Mcilroy hoping he can plot Poulter’s downfall and help discover some Masters form
RORY Mcilroy can gain some much-needed Masters confidence if he delivers and beats Ryder Cup “postman” Ian Poulter in the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tomorrow.
Winner of the title at Harding Park in 2015, the 11th seed would be boosted by a victory over Europe’s Ryder Cup talisman in his opening Group 11 clash at Austin Country Club as last year’s Masters runner-up, Australian Cameron Smith, takes on big-hitting Lanto Griffin.
The 16 group winners will progress with the champion in Mcilroy’s group to face Xander Schauffele, Andy Sullivan, Scottie Scheffler or two-time WGC Match Play winner Jason Day.
Struggling for form since he started copying Bryson Dechambeau and chasing speed, Mcilroy worked with Pete Cowen at the Bear’s Club early last week, looking to correct the two-way miss that caused him to miss the cut in The Players.
If he finds form, he could face Jon Rahm or Daniel Berger in the quarter-finals and Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed or Patrick Cantlay in the semis, providing the top seeds prevail.
No.1 seed Dustin Johnson is on the opposite side of the draw and on a collision course with Dechambeau as he seeks form ahead of his Masters defence in two weeks.
But Mcilroy could also face Shane Lowry in the quarter-finals if the Offaly man tops Group 3 headed by Rahm. The Spaniard will open his account against Colombia’s Sebastián Muñoz tomorrow as Lowry faces Texan Ryan Palmer, hoping to repeat the improved putting form he showed in The Players and the first two rounds of the Honda Classic.
Ryder Cup skipper Pádraig Harrington will be watching Group 8 with interest as Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Wallace, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia do battle.
However, neither Gary Woodland,
Adam Scott, nor the injured Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose or Tiger Woods will be in Austin. Koepka is also undecided about the Masters, telling Golfweek he had surgery last week after suffering “a right knee cap dislocation and ligament damage”.
In the opposite-field Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, 2019 winner Graeme Mcdowell is joined in the Dominican Republic by Harrington and Seamus Power.
The European Tour returns today with Gavin Moynihan, Jonathan Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin teeing it up at Karen Country Club for the second week running in the Kenya Savannah Classic.
Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow prepare for next week’s opening Major of the season, the ANA Inspiration, in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad from Thursday.
As for amateur Olivia Mehaffey, she blamed the mental game as she closed with a one-over 73 and slipped to tied for sixth in the Symetra Tour’s Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic on Sunday.
“It was mental,” said Mehaffey, who joins Forrest Little’s Julie Mccarthy in next week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“It’s something I’ve been working through the past few months. I struggle to commit and see a shot,” she added.
Meanwhile, Justin Harding feels the pressure is off as he makes a quick return to the scene of Sunday’s triumph.
The European Tour is staging back-to-back events at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi with the Kenya Savannah Classic teeing off today just two days after Harding won the Magical Kenya Open. The South African carded a final-round 66 to claim his first tournament victory in two years by two strokes.
“I’m going to enjoy this week,” he said. “It’s exciting, obviously I’ve played well here and it just gives me an opportunity to keep going.
“There is not going to be a lot of pressure. I know I am playing well and it is a golf course that I like.”