Rory McIlroy’s never-ending season moves on with this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, his 24th tournament of the year and fifth in six weeks; and, not for the first time this season, the world number three heads into another big tournament tasked with digging into his bank of resilience. It must be running dry at this point.
The crumbs of comfort from McIlroy’s near-miss in the Amgen Irish Open weren’t hard to find, though. In finishing runner-up to Rasmus Højgaard, the Northern Irishman’s financial takings were €595,507 while he remains secure at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings in his quest for a sixth order of merit title, closing in on the record eight of Colin Montgomerie.
Then, there were the three shots McIlroy produced on the 18th. Two behind Højgaard after that three-putt bogey on the 17th, McIlroy knew what was needed to force a sudden-death play-off and very nearly did so. The drive was bold and true, threading the bunkers, while the 7-iron approach to 10-feet was class. But the putt, a pure roll, failed to provide the dramatic finale which would have brought an encore.
“I was shaking in the recording [hut]. It’s a tough one. I obviously expected him to make it,” Højgaard would remark afterwards.
McIlroy, too, expected to make that eagle putt because, in a career which, let’s remember, has garnered 40 professional wins worldwide, that is what he has done more often than he has not. Indeed, three of those wins have come this year – in the Dubai Desert Classic, the Zurich Classic and the Wells Fargo – except, the failings, most notably in the US Open and now at Royal County Down, have been so raw and emotionally hurtful.
In heading on to Wentworth, where he has ongoing plans to own a London home, McIlroy – a winner of the tour’s flagship event a decade ago, in 2014, when he edged out Shane Lowry – will aim to bounce back. His parting shot in the media mixed zone said as much, “hopefully the tide is going to turn pretty soon, and I can turn all these close calls into victories.”
The exit routes from Royal County Down for the five Irish players who made the cut in the Amgen Irish Open saw three – McIlroy, Lowry and Tom McKibbin – headed to Wentworth; amateur Seán Keeling back to college in Texas Tech, and Séamus Power returning to Las Vegas for further investigation into a skin cancer lesion on his arm.
Power is unsure of what his upcoming scheduling will be, obviously based on what his medical team advise.
For Lowry, not unlike McIlroy, this past few months has been hectic. By the time he finishes off his European stretch of events at the Dunhill Links – the Irish Open followed by this week’s BMW PGA and next week’s Spanish Open – he will have played for nine of 10 weeks.
“I’m not going to lie, the golf is fine. It’s just being away from home and being away from the kids is getting harder and harder. They both understand now that you’re away and that’s the hardest part. I’ve got three weeks left in this run and I am counting down the days but also still trying to focus on my job and career and play as good golf as I can,” said Lowry, adding:
“I have a Ryder Cup to make so this will help hopefully but I looked at my schedule last week and, after the Dunhill, I have probably got two tournaments in about three months. That’s going to be pretty nice. Even some time to rest and work on other stuff and just get myself ready for next season.”
Those two end-of-season tournaments in the United Arab Emirates are the run-in to the Race to Dubai, the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship finale in Dubai.
Lowry’s approach this week will be light touch in terms of preparation before the championship gets going with Thursday’s first round as he goes in search of a win. His only success this year came in teaming up with McIlroy at the Zurich Classic but, otherwise, it has been a hugely consistent campaign with just two missed cuts in 23 events.
“If I’m being honest, I’d probably take a little bit of less consistency and give me a win or two but it is what it is. You can only keep trying, keep putting yourself there. The more you put yourself there the more chance you have of getting it done ... it goes without saying, to win at Wentworth would be pretty cool,” said Lowry.
In all, there are five Irish players in the field at Wentworth for the $9 million tournament: McIlroy, Lowry, McKibbin, Pádraig Harrington and Simon Thornton.
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