Luke Donald digs in to challenge at Doral going into final round

One day the meek will inherit the earth, and pretty soon they might reach the summit of professional golf courtesy of Luke Donald, who continues to assert himself on the biggest stages. The world golf championships have neither the history or the prestige of the majors but in the grander scheme of golf they are not piddling affairs. They carry a hefty prize fund – $8.5 million (£5.3m) will be divided up after today's climax to the Cadillac Championship – and a boatload of world ranking points. The Englishman has already won one of them this season, last month's Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, and he will begin the final round at Doral with a chance to make it two in a row after a third-round 66 which once again showcased his qualities as a golfer. He drives the ball straight, he strikes his irons purely and he putts with the accuracy of an atomic clock. A bogey on the final hole was a solitary blemish on his card but it did not dent his spirits. "Right now I am playing some of the best golf I have ever played. I am swinging a little better – it is more technically sound and I am feeling more confident on certain shots than I did last year. The results are showing that," he said – a confident assertion, undoubtedly, but one that found no disagreement. Donald, currently ranked No3 in the world, spent his first two rounds in the company of Martin Kaymer, No1, and Lee Westwood, No2 – two Europeans – but he will spend his last alongside the big-hitting American Dustin Johnson, who leads the tournament after 54 holes on 13 under par. Talk about a contrast in styles. Johnson is all John Wayne swagger, Donald is more of a John Mills type. It should make for excellent viewing. For all his obvious talent, Johnson has had an indifferent year. He has won four times on PGA Tour but recent history suggests that carrying a lead into the final round is more of a burden to him than it should be. He shot 82 on Sunday in last year's US Open, remember – a woeful effort that cost him his first major championship. Anything like that on Sunday at Doral and Donald will pass him in the fast lane. The Englishman is not the most ruthless closer in golf – not yet, anyway – but he is not in the business of wholesale collapse. In as much as anything is certain in golf, he is unlikely to shoot a score worse than the par of 72. That's the good news. The bad news for Donald is that level par is unlikely to be good enough to win, not on a golf course that is playing (relatively) easy, in conditions that are forecast to be good and with a leaderboard that is – as they like to say in these parts – stacked. Tied alongside Donald in second place, on 11 under par, are Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney, two of the more impressive Americans from the post-Tiger generation. Watney, especially, is a talented player — another "bomber" off the tee with a decent touch around the greens. But more interestingly, perhaps, Rory McIlroy is one of four players who lie one shot further back, on 10 under par. The young Irishman has an affinity with Doral, having come here for the first time at the age of eight to play in a junior golf tournament. He came back a year later and won the event. It goes without saying he would like to win here again, though McIlroy said it anyway. "I didn't play my best golf but I hung in there," he said after signing for a three-under-par 69. "Three back of the leader isn't a bad position to be in." That takes care of the most significant names at the top of the leaderboard. As for the most significant names who are absent, Martin Kaymer is perhaps the most surprising. The world No1 started the third round in the final pairing but played his first nine in three over par to fall back. He picked up a shot on the back nine but a two-over-par 74 cost him a chance of victory. Less surprisingly, Tiger Woods had another uneventful day at the office, signing for a two-under-par 70 and 30th place in a field of 66 players. Ho-hum has never been the great man's destiny but that is what he is these days.