates with a Thursday 63 to take the lead.

Around the top of the leaderboard all week, Simpson eventually fell to Crane in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff. On the bright side, Simpson did what he came to do: take the lead atop the money list with his $432,000 second-place check, $363,029 ahead of Donald.

With Simpson ahead of Donald, the Englishman tweeted his entry into the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Disney World. He didn’t hide his intentions, either.

There was no doubt from Simpson about whether or not Donald would be playing, but he wasn’t going just roll over and let Luke have the title, he would play at Disney as well.

“I thought Luke was going to definitely play,” Simpson said after the McGladrey. “I think he’s kind of thinking the same thing I’m thinking, that if one of us was going to play, the other one really needed to.  It’s going to be fun.  He’s one of those competitive guys on the Tour, and so I’m sure he’s going to come guns loaded and he’s going to play great like he has all year.”

Donald really does have to play great if he’s planning on getting the money title back. Trailing by over $363,000, he needs to either win or come in second, according to my calculations, and have Simpson finish no better than 8th.

With the same purse as last year’s tournament ($4.7 million), the winner receives $846,000 and second place gets $507,000. Given Simpson’s large lead and the relatively small purse of a Fall Series event, Donald would need some help from Simpson while also finishing in the top two.

It’s a tall task for Donald, but it’s not out of the question whatsoever. The No. 1 player in the world has one win and 13 top-10 finishes, so he is routinely around the lead. Simpson is no slouch, either with 11 top-10s.

As the last tournament of the season, there will undoubtedly be some pressure for those on both ends of the money spectrum. The Disney has morphed into two tournaments in one with those around the 125 bubble playing for their livelihood and Donald and Simpson vying for the money title.

Whichever storyline you are more enthralled with come Sunday doesn’t matter, both should be great television.