GOLF TOUR NEWS:IN MORE ways than one, Rory McIlroy has the world at his feet. Having confirmed that he will be taking up full membership of the US Tour next year, the 20-year-old Ulsterman this week enters the final phase of the European Tour season with destiny in his own hands as he seeks to close the deal and top the Order of Merit in the Dubai World Championship over The Earth course in the emirate.
McIlroy’s runner-up finish in the Hong Kong Open on Sunday moved him to a career-high 13th in the official world rankings but, of rather greater significance, he has assumed pole position in the race to win the 2009 European Tour title going into the final counting event.
If he succeeds in finishing off the job in the desert, he will become just the third Irishman – following on from Ronan Rafferty in 1979 and Pádraig Harrington in 2006 – to claim such an honour since the advent of the modern tour in 1971.
In attempting to become the second youngest ever winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy – only Seve Ballesteros, who was 19 when winning his first money title in 1979, has been younger when achieving the feat – MciIlroy is aware of the mathematics involved and bullish about his prospects, as he has a lead of €128,172 over nearest challenger Lee Westwood.
Only three players – Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher – have the chance to overhaul McIlroy, but the northerner has adopted a tough stance.
“I am the man to beat, and that’s the way I wanted it . . . I won’t be trying to protect a lead or finish ahead of this guy or that guy. I want to win. If I win, it will take care of everything,” said McIlroy, who is the youngest player in the 58-man field but who has the highest number of top-10 finishes (13) on tour this season, a measure of his consistency.
McIlroy’s only win on tour this year came in the Dubai Desert Classic and one of his principal sponsors in the Jumeirah estates based in the Gulf state, so he will face the finale to the long road to Dubai in some familiar surroundings.
There are six Irish players in the field, McIlroy joined by Harrington, who missed Hong Kong to take a family holiday, Graeme McDowell, Peter Lawrie, tour rookie Gareth Maybin and Damien McGrane in the tournament which has a top prize of €830,675 but which also offers bonus money to the top-15 finishers on the Order of Merit – the eventual number one will add a further €1 million – and, so, offers a fitting spring finish to the marathon race.
Unfortunately for Darren Clarke, he has just missed out on a place in the field.
Clarke finished 61st in the Race to Dubai standings after Hong Kong, from which the top-60 players earned their tickets to the season finale. However, the fact that Geoff Ogilvy and the injured Paul Casey failed to take up their places (reducing the field to 58 players) didn’t offer Clarke any second chance and he will have to play the role of TV spectator as his young protégé - goes in quest of the Order of Merit title.
The mathematics is quite simple with regard to who can take the title: if either McIlroy, Westwood or Kaymer win in Dubai, that player would have an unassailable lead.
For Fisher to leapfrog into the lead, he would have to win in Dubai and for those ahead of him to finish outside the top-two.
“My aim is to win both the Order of Merit and the tournament, that’s what I am there to do,” said McIlroy, who pointed out he enters the event with “a good momentum” after being a combined 11-under for his two weekend rounds in Hong Kong.
Of his decision to confirm he will take up his US Tour card for 2010, McIlroy – who played 11 tournaments in the US this season including all the majors and the WGC events, meaning he only has to add a further four to his stateside schedule to fulfill the minimum requirement of 15 events – said: “You can see from my efforts in the majors this year that I like to play in those fields because I just seem to be up for them and they offer a bigger challenge. I can’t thank the European Tour enough but I’m just in the privileged position where I can play wherever I want, and besides I earned enough money in US Tour events to get my card.”
Incidentally, his fellow-Ulsterman McDowell – who will partner McIlroy for Ireland in next week’s World Cup in China – has moved back into the top-50 in the latest world rankings, in 50th.
He needs to stay there until the end of December if he is to earn an invite to the US Masters in April.
