McIlroy mission on hold as Hunter bags Arizona prize
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.
Alas, he couldn’t replicate the feat against Mahan and wondered if he had “used up too much energy against Lee. No disrespect to the other two guys [Mahan and Mark Wilson] in the other semi-final but to me it was my final in a way”.
To some, that statement may seem disingenuous given the prize at stake. Whether it’s a legitimate excuse or not, the fact remains that McIlroy added hugely to his burgeoning reputation in Arizona, a point not lost on Mahan, who admitted: “Rory’s phenomenal. He’s really talented and he’ll be number one eventually but deep down I wanted to postpone that day.”
Mahan is now up to number nine in the rankings and takes a well earned five-week break.
However, McIlroy now travels across America to Palm Beach Gardens for the first tournament on the ‘Florida Swing’.
Another big finish in the Honda will move him to the top spot ahead of Luke Donald, who has started the new campaign on a low note and isn’t playing this week. Should McIlroy secure the top spot, he will become the second youngest player to hold the title — Tiger Woods was 21 years, five months and two weeks old when he reached the summit in June 1997.
Woods went on to be number one player for 623 weeks, 281 of them consecutively. So can McIlroy match such an achievement?
Impossible? Maybe, but nobody should underestimate what this remarkably talented young man is capable of achieving.
Jack Nicklaus has 18 Major championships to his credit, Woods 14. McIlroy already has one and with Woods, Phil Mickelson and the other greats of the modern era shedding more and more of their lustre, the man from Holywood shines like a beacon.
True, there are many outstanding young tyros such as Ryo Ishakawa, Matteo Manassero, Rickie Fowler and the Korean Bae Sang-Moon.
But McIlroy has a head start and the way he has challenged for wins in virtually every tournament he has contested since his runaway eight-shot victory in last June’s US Open — capped by his performance in the WGC — underlines his potential.
He is joined in the Honda this week by three more Irishmen: Graeme McDowell (now 15th in the world rankings), Darren Clarke (56th) and Pádraig Harrington (87th).
Harrington captured this title in 2005 and needs a similar outcome this time if he is to crash the top 50 and get back into the many big tournaments looming that contain those priceless world ranking and Ryder Cup points.
Westwood, (third) and Woods (21st) are also involved this week and interestingly every British Open champion since 2005 has entered: Woods (’05, ’06); Harrington (’07, ’08); Stewart Cink (’09); Louis Oosthuizen (’10) and Clarke (’11).
