McIlroy mission on hold as Hunter bags Arizona prize

Rory McIlroy’s relentlessmission to become thenumber one golfer in the world continues this week at the Honda Classic at PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The youngster’s burning ambition to head the rankings before his 23rd birthday in May was dashed on Sunday night withdefeat in the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championship final. He failed to produce his best golf against Hunter Mahan but vowed to learn from the experience.

He began the final day with his concentration entirely on hissemi-final clash with Lee Westwood. The duo were close friends while McIlroy was part of Chubby Chandler’s ISM ‘stable’ but there was a little cooling off between them when the Irish star moved to Conor Ridge’s Dublin-based Horizon Sports. Three down after four, the Holywood tyro rattled off five birdies in seven holes to beat Westwood on the 17th.