McDowell and McIlroy set out on new Mission
Harry Bradshaw and Christy O’Connor Snr first lifted the title for Ireland in Mexico City (1958) before Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley triumphed at Kiawah Island in 1987.
The format of the biannual event has changed with time and it is now a team event with a series of fourballs, foursomes and scotch foursomes.
McIlroy returns to competitive action after a fortnight spent with tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki while McDowell is confident that a week off after encouraging performances in Shanghai and Singapore leaves him in good shape to atone for the 2009 disappointment.
On that occasion, McIlroy and McDowell combined to shoot 28 under par for the 72 holes but were pipped by the Molinaris. Two other sets of brothers, Camilo and Manuel Villegas (Colombia) and Ricardo and Hugo Santos (Portugal) will also be challenging, while there are a number of other combinations of note.
They include South Africa’s dual Major winners Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen; Justin Rose and Ian Poulter (England), Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Bourdy (France), Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer (Germany) and Robert Karlsson and Alex Noren (Sweden).
Meanwhile, his share of third in Malaysia has moved Harrington up to 65th on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit. He still has work to do, however, in next week’s Hong Kong Open (the final counting event) to get among the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending Dubai World Championship (December 11-14). He is 36,259 points adrift of the Scot, Stephen Gallacher, currently holding down the 60th and final spot.
Harrington has improved three spots to 80th in the world rankings.
Another man hoping for a change in fortunes is British Open champion Darren Clarke. His best finish since his July glory was 35th in the European Masters in the Swiss Alps and there have been a couple of missed cuts along with last place in the Grand Slam of Golf in the Bahamas. However, he is confident that work on the practice ground at Portrush will pay off eventually.
“Even when it’s raining hard, I come down and practice for a few hours,” he said. “I feel I have to prove myself all over again. I know it’s wrong and that I’m trying too hard and in turn that’s why I’m playing so poorly. But I can’t stop myself.”
Clarke’s busy end-of-year schedule kicks off on Thursday in the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. After that, he’s off to Sun City in South Africa for the Nedbank Challenge and follows up with the Dubai Championship and the new Thailand Championship in Bangkok in the week before Christmas.
McIlroy also plays in that event which is proving surprisingly attractive to the top players given that the total prize money is a modest $1m (€743,000) and the less than satisfactory time of year. Clarke and McIlroy are so insistent on being there that the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme, usually held on the Sunday before Christmas, has been deferred until December 22 so the pair, leading contenders for the award, can be in London.
Presumably, the appearance money on offer in Bangkok will provide compensation for any inconvenience caused!
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