Players Championship 2012 Leaderboard: Rory McIlroy Ready to Ditch Luke Donald

The difference between Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald on the leaderboard at the 2012 Players Championship—three strokes after the first 10 holes—may not be insurmountable, but it is indicative of the growing gap between the top two contenders in the Official World Golf Rankings.

McIlroy, the 23-year-old phenom from Northern Ireland, sits at No. 1 after four top-three finishes in five events this season. Donald, with whom McIlroy has traded places six times in the last 10 weeks, has three top 10s but has finished outside of the top 30 on four other occasions.

Both struggled in The Masters, where Rory started fast before fading over the weekend and Luke finished strong after languishing out of the gate.

Only one, though, has ever won a major championship. That distinction belongs to McIlroy, who obliterated the field at the 2011 US Open shortly after tanking at Augusta.

Of course, that won't matter much if Donald finishes significantly ahead of McIlroy at TPC-Sawgrass this weekend. He's close enough to the top (0.39 points behind McIlroy) to leapfrog Rory with a strong showing at the Players Championship, the unofficial fifth major and the most important non-major event of the season as far as points and prestige are concerned.

Then again, neither was able to hold so much as a candle to Ian Poulter, who turned in a scorching 65 to close his round as the leader in the clubhouse. Rory has at least shown the sort of gumption in the past to put himself in position to contend early on, even if his youth still leaves him prone to the deleterious effects of pressure.

Luke, on the other hand, is a solid player himself, but one with a propensity to play better when the lights are dim and he's out of the running.

In a perfect world, the race for No. 1 would include another candidate or two to compete for the top of the mountain.

But in this age of golf—when Tiger Woods is a star in name only—a battle between two dudes from the British Isles would appear to be the best golf fans can hope for.

Let's just hope one of the two stakes a solid claims to the throne and makes things a bit more interesting.

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