McIlroy ready for a dog-fight in the race to be Europe's number one

WHO KNOWS if Rory McIlroy is a student of history, but he has taken a leaf out of former French president Charles de Gaulle’s book in a philosophical take on being overtaken by Lee Westwood atop the European Tour money list: the battle may have been lost, but not the war.

With Westwood moving to fifth in the world rankings after his Portugal Masters victory on Sunday, McIlroy – now second in the Race to Dubai standings and 17th in the world – has pledged to make a real dog-fight of the quest to be crowned European kingpin come next month’s finale in the Dubai World Championship, which concludes the race to top the Order of Merit.

“I will be giving chase to Mr Westwood over the coming weeks, (and) as we are both playing exactly the same events, I can keep a close eye on him and see what he’s up to,” remarked McIlroy, who has decided to remain in Portugal for a few days practising before driving to the south of Spain for next week’s Volvo World Matchplay at Finca Cortesin.

McIlroy, in fact, will finish his quest for the Vardon Trophy with an identical itinerary to Westwood — who is €209,245 ahead of the Ulsterman. That takes in next week’s new-look World Matchplay, which has a Champions’ League-style group qualifying stage before reaching the knockouts; the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, and the Hong Kong Open, before getting to the decisive tournament in Dubai.

In remarking yesterday that he’d enjoyed one of his “best ball-striking weeks I’ve ever had,” McIlroy expanded of his Portuguese experience: “I hit it great off the tee, my iron play was really good and I gave myself so many chances, (but) the putting averages were horrendous . . . it was a really frustrating week on the greens.

“Anyway, it wasn’t all bad and I took away a lot of positives from it and that gives me confidence going into the last few events of the season.”

McIlroy will be enjoying a rare down week in missing out on the Castello Masters in Costa Azahar, where Sergio Garcia is the defending champion.

Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke, who are seeking to make late bids to get to Dubai, and Gary Murphy, attempting to retain his tour card, represent a small Irish contingent.

“I’ve got four really big weeks in a row heading up to the Race to Dubai and I’ve got another two after that (playing the World Cup in China with Graeme McDowell and then Sun City), so I thought I’d use this week as a bit of a chill out and practice,” said McIlroy.

McDowell took the decision yesterday to withdraw from this week’s Castello Masters.

He explained: “I played poorly last week (when he missed the cut for the first time since the French Open in July), very poorly. It’s as simple as that. I am not making excuses. I just played bad.

“I have some work to do on my game . . . my swing is a bit cold at the moment and I am going to address that before heading out to Asia.”

McDowell intends to play in next week’s Singapore Open, but he must win that tournament if he is to get into the following week’s big-money, no-cut HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.

He has yet to decide if he will play the Hong Kong Open, but is assured of his place in the season-ending Dubai World Championship which is confined to the top-60 on the money list after Hong Kong.

McDowell is 37th in the Race to Dubai rankings but, more worryingly for him, has fallen to 54th in the world and needs to move back into the top-50 by year’s end if he is to secure an invitation back to Augusta for the US Masters in April.

Pádraig Harrington, like McIlroy, is taking a week out ahead of a hectic, late-season campaign. The 38-year-old Dubliner’s third place finish in Portugal has moved him to sixth in the world and into the top-15 in the European Tour order of merit standings.

However, Harrington – whose schedule will see him play in Singapore, the HSBC Champions and then Dubai – probably needs a couple of victories in that stint if he is to have any chance of catching Westwood.

This is an important week for Kilkenny golfer Murphy, who is 119th in the Order of Merit (with the top 115 on the money list securing tour cards).

As things stand, Murphy won’t get into next week’s Singapore Open (he needs a top-10 finish in Castello this week to earn a late invitation), so will need to at least survive all four rounds on Garcia’s home course in his bid to make an upward move.