PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:AS YOU turn off London Road onto Wentworth Drive, there is a giant billboard. "More drama than Shakespeare," it proclaims of this €4.5 million flagship of the European Tour; and you have to wonder if it is a week late, for this BMW PGA Championship over the West Course has a hard act to follow if it is to live up to the dramatics of Shane Lowry's Irish Open win.
But, you can be sure, it will try. Even without golfing titans of the ilk of Pádraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter, and with Justin Rose a further casualty yesterday due to a back injury, the PGA Championship has sufficient big hitters – the reigning Masters champion, the current Players champion and the hottest young player in the game – to make for a more than interesting few days.
And, of that hottest young player in the game, wouldn’t it be poetic justice if, a matter of days after standing in the rain at Baltray to cheer on his pal to victory and dipping his hand into his deep pockets to pay for the celebratory champagne, Rory McIlroy were to write another chapter in his own blossoming career?
Indeed, McIlroy still had a smile on his face yesterday any time he thought of Lowry’s heroics.
“It was incredible, the way he slept on the lead for two nights in a row and held his nerve coming down the stretch. It took me three times to take my opportunity to win on the European Tour and he’s done it the first time he got a sniff.
“It was a remarkable achievement.”
Now, here, McIlroy will attempt to follow the trend.
A year ago, with the burden of expectation on his shoulders, McIlroy missed the cut. “My debut here wasn’t the best . . . but, you know, I’m looking forward to this week. My mom and dad used to bring me over here to watch the World Matchplay every year in October, so I’ve got really good memories of this place and it’s nice to come here and not have 40-mile-an-hour winds and rain in your face,” said McIlroy.
Memories? The first year McIlroy came over was the occasion that Garcia kicked his shoe off and hit a woman on the head. Another time, Ian Woosnam beat Harrington in the final.
“I just remember (watching ) 36 holes a day, getting up early and running around twice and being knackered. I have really good memories. I think it is a really, really great course. I struggled last year with with my chipping on to the greens, found it a little difficult.
“But, hopefully this year, with that rain at the weekend, the greens will be more consistent. It was firm and bouncy last year, so it won’t be quite as fast this year.”
Much has happened to McIlroy since his debut a year ago. After enduring a couple of near-misses, the Ulsterman claimed a maiden tour win in Dubai in February and he has risen into the world’s top-20.
Now, it is his own expectations that he brings into every tournament rather than those of others.
“Whenever I don’t do well in a certain week, I’m thinking, ‘what went wrong there? Why wasn’t I in contention?’ But golf is a very fickle game. You can come in and out of form very easily.
“I’d a pretty average week (in Baltray) but I’m trying to fix things that went wrong and put them right.”
Last night, McIlroy went for dinner in Darren Clarke’s house – where he expected to hear a couple of words from the man who “sort of points me in the right direction sometimes” about his belief the Ryder Cup is “an exhibition,” comments McIlroy again stood over yesterday in emphasising he is more interested in winning majors – but, from today, when he tees up in a three-ball with Graeme McDowell and Ben Curtis, his aim will be on emulating someone else for a change. He’d love nothing better than to follow up Lowry’s win with another of his own.
PGA Championship
Course: West at Wentworth, Surrey.
Length: 7,320 yards. Par: 72.
Prizemoney: €4.5 million, €750,000 to the winner.
Field: 150.
Defending champion: Miguel Angel Jimenez.
On TV: Live on Sky first two days (10am), then live on BBC last two days (2.15pm).
Weather: Cloudy with rain forecast.
