Rory McIlroy thriving as heat rises
FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Karl MacGinty
Rory McIlroy faces the greatest challenge of his life at this week's $7.5m Dubai World Championship as he bids to become the youngest player since Seve Ballesteros to capture the Harry Vardon Trophy.
Indeed, the pressure on McIlroy (20) to win the inaugural Race to Dubai is infinitely more intense than that faced by 19-year-old Seve in 1976, when he romped away from Eamonn Darcy and Sam Torrance to win the first of his six European Order of Merit titles.
McIlroy's second-place finish in Hong Kong on Sunday puts him 128,172 euros ahead of his closest rival and International Sports Management stablemate Lee Westwood going into this week's showdown on the spectacular new Earth Course in Dubai.
That looks like a king's ransom to many of us poor schmucks struggling just to keep a roof over our head but McIlroy's lead could vanish quicker this weekend than the Nama billions in an event which offers 830,675 euros to the winner, 553,781 euros for second, ‘just' 199,362 euros to the man in fifth place or a paltry 114,633 euros for 10th.
Yet only the top four in the current money list (McIlroy, Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher) have a mathematical chance of winning the inaugural Race to Dubai following the withdrawal of Paul Casey through injury from this week's finale.
As he peruses the world from a career-high 13th in the world rankings and within reach of the top-10 target he'd set himself after winning the Dubai Desert Classic last February, nobody is better equipped than McIlroy to handle the potentially blinding spotlight which will focus on him this week.
His remarkable gift for golf is only part of the story. This young man from Holywood is incredibly self-assured. Under that curly mop of black hair and an affable boyish exterior, McIlroy knows where his destiny lies and how to get there.
In recent days, McIlroy gave the world a glimpse of his steely resolve with the decision to take out his US PGA Tour card in 2010. Less than a month ago, as speculation raged about his young client's future, SportsBusiness Journal in the US received an email from McIlroy's agent, Chubby Chandler, the larger-than-life founder of ISM, which bluntly stated:
“Rory has decided not to join the PGA Tour in 2010.” There was no elaboration — the master, it seemed, had spoken. However, when the matter was raised with McIlroy at the recent Volvo World Match Play, his reply was equally blunt: “I saw that. That's not accurate.”
Precisely how inaccurate was revealed last week when McIlroy, despite the obvious wishes of his manager, announced that he would take that leap of faith into American golf next season. Plainly, this young man prefers to pull the strings, not dance lamely on the end of them.
After watching him flourish under the spotlight as he made his debut in the United States and then impress on his first visit to the US Masters, US Open and US PGA, it's clear that McIlroy appreciates the advantages of being a member of both the PGA and European Tours.
Don't mind the naysayers — the pitfalls are few and far between for a player of McIlroy's ability. He'll have little difficulty fulfilling the requirement to play 15 tournaments on the US roster. Including the Majors and World Golf Championships, McIlroy competed in 11 in 2009, while 13 already figure on the schedule he's announced for the eight months from January to next August's US PGA.
Indeed, McIlroy will play one less tournament in that time than he did in the same period this year and, given his plan to establish a base in the US, he'll also make fewer trips back and forth across the Atlantic. Qualification for the FedEx Cup play-offs would propel McIlroy through the 15-tournament threshold and, once October's Ryder Cup is over, the Ulster prodigy will be free to devote his full attention to the 2010 Race to Dubai climax.
As he proved with last week's decision, McIlroy is no longer the wide-eyed Tour rookie of 25 months ago. In that remarkably short space of time, he has grown into a young man with more than enough strength of character to prevail in the Dubai melting pot this week . . . and take America by storm in 2010.
FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Karl MacGinty
Rory McIlroy faces the greatest challenge of his life at this week's $7.5m Dubai World Championship as he bids to become the youngest player since Seve Ballesteros to capture the Harry Vardon Trophy.
Indeed, the pressure on McIlroy (20) to win the inaugural Race to Dubai is infinitely more intense than that faced by 19-year-old Seve in 1976, when he romped away from Eamonn Darcy and Sam Torrance to win the first of his six European Order of Merit titles.
McIlroy's second-place finish in Hong Kong on Sunday puts him 128,172 euros ahead of his closest rival and International Sports Management stablemate Lee Westwood going into this week's showdown on the spectacular new Earth Course in Dubai.
That looks like a king's ransom to many of us poor schmucks struggling just to keep a roof over our head but McIlroy's lead could vanish quicker this weekend than the Nama billions in an event which offers 830,675 euros to the winner, 553,781 euros for second, ‘just' 199,362 euros to the man in fifth place or a paltry 114,633 euros for 10th.
Yet only the top four in the current money list (McIlroy, Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher) have a mathematical chance of winning the inaugural Race to Dubai following the withdrawal of Paul Casey through injury from this week's finale.
As he peruses the world from a career-high 13th in the world rankings and within reach of the top-10 target he'd set himself after winning the Dubai Desert Classic last February, nobody is better equipped than McIlroy to handle the potentially blinding spotlight which will focus on him this week.
His remarkable gift for golf is only part of the story. This young man from Holywood is incredibly self-assured. Under that curly mop of black hair and an affable boyish exterior, McIlroy knows where his destiny lies and how to get there.
In recent days, McIlroy gave the world a glimpse of his steely resolve with the decision to take out his US PGA Tour card in 2010. Less than a month ago, as speculation raged about his young client's future, SportsBusiness Journal in the US received an email from McIlroy's agent, Chubby Chandler, the larger-than-life founder of ISM, which bluntly stated:
“Rory has decided not to join the PGA Tour in 2010.” There was no elaboration — the master, it seemed, had spoken. However, when the matter was raised with McIlroy at the recent Volvo World Match Play, his reply was equally blunt: “I saw that. That's not accurate.”
Precisely how inaccurate was revealed last week when McIlroy, despite the obvious wishes of his manager, announced that he would take that leap of faith into American golf next season. Plainly, this young man prefers to pull the strings, not dance lamely on the end of them.
After watching him flourish under the spotlight as he made his debut in the United States and then impress on his first visit to the US Masters, US Open and US PGA, it's clear that McIlroy appreciates the advantages of being a member of both the PGA and European Tours.
Don't mind the naysayers — the pitfalls are few and far between for a player of McIlroy's ability. He'll have little difficulty fulfilling the requirement to play 15 tournaments on the US roster. Including the Majors and World Golf Championships, McIlroy competed in 11 in 2009, while 13 already figure on the schedule he's announced for the eight months from January to next August's US PGA.
Indeed, McIlroy will play one less tournament in that time than he did in the same period this year and, given his plan to establish a base in the US, he'll also make fewer trips back and forth across the Atlantic. Qualification for the FedEx Cup play-offs would propel McIlroy through the 15-tournament threshold and, once October's Ryder Cup is over, the Ulster prodigy will be free to devote his full attention to the 2010 Race to Dubai climax.
As he proved with last week's decision, McIlroy is no longer the wide-eyed Tour rookie of 25 months ago. In that remarkably short space of time, he has grown into a young man with more than enough strength of character to prevail in the Dubai melting pot this week . . . and take America by storm in 2010.
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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