Horizon Sports team mate, Graeme McDowell believes that Luke Donald may have done Rory McIlroy a favour by knocking the Holywood golfer off the top of the world rankings.
The Ulsterman is facing a mountain of pressure as he heads for Augusta this week after his spectacular collapse in the Masters last year.
Despite going on to win the US Open within weeks, McIlroy is not being allowed to forget how, after leading by four shots going into the final round, he threw away his Green Jacket chances by carding an 80.
But according to Graeme McDowell, McIlroy’s closest golfing mate, Donald’s rise back to No.1 when he won the US Tour’s Transitions tournament will make Rory’s job easier.
“There is no doubt that Rory will go back to Augusta feeling a little bit that he has a point to make after what happened,” said McDowell. “But the thing is also that if Rory was going into the Masters as World No.1 he would be carrying all that extra expectation as well.
“The fact that Luke has got back to World No.1 is going to be a bonus for Rory as it will just take the pressure off him that tiny bit more.”
But McDowell also insists that his Ryder Cup partner has proved over the past year that, whatever the pressures, McIlroy has the all-round game to conquer Augusta and pick up his second Major.
G Mac said: “If Rory designed a golf course, I would imagine it would look a lot like Augusta because it suits his game.
“And since what has happened at Augusta last year he has bounced back and had an incredible 12 months.”
Although Donald has been World No.1 for all but two weeks since winning the European PGA Championship at Wentworth last year, the chance of him finally winning a first Major title next week have barely got a mention.
Instead the emphasis has been on turning the Masters into a head-to-head battle between McIlroy and Tiger Woods, after the American ended a three-year victory drought on the US Tour by winning at Bay Hill last Sunday.
But McIlroy is stubbornly refusing to discuss any comparison between himself and the golfer he idolised when he first took up golf as a primary schoolboy.
He insisted: “I’m going to let other people do that. I’m not going to try and compare myself to anyone else. I’ve never said that I want to be the next anyone. I just want to be the first Rory McIlroy.
“To be honest, in golf you can have a rival if you want, but at the end of the day your biggest rival is a golf course.
“You have to be able to beat the golf course.
“More often than not that’s all you are trying to do.”
No comments:
Post a Comment