RORY: I BLEW IT
McIlroy’s mistakes gift win to China’s Li
Talk about one that got away. Rory McIlroy did not attempt to disguise his disappointment after squandering a golden opportunity for his first victory in 16 months at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic yesterday.
‘My feeling right now is that I’m p ***** off — sorry,’ he said.
No apology necessary. This was a defeat to make a saint swear. Outclassing the gutsy 22-year-old Chinese Haotong li with a ballstriking clinic, McIlroy led by two strokes with eight holes to go and again with six to play, yet contrived to make basic mental mistakes that left the door ajar.
Credit the dogged li, who put together an impressive run of four birdies in his last six holes to take full advantage and become the first asian to win this prestigious event, the oldest on the Desert Swing.
But a player of Rory’s pedigree ought to have seen this one through to the end rather than come up a shot shy.
‘ask me in a few days and we can talk about the positives to take from here and last week in abu Dhabi but the competitor in me means it’s difficult to take right now,’ said McIlroy.
‘I’m in the driver’s seat with eight holes to go and then I make a bogey out of nowhere at the 11th with one of my poorest swings of the week. Then another mental mistake with a tentative three-putt at the 13th.
‘Yes, I tried to the end and birdies at the 17th and 18th holes meant he had to win it. But there were a couple of really poor shots in there that I’d love to have back.’
So, the wait for a victory goes on and perhaps we now know why McIlroy will hit the Masters in april from a long run-up, with another six events planned before augusta. after such a messy 2017, it is clear a regular diet of competitive golf is required, for it is hard to imagine Rory making such basic errors when tournament-hardened.
as for the positives, there are plenty of those to seize once the fog of frustration has lifted. Over the two weeks he was an accumulative 40 under par in finishing tied third in abu Dhabi and runner-up here. There was that birdie-birdie finish as well, in the gathering breeze and on baked greens that made life much more difficult than for the first three days.
Trailing li by one shot overnight, a par at the first was enough for McIlroy to close the gap. From there to the 16th tee he was either co-leader or out in front on his own. at the par-five 10th, two majestic shots set up an easy two-putt birdie to li’s untidy bogey six.
It appeared the pivotal moment until a desperately poor McIlroy bogey at the 11th — as he said, from out of nowhere. Worse still was the three-putt at the downwind 13th, where McIlroy hit a drive so far he had just a short iron for his second shot to this par five. li then rolled in a 30ft putt at the 15th and, scarcely believably, found himself in front when McIlroy made a hash of the 16th.
The Northern Irishman rallied over the final two holes. at the driveable par-four 17th, he almost chipped in from the side of the green for an eagle, while li got lucky when his drive hit a palm tree, and bounced into the middle of the fairway.
Two pure blows to the par-five 18th, played into the wind, set up another two-putt birdie for McIlroy, while li missed the fairway and had to lay up short of the water in two.
From 110 yards he hit it to 12ft and, with his silken, nerveless putting stroke, holed for a new tournament record score of 23 under par and the biggest day of his career.
‘I don’t have many trophies at home so I don’t mind trying to lift this massive one,’ he said. ‘It was incredible to play with Rory and beat him. I learned a lot.’
let us hope one of the things he learned was to play quicker — the worst thing about his game. With good reason, he has picked up a witty nickname: Howlong li.
Englishman Tyrrell Hatton finished third after a final-round 66 while fellow countryman Chris Paisley shot 69 for his second top five finish in a row following his breakthrough victory in South africa a fortnight ago. Talk about a man with a hot hand.
Speaking of which, abu Dhabi champion Tommy Fleetwood kept things ticking over nicely following a 68 for a joint-sixth placing alongside Ian Poulter, andy Sullivan and no fewer than nine others.
among that chasing group was Scot Richie Ramsay, who shot a bogey-free closing round 64, the best of the day.