Donald ducks par-three jinx

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The traditional nine-hole curtain-raising event came to a climax with him in the last-but-one group needing a birdie at the final hole to force a play-off with 1988 champion Mark O'Meara.

But Donald pulled his tee shot long and left, chipped six feet past the hole and made the par putt to finish joint second with O'Meara's fellow American Zach Johnson.

It was in many ways the perfect result for the 29-year-old. He played well, but he had not won - and no par-three winner has ever gone on to become Masters champion four days later.

O'Meara's victory came with a five-under-par 22 and having won the main title already in his career the 50-year-old will not be too concerned about being the one with the hoodoo this week.

There were holes-in-one from David Toms at the 130-yard fifth and South African Rory Sabbatini on the 115-yard seventh.

Donald, joint third on his debut two years ago, is one of Europe's main hopes. At the US PGA last August - the last major - he was joint leader with Tiger Woods with a round to go, but was totally out-played by the world number one.

A topic of debate that day was whether Donald was wise to wear a red shirt - Woods's colour on the final day every week - and when asked if he might do it again on Sunday he first said "No" and then changed it to "Maybe".

Perhaps it depends on whether he is paired with Woods again or not.