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2B Daily News – Thursday, February 16, 2012 No. 1 Luke Donald comes full circle at Riviera LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luke Donald was on the practice range at Riviera before dawn Wednesday, so dark that only tempo- rary floodlights allowed him to see where the ball was going. It was a snapshot of the perks that come with being No. 1 in the world, and what got him there. The best player gets his choice of tee times for the pro-am, and the early spots go first. Along with being No. 1 in the world, Donald sits atop both the PGA Tour and European Tour money lists, the first player ever to lead the two biggest tours. As for the work ethic? Getting to the top wasn't an accident. ''I think the best part of being No. 1 is knowing that my best golf is good enough to get me to that No. 1 spot, just from a confi- dence and mental standpoint,'' Donald said. ''That's gratifying to know that the hard work is paying off.'' The hardest part might be the encore. Donald is coming off a year he won't ever forget, and it all began at Riviera with a round he would like to erase from his mem- ory. In his first event, he shot a 79 in the sec- ond round to miss the cut. Toward the end of his season, he had won a career-best four times, including the most exciting finish this side of a major when he birdied six straight holes to start the back nine at Disney and closed with a 64 for a two-shot victory. It gave him the double money title, and was enough to make him a landslide winner of PGA Tour player of the year. Off the course was joy and grief. His father, Colin, died of heart failure just a few days before Donald's wife gave birth to their second daughter. ''Obviously, a decent amount of my work had already been done,'' Donald said. ''I'd had a great season up until that point. And in a way, those couple weeks were very tough. I think the birth of my second daughter helped shed a little bit of grace on the whole situation. It helped with the passing of my father. And I think I came out of it a stronger person with a little bit more perspective.'' His father rarely went to golf tourna- ments. He was proud of his son more as a person than just a golfer. The last two years had been a struggle, as his father went from double knee replacement to an addiction to pain killers, then bouts of depression. One moment stands out for Donald, and he wasn't even there. He was at Wentworth, fighting a flawed swing to stay in the hunt long enough to get into a playoff with Lee Westwood, beat him on the first extra hole and replace him as No. 1 in the world. Donald's brother, Christian, was home that weekend with their father, watching it unfold on television. ''He looked in Chris' eye, and it was a proud moment,'' Donald said. ''He's always been proud and supportive, more proud of the person I turned into.'' Donald opened his season in Abu Dhabi with a tie for 48th, the first time since August that he did not finish among the top 12. That's still better than missing the cut, as he did at the Northern Trust Open a year ago. Riviera is where Donald comes full cir- cle. He leads a field at the Northern Trust Open that features two-time winner Phil Mickelson, coming off his six-shot come- back to win last week at Pebble Beach; a pair of Aussies in Jason Day and Adam Scott, who are playing the PGA Tour for the first time this year; and Padraig Harrington, who started to show some long lost form at Peb- ble Beach. Also playing is Sergio Garcia, a regular partner of Donald in the Ryder Cup. Garcia once talked about winning money titles on both sides of the Atlantic, and he was impressed — as was most everyone — that Donald got it done. ''Very remarkable,'' Garcia said. ''It's never really been done by a guy that is a member of both tours, so it shows you how difficult it is to do it. For a guy like Luke to be able to do it, as well as No. 1, it was great to see.'' Donald finally is getting the respect for his feats, especially his world ranking. Westwood got the same questions, most- ly from an American audience — how can a guy be No. 1 without ever winning a major? Those questions mainly were born out of comparisons to Tiger Woods, who had been No. 1 for 10 years of his career, and who won majors with regularity. The world rank- ing is about accumulating points, and no one was more consistent than Donald. By the end of the year, there were no questions about who was No. 1 in the world. ''I think the way in which I won in Dis- ney helped, and winning both money titles,'' Donald said. ''People, especially my peers, realized what an accomplishment that was, playing a limited schedule and pulling off both money titles. I think I went up in the estimation of my peers.'' As for the majors? That's a priority. The Masters is two months away, and Donald is building toward that. He'll play the next two weeks, including his first title defense at the Match Play Championship, then play consecutive weeks in Florida at Doral and Tampa. Donald talks about a strong will to succeed, and there's no reason to think that won't apply during the four biggest weeks of the year. ''I feel like my game is good enough right now to win majors,'' Donald said. ''I don't feel like there's a huge weakness. If I can win four times in a year, I should be able to win a major. There are still things I can improve on to give myself better opportuni- ties.'' KINGS (Continued from page 1B) return from a strained right groin. Lin, the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week, played 26 minutes before checking out for good late in the third quar- ter. ''We wanted to be aggressive, make it hard for (Lin), but he still ran the team and got assists,'' Sacramento's Tyreke Evans said. ''They made shots. It seemed like they were making everything tonight.'' Evans scored 19 points for the Kings, who had won four in a row in New York. DeMarcus Cousins added 15 but shot only 7 of 18 and grabbed just four rebounds. Already the NBA's biggest story, Linsan- ity had peaked about 24 hours earlier with the former Harvard guard's winner in Toron- to. The shot was replayed on the overhead video board at the Garden, triggering a huge ovation as if it had just happened live. But Lin would have few other scoring highlights, taking only six shots. Fans, quite a few wearing Lin's jerseys or holding masks of his face, loved it anyway. They chanted ''MVP! MVP!'' as he was interviewed on the court after the game and held up signs such as ''Lin Your Face,'' ''Linderella,'' and — of course — ''Marry Me Jeremy.'' ''It's crazy. Thank you for the energy as always,'' he said to the crowd. Then he was peppered with an array of questions usually reserved for superstars, from his thoughts about President Barack Obama watching him, to whether it was time to get a new haircut. But for Lin, the only focus is basketball. ''I knew him before he was Linmania. He's still the same humble guy,'' Kings coach Keith Smart said. ''The guy has not changed a bit, which is real special for a young man.'' Lin played last season in Golden State for Smart, who praised Lin's work ethic and atti- NASCAR (Continued from page 1B) eluded him. At the other end of the garage is his older brother, Kurt, who finds himself on a yearlong job audition after splitting with Penske Racing at the end of a tumultuous 2011 season. Top-level jobs were scarce when he hit the market in early December, and he landed with fledgling Phoenix Racing in a one- year deal. The car comes with Hendrick Motorsports horsepower, though, and Busch could surprise many and be a contender in the Feb. 26 season-opening Daytona 500. More important, though, is proving to sponsors and car owners that he's got his act together and is ready to return to a top team in 2013. Edwards, who lost the championship last season on a tiebreaker to Stewart, will try to come back from that disappointment. And Jimmie Johnson, who had his five- year run snapped last season, wants very much to get back in the mix after a career- worst sixth in the final Cup standings. Kevin Harvick has fin- ished third in points the last two seasons. Thanks to per- sonnel moves at Richard Childress Racing, he's now paired with crew chief Shane Rogers — the switch he hopes can help him move up in the standings. RCR is back down to three teams — Harvick, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard — as Clint Bowyer moved on at the end of the season to Michael Waltrip Racing. Many believe he'll be the NCAA Top 25 Schedule Wednesday's results No. 3 Missouri 83, Oklahoma St. 65 No. 8 North Carolina 73, Miami 64 No. 13 S. Diego St. vs. N.Mexico, late No. 16 Murray St. 75, SE Missou St. 66 No. 18 Indiana 71 Northwestern 66 No.21 St.Mary's vs.Loyola Marymount, late No. 23 Notre Dame 71, Rutgers 53 No. 24 Wichita St. 73, Missouri St. 58 Today's games No. 5 Duke vs. NC State, 6 p.m. No. 7 Mich. St. vs.No. 15 Wisconsin, 4 p.m. No. 20 Florida St. vs. Virginia Tech, 4 p.m. No. 24 Gonzaga at Santa Clara, 8 p.m. Friday's games No games scheduled Saturday's games No. 1 Kentucky vs. Mississippi, 1 p.m. No. 3 Missouri at Texas A&M, 11 a.m. No. 4 Kansas vs. Texas Tech, 5 p.m. No. 6 Ohio St. at No. 17 Michigan, 6 p.m. No. 8 North Carolina vs. Clemson, 1 p.m. No. 9 Baylor vs. Kansas State, 10:45 a.m. No. 10 Georgetown at Providence, 4 p.m. No. 11 UNLV at New Mexico, 10 a.m. No. 12 Marquette vs. UConn at the XL Center, Hartford, Conn., 9 a.m. No. 13 San Diego St. at Air Force, 1 p.m. No. 14 Florida at Arkansas, 3 p.m. No.16 Murray St.vs.No.21 St.Mary's, 3 p.m. No. 19 Louisville at DePaul, 9 a.m. No. 20 Florida State at NC State, 10 a.m. No. 22 Virginia vs. Maryland, 10 a.m. No. 23 Notre Dame at Villanova, 6 p.m. No. 24 Gonzaga at San Francisco, 5 p.m. No. 24 Wichita State at Davidson, 9 a.m. Sunday's games No. 2 Syracuse at Rutgers, 10 a.m. No. 5 Duke at Boston College, 3 p.m. No. 7 Michigan State at Purdue, 10 a.m. No. 15 Wisconsin vs. Penn State, 1 p.m. No. 18 Indiana at Iowa, 3 p.m. tude, but never imagined ''the perfect storm'' that would lead to these results. ''It's good Monday morning quarterbacks are here now, but no one could have predict- ed this guy being this big in this place here,'' Smart said before the game. Lin opened the game with a three-point play, giving him nine straight points dating to late Tuesday, but passed more than shot as the Knicks scored easily in the first half. Lin beat the defense with penetration and dishes to shooters, or by throwing lob passes over the top. The Knicks led 25-17 after one quarter, then blew it open late in the second. Novak converted a four-point play, Lin hooked up with Fields for an alley-oop dunk, then made a free throw to cap a run of seven straight points and make it an 18-point game. The Knicks closed the scoring when Lin drove and threw a wraparound pass to Tyson Chan- dler for a dunk with 1.7 seconds left, extend- ing it to 54-36. ''I just thought we played really excep- tionally well the first quarter,'' Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. ''Just the ball was mov- ing, every time we drew up a play they ran it perfectly. Every time I think there was an opportunity to make a great pass, they did it.'' Lin had six points and nine assists in the first half. He found Fields for a layup that made it a 25-point game early in the third, and the Knicks coasted from there. Notes: Kings rookie guard Isaiah Thomas was booed when his name was announced after checking in late in the first quarter. The names are pronounced the same, but he's not related to former Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas. ''I knew it was going to hap- pen here,'' Thomas said. ''I was expecting something. Spike Lee told me next time you come to New York, you better change your name.'' ... The Knicks last won seven in a row near the end of last season. ... Former vice president Al Gore and ex-heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson were at the game. breakout driver MWR has long been looking for. He's teamed with Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin, who will scale back his schedule and share his car at times with team co-owner Waltrip. AJ Allmendinger is in the best ride of his life now that he's at Penske Racing as Kurt Busch's replacement. Coming off a win in last month's prestigious Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona sports car race, Allmendinger goes into the season with his con- fidence soaring. Brad Keselowski, his teammate, is looking to improve on last year's three-win break- through season. Roush Fenway Racing is also down to three cars as sponsorship woes forced the team to close down David Ragan's Cup ride, and the No. 17 of Matt Kenseth isn't fully funded. But the organi- zation, which celebrated a Nationwide championship last season with Ricky Sten- house Jr., believes Edwards, Kenseth and Greg Biffle will be contenders all year. Then there's Danica Patrick, who is officially a full-time NASCAR driver. After two years of dabbling NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 31 17 6 68 158 130 Kings Phoenix 27 21 9 63 149 146 Dallas 28 25 3 59 146 160 Ducks 24 24 9 57 148 165 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 39 17 2 80 185 136 St. Louis 34 15 7 75 140 113 Nashville 33 18 6 72 161 150 Chicago 29 21 7 65 176 174 Columbus 17 34 6 40 133 186 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 35 15 6 76 180 139 Calgary 27 22 8 62 139 152 Colorado 28 25 4 60 146 159 Minnesota 25 23 8 58 126 146 Edmonton 22 28 5 49 147 165 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA N.Y.Rangers37 13 5 79 156 110 Philadelphia31 18 7 69 182 169 Pittsburgh 32 20 5 69 176 150 New Jersey 32 20 4 68 158 156 N.Y. Islanders24 24 8 56 134 160 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 35 18 2 72 188 126 Ottawa 30 22 8 68 179 183 Toronto 28 23 6 62 172 171 Montreal 23 25 10 56 155 158 Buffalo 24 26 6 54 137 162 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Florida 27 18 11 65 143 158 Washington 28 23 5 61 156 160 Winnipeg 26 26 6 58 140 164 Tampa Bay 24 26 6 54 155 189 Carolina 21 25 11 53 147 175 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. —————————————————— Wednesday's results Anaheim 2, Pittsburgh 1 Boston 4, Montreal 3, SO Ottawa 6, Florida 2 Colorado at Vancouver, late Toronto at Edmonton, late Today's games San Jose at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Buffalo at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Chicago at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Winnipeg at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Calgary at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Phoenix at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. Friday's games San Jose at Carolina, 4 p.m. Anaheim at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Montreal at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Nashville at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Washington at Florida, 4:30 p.m. Boston at Winnipeg, 5 p.m. Colorado at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. 27 19 11 65 124 124 Clippers Lakers in stock cars while she fin- ished her IndyCar Series career, Patrick has made the jump to NASCAR. She'll run the full Nationwide schedule for JR Motorsports and 10 races for Stewart in the Cup Series. Only nine of her Cup races have been announced, and the Daytona 500 will be her first next weekend. She's also going to run the Coca- Cola 600 in May, which makes her unavailable for the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in her career. Patrick is trying to be rea- sonable with her expecta- tions for this season, but all eyes will be on her as she's expected to give NASCAR a massive marketing boost. She certainly turned some heads last month when she spoke confidently of the Daytona 500. ''I think there is a real chance, if luck falls our way, to perhaps win,'' she said. ''I think that's a real chance.'' Should that happen, 2012 is guaranteed to be a fabu- lous season for NASCAR. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB 17 9 .654 — 17 12 .586 1.5 WARRIORS 11 14 .440 5.5 Phoenix KINGS 12 18 .400 7 10 19 .345 8.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB San Antonio 21 9 .700 — Dallas Houston Memphis 19 11 .633 2 17 13 .567 4 16 14 .533 5 New Orleans 6 23 .207 14.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Oklahoma City 22 7 .759 — Denver Portland Utah 17 13 .567 5.5 15 14 .517 7 14 14 .500 7.5 Minnesota 14 16 .467 8.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Philadelphia 20 10 .667 — Boston New York Toronto Miami Atlanta Orlando WL Pct GB 15 13 .536 4 15 15 .500 5 9 22 .290 11.5 New Jersey 8 22 .267 12 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 23 7 .767 — 19 11 .633 4 19 11 .633 4 Washington 7 22 .241 15.5 Charlotte Central Division Chicago Indiana 3 26 .103 19.5 WL Pct GB 24 7 .774 — 17 12 .586 6 Milwaukee 12 17 .414 11 Cleveland 11 16 .407 11 Detroit 9 22 .290 15 —————————————————— Wednesday's results New York 100, Sacramento 85 Portland at Golden State, late Atlanta 101, Phoenix 99 Cleveland 98, Indiana 87 Dallas 102, Denver 84 Detroit 98, Boston 88 Houston 96, Oklahoma City 95 Memphis 105, New Jersey 100 Minnesota 102, Charlotte 90 New Orleans 92, Milwaukee 89 Orlando 103, Philadelphia 87 San Antonio 113, Toronto 106 Washington at L.A. Clippers, late Today's games New Jersey at Indiana, 4 p.m. Boston at Chicago, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Portland, 7:30 p.m. Friday's games Sacramento at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Golden State at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. Charlotte at Toronto, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Orlando, 4 p.m. Miami at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at Philadelphia, 5 p.m. Denver at Memphis, 5 p.m. Minnesota at Houston, 5 p.m. New Orleans at New York, 5 p.m. Washington at Utah, 6 p.m. Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m.