Erratic McIlroy keeps the pressure on leaders
THE erratic nature of Rory McIlroy’s game at the moment was summed up by two-consecutive holes at the BMW Championship yesterday. Well in contention after sinking four birdie putts in his first seven holes, the Holywood man missed the green on the par-three eighth and ended up with a double bogey. He immediately followed up with an eagle at the 600-yard parfive ninth.
McIlroy did settle down thereafter, staying three off the lead of Justin Rose with a birdie at 13. A strong finish here will see him playing next week’s FedEx Cup closing Tour Championship.
Ian Poulter who was well off the pace made it clear that would rather be refreshed and ready for the Ryder Cup than play for £7million the week before in Atlanta.
The 42-year-old’s stirring return to the big-time this season was rewarded on Wednesday when he was handed a Ryder Cup wild card by Europe captain Thomas Bjorn. He is also currently playing in the BMW Championship in Pennsylvania, where the top 30 in the FedEx list go on to compete in the final event of the PGA Tour season at East Lake in 10 days.
But when asked how excited he was by the possibility of playing in that event for the first time, Poulter could hardly have been clearer where his priorities lie – the FedEx millions might as well be pocket change as far as he is concerned.
‘Let me be honest here and say I would be quite happy to have that week off to make sure I’m ready for Paris,’ he said. Poulter is currently competing in his ninth event of a possible 11-week marathon run, although he was well out of contention last night at the BMW and only a final-round surge will see him hit that top 30.
The Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup would make it 11 events in 14 weeks and Poulter can see the warning signs that the mental batteries could be less than fully charged by the time he reached the first tee in Versailles. In turn, you can imagine how unpalatable that would be for a man whose career has been largely defined by his Ryder Cup deeds, including the miracle he inspired at Medinah in 2012.
The Englishman was not at his best during the first two FedEx play-off events, nor in the BMW Tournament and he looks likely to get his week off before East Lake, which is what the Aronimink course resembled yesterday morning as play was delayed with the course flooded due to heavy rain.
A Monday finish would delay Jim Furyk’s final wild card announcement, but Tiger Woods, the recipient of one of the first three, is hovering on the cut line for the FedEx top 30. He started off with a brace of birdies yesterday but rather than charge for the lead as the massed galleries following him wanted, he then parred 11 holes in a row before his third birdie came at the 14th and another followed two holes later.
However, such is the return to form of Woods that any extra golf for him can only be a good thing at the moment to keep the momentum going before the showdown in France.
The top of the leaderboard last night was looking like a Europe versus United States battle, with the likes of Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy going toe to toe with Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson among others.
Meanwhile, defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick fired a brilliant 63 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
The Englishman was one of the contenders left disappointed when European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn selected his wild cards on Wednesday but he showed no ill effects in Crans-Montana, charging to 14 under with a bogey-free effort. Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera was his nearest challenger, with England’s Daniel Brooks one of five players in a group four shots off the lead. A victory for Fitzpatrick on Sunday would see him become the first man to successfully defend the title since the great Seve Ballesteros in 1978 and his record at Crans-surSierre is formidable, with eight scores of 65 or lower in 17 rounds. The 24-year-old sandwiched a long putt on the fifth with smart approaches into the second and sixth and when he holed a chip for eagle on the short par-four seventh, he led by three. A run of seven pars allowed Lorenzo-Vera to reel him in but Fitzpatrick got up and down from over the back of the par-five 15th and then rolled home a 40-foot putt on the last to re-establish a cushion.