Bragging rights on Rory’s radar ahead of hitting the beach

It was as though the Turkish weather was bigger than the combined presence of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods when a violent electrical storm delayed their much-anticipated matchplay showdown.

However, when play does resume today in the third round of the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, McIlroy’s flight into the semi-finals of the €4m event in Belek already looks grounded.

McIlroy lost his second straight match, to 2011 Masters champion, Charl Schwartzel, who, in a near mirror of the manner the South African won at Augusta last year, birdied his three closing holes to beat the County Down man.

World No 1 McIlroy still remains in the picture to capture the €1.16m first prize cheque but he is already harbouring the thought of spending the weekend lying along the Mediterranean with girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki.

“It looks like I’ll get to spend a day on the beach, which will be nice,” said McIlroy.

However, McIlroy’s pride is not about to see him hand victory to Woods because if he does win — and it will have to be with a round on the Sultan Course at the Antalya Club better than a 67 — then he could still go through. However, he will then require Schwartzel, who is guaranteed to go through after winning both his matches, to beat Matt Kuchar. If Kuchar succeeds where McIlroy failed then both the Irishman and Woods will be knocked out.

If Kuchar does lose and McIlroy beats Woods, then there is a series of count-backs, starting with the best three-round aggregate score, to establish who joins Schwartzel.

“So in my match now against Tiger I will be out to get back a bit of pride and at least leave here winning one match,” said McIlroy.

“It will be exciting to play against him as he still has the chance to go through so he will be looking to win his match.

“I now don’t have much to play for so I would like to beat him so he doesn’t go through to the semi-finals and also get some bragging rights.

“Of course, there is always an added edge when you play against a player like Tiger and there were a few chances this year when we could have gone head-to-head in the bigger tournaments but it didn’t quite happen.

“So I am still looking forward to next season when we can go head-to-head down the stretch. And bragging rights from this week will help a little bit.”

Meanwhile, Martin Kaymer and Francesco Molinari are the two members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in the field for the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura this weekend.

They have been paired in the first two rounds with Ryder Cup-winning captain Jose Maria Olazabal.

Olazabal put them in the bottom two positions in the singles when his side were four points behind. After a spectacular fightback Kaymer beat Steve Stricker to guarantee the cup stayed in European hands and then Molinari’s half with Tiger Woods gave Europe victory in the match.

Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke, both in the hunt to be the next Ryder Cup captain for Europe, are also in the field. They are joined by countrymen Pádraig Harrington, Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane.