Rory out to rewrite legacy at Doral after water woe
IF Rory McIlroy needed any further incentive to get back on track at Doral this week following a final round blowout and a missed cut in his last two events, the sight of a mounted three i ron of his on permanent display in the reception lobby might do the trick.
Normally, golf clubs presented like this are a source of pride for the player, since they’ re usually illustrative of a rare blow pulled off in the heat of battle to win a prestige event. Rory’s commemorates the fact he probably pulled off a world record for distance when he tossed the club furiously into a lake.
It’s safe to assume that, when it comes to the famed Miami course, known as the Blue Monster for its plethora of water hazards, rds, he’dhe d like to be remembered d for something other than that.hat.
The incident happened d last year, when the Dorall owner Donald Trump dispatched a scuba diver to find the club and, less than 48 hours later to McIlroy’s obvious disquiet, announced his intentions to have itt displayed.
Trump has one or twowo other things to occupyy his mind t his year, of course course, as he seeks to wrap up the Republican nomination to be US President, but he’s promised to put in an appearance on Sunday. Oh, joy. It will be one more sideshow at an event that promises to be a notable one as the Masters next month looms ever closer.
You can tell it’s March and things have started to get serious by the fact this is the first event since last September where the so-called Big Three — McIlroy, Australian Jason Day and world No 1 Jordan Spieth — will all be in attendance.
If truth be told, it’ s not just McIlroy looking for a return to form. Spieth was positively shocking in his last outing in Los Angeles while Day has played like a man sti still trying to come to terms with all he achie achieved last season. The course was redesigned for last year’s event and proved a bomber’s alley, so should be ideal for Day and McIlroy to step up their Augusta preparations. Perfect too for the likes of in-form Bubba Watson and defending c hampion Dustin Johnson.
It might also produce a landmark in the history of British and Irish golf. This Cadillac- sponsored tournament is one of the four elite-field World Golf Championship events that sit one rung below the majors and just happens to be the only one not presently held by a golfer from these isles. McIlroy, Shane Lowry and the quiet Scot Russell Knox own the other three.
YES, we know big-time golf is full of stress and never more so than when a title is on the line, but is it really necessary to look quite so miserable as Sergio Garcia does these days? We saw a lot of the temperamental Spaniard on our screens last week as he ran Adam Scott close in the Honda Classic in Florida, and another runner-up finish must be frustrating when you’ve got twice as many of those (16) as you have PGA Tour wins (eight). But to appear so joyless and down on your luck? Sadly, at 36, Garcia is now so far removed from the vibrant and charismatic figure of his youth as to be virtually unrecognisable.