The Irish Golf Club Gazette: playoffinale

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9/13/2014

Horschel Leads and Rory Looms

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Rory McIlroy's second-round 65 left him two behind halfway leader Billy Horschel at the Tour Championship.

The World No 1 McIlroy overcame a bizarre incident when his tee shot at the 14th bounced into a spectator's pocket and went on to produce a birdie-birdie finish on a steamy day at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

The Northern Irishman's five-under effort was the best of the day and moved him through the field into a share of second place alongside Australia's Jason Day (67) and American Chris Kirk (68) at six-under overall.

Horschel, who won last week's BMW Championship, remains out in front at eight under after a second straight round of 66.

Along with Horschel, Kirk, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan, McIlroy knows victory on Sunday would also secure the overall FedEx Cup title - and with it a bonus of $10 million.

And with Mahan languishing 14 shots off the lead and Watson eight adrift, the battle for the richest prize in golf looks to be down to three players.

McIlroy insists the title means more to him than the money, the 25-year-old keen to end a brilliant season on a high note after four victories, including two major titles in the Open and US PGA Championship.

The four-time major winner holed from 11 feet for his first birdie of the day on the second but bogeyed the fourth for the second day in succession after his drive plugged in the face of a fairway bunker.

McIlroy had been frustrated by taking one step forward and one step back on Thursday, but this time took two steps forward with birdies from close range on the sixth and seventh, although another birdie chance did go begging on the par-five ninth.

He never threatened to hole birdie putts on the 10th or 11th, but very nearly holed his approach to the 12th, his ball clattering into the pin.

Fortunately for McIlroy it finished just eight feet away and he holed the putt, before his round took a bizarre turn on the 14th, where his wayward drive clipped a tree and somehow dropped straight into a spectator's shorts pocket.

"I got really lucky," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "It ricocheted off a tree and went straight into his pocket somehow. That ball could have went anywhere and luckily I was able to take a drop and hit it on the green and make par.

"The guy probably deserved more than just the handshake that I gave him."

For the second day running McIlroy birdied the 17th and then put the icing on the cake by holing from 25 feet on the last, adding: "To finish like that with two birdies puts me in a great position going into the weekend."

Justin Rose carded five birdies and one bogey in a round of 66 to move to two under par overall, one ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia, who bogeyed the last for a 71.

Germany's Martin Kaymer complained of fatigue in his "marathon" effort of playing six tournaments in the last seven weeks, the US Open champion recording a 69 to lie two over par.

9/24/2012

Snedeker Rors to FedEx Jackpot

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Brandt Snedeker hit the $11.44m jackpot at East Lake on the day the magic died for Rory McIlroy.

Snedeker (31) romped to a three-stroke victory in the Tour Championship to clinch the FedEx Cup and the $10m bonus that goes with it, making US skipper Davis Love look like a genius for handing him a wild card to Medinah next weekend.

The Tennessee native came home in style, chipping in from the greenside rough on 17 for the fifth birdie of his final-round 68. This proved the highlight of his fourth PGA Tour victory and, significantly, his first tournament win after taking the lead into Sunday.

Yet it was the sweet music the Nashville man made with his putter yesterday which will establish him as a truly fearsome opponent at the Ryder Cup.

For McIlroy there was scant consolation in the $3m cheque he collected for finishing second to Snedeker in the FedEx Cup race.

Instead, the 23-year-old endured crushing disappointment as he let the biggest monetary prize in golf slip through his fingers with the final-round 74 which left him tied 10th on one-over par.

An aura of invincibility had surrounded McIlroy as he followed up his record-breaking second Major victory at last month's US PGA with sensational back-to-back FedEx Playoff wins at the Deutsche Bank and BMW Championship.

Yet that aura melted away under blazing sun yesterday as McIlroy struggled yet again to keep his ball in the fairway and out of the wiry Bermuda rough which makes East Lake so deceptively difficult.

On the opening three days of the Tour Championship, McIlroy had compensated for his tendency to block his tee shots right by showing a wizard's touch around and on fast, sloping greens.

It helped him extend to 11 his run of successive rounds in the 60s and left the Holywood star just three strokes off the lead held jointly by Snedeker and England's Justin Rose entering yesterday's final round.

However, that spell broke yesterday as McIlroy, playing with notorious PGA Tour tortoise Ryan Moore, dropped four shots in a calamitous four-hole stretch through the seventh.

McIlroy had to wait until the 12th hole before landing his ball on a fairway. This recurring problem led to an untidy bogey out of an impossible lie deep in the right rough on five and once again at seven.

In between, he hit his tee shot at the treacherous 209-yard sixth off the front bank and into the water which surrounds three sides of the green. After tapping in for his double-bogey, McIlroy then missed with an attempt to throw his ball into the lake.

He went through the turn in four-over, plainly annoyed with himself after missing a seven-foot birdie attempt at nine. The even temper which had been such an impressive feature of his recent purple patch had worn paper-thin.

McIlroy had set himself a target of 64 or 65 in the final round to win the Tour Championship, but he was never going to shoot that low out of the rough. Even the level-par 70 that would have made sure of the $10m FedEx jackpot was well beyond him yesterday.

From the fairway, East Lake is a different, more benign proposition, as the youngster learned as he made his first birdie of the day, hitting a 140-yard approach from the short grass to five feet before rolling in the putt.

Yet McIlroy made life difficult for himself once again with a wayward tee shot and missed green at 14 on his way to yet another bogey. He had a slight brush with the rules in the semi-rough there but a tournament referee dispelled any suspicion that the Ulsterman moved his ball after address.

A neat up-and-down birdie from a greenside birdie at the par-five 15th once again hinted at what might have been for McIlroy had he managed to stay on the straight and narrow ... then he promptly threw away another shot at 16, missing from seven feet for par.

In fairness, the world No 1 fought to the finish, sinking an eight-foot putt for par at the last to hang onto his place in the top 10.

The only consolation for McIlroy and European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal are the wide-open fairways at Medinah, venue for the Ryder Cup -- which begins on Friday -- so McIlroy's prodigious length will once again become a powerful asset in Chicago.

Straight-hitting Americans Webb Simpson and Hunter Mahan certainly made it look easy as they posted final-round 66s yesterday.

Meanwhile, England's Mr Precision, Luke Donald, birdied three of his final six holes as a closing 67 lifted him into a share of third with Moore on six-under, one behind runner-up Justin Rose, who rounded off a 71 by sinking an 11-footer for par at the last.

Moore briefly joined Snedeker in a tie for the lead on nine-under when he completed back-to-back birdies at 15 but he then fell off the pace by finishing with a hat-trick of bogeys.

McIlroy certainly wasn't the only player to end-up red-faced at the short sixth. Tiger Woods also dumped his tee shot in the water there on his way to a double-bogey five. Though he played his first six holes in four-over, Woods recovered nicely for a 72, a lovely birdie two at the last propelling him into a share of eighth on two-under.

Snedeker became the sixth player to find the water at six yesterday and 15th in all during the Tour Championship. However, his five there was a mere hiccup as he sank a series of fantastic long-range putts to stamp his authority on proceedings. A gloriously gifted player, the ever-cheerful Snedeker yesterday dispensed forever his reputation as a suspect finisher.

McIlroy's $3m FedEx Cup cheque boosts his earnings for the PGA Tour in 2012 to more than $8.25m, rich compensation for such a disappointing finish to a phenomenal season.

Meanwhile, former European skipper Colin Montgomerie claimed that he wouldn't want McIlroy facing Tiger in the Ryder Cup singles on Sunday. The man who led the side to victory at Celtic Manor two years ago says he'd try to avoid golf's two biggest attractions going head-to-head, despite the public clamour for it.

"I'd leave Woods well alone," said Montgomerie. "I'd want Rory to be playing someone else in the singles."

The only Ryder Cup singles Woods has lost was on his 1997 debut -- Costantino Rocca beat him at Valderrama -- but Davis Love would be just the second American captain to send him out first.

9/21/2012

Woods Leads Intimidator at East Lake

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In the one week Tiger Woods had away from golf during the FedExCup Playoffs, Nick Faldo said he had lost his aura, Greg Norman said he was intimidated by Rory McIlroy and Johnny Miller claimed that Woods once wanted lessons from him.

Back on the course on Thursday at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, Woods had the final word for at least for one day. He kept the ball in play at East Lake, chipped in for one of his six birdies and wound up with a 4-under 66 for a share of the lead with Justin Rose.

It was the first step toward what Woods hopes is a third FedExCup title, and another $10 million bonus.

"I probably could have gotten a couple more out of it," Woods said about his opening round. "But I was probably right on my number."

McIlroy, playing with Woods for the fifth time in these FedExCup Playoffs, got up-and-down from short of the par-3 18th hole for a 69. McIlroy is trying to become the first player since Woods in 2006 to win three straight PGA TOUR events in the same season, and he wasn't overly alarmed by his start.

"Wish I could have shot a couple shots better," McIlroy said. "But I'm in a good position going into tomorrow."

The week began with Norman saying that Woods was intimidated by McIlroy, a suggestion that both players found amusing. While it's doubtful that inspired Woods, he played as if he wasn't ready to let McIlroy win a third straight Playoffs event and capture the FedExCup.

McIlroy, who has won three of his last four tournaments, and Woods are among the top five seeds at East Lake who only have to win the TOUR Championship to claim the largest payoff in golf. Woods wasn't interested in what anyone else was doing.

"Just winning," he said. "Winning takes care of everything."

Jack Nicklaus even weighed in on Norman's comments to FoxSports.com. Nicklaus was doing a radio interview with ESPN 980 in Washington when told about Norman's remarks that McIlroy intimidated Woods. Nicklaus said playfully, "Quiet, Greg. Quiet. Down, boy."

"I think Tiger has a lot of wins left in him," Nicklaus said. "He does have a lot more competition. During the couple of years when Tiger wasn't really there, all of a sudden you have Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and I could probably name a half-dozen other guys that have all won and learned how to win in Tiger's absence. They're not scared of him anymore."

Rose, who hasn't won since the World Golf Championships - Cadillac Championship at Doral in March, swiftly moved up the leaderboard late in his round with three birdies over the last five holes, and the last one was memorable. From the back of the green on the par-3 18th, Rose faced a 50-foot putt with some 20 feet of break from right to left. It looked wide the whole way until it snapped back toward the cup.

Equally impressive was chipping in from some 20 yards short of the 14th green for the birdie that started his big run.

Rose is 24th in the FedExCup, meaning he would have to win and everyone at the top of the standings would have to falter. The way Woods started, that looked improbable. Rose checked the leaderboard early on, not to see his projected standing, but to get an idea of how the course was playing.

That part was easy to decipher. On a warm day, with the sun finally breaking through cloud cover in the middle of the afternoon, no one was tearing up the place.

"Obviously, I realized it was time to be patient," Rose said. "No one was really going low ... so I always had that in the back of my mind."

Scott Piercy ran off three straight birdies late in his round until he stumbled in the rough behind the 18th green and finished with a double bogey for a 67, tied with Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar and Bo Van Pelt. Stricker was the only player in the 30-man field without a bogey.

Hunter Mahan appeared to snap out of his funk from missing out on the Ryder Cup with a 68, tied with a group that included Brandt Snedeker, who is among the top five seeds. The others are Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 69, and Nick Watney, who brought up the rear with a 75.

Despite the TOUR Championship featuring the top 30 on the PGA TOUR, the focus again returned to the top two players.

A boisterous gallery lined the fairways and crowded behind every green to see the latest edition of Tiger and Rory, and they didn't disappoint. McIlroy is playing East Lake for the first time, and he struggled with the Bermuda rough around the greens.

"If you don't hit fairways, it's hard," McIlroy said. "If you hit the ball in the rough here, it's very, very difficult to get any control on your ball."

Woods again had McIlroy's number when playing together, even though Boy Wonder is winning more trophies. Woods has posted the lower score in four of the five rounds they have played together in the Playoffs. The exception was Crooked Stick, when McIlroy opened with a 64 and Woods had a 65.

Woods, as usual, didn't read too much into that.

"I enjoy playing with Rory," he said. "He's a great kid. Over the years, there are certain pairings for me that I've enjoyed, and Rory is one of them."

Woods has three runner-up finishes and a win the last four times he has played at East Lake, a course he likes because of the traditional look to it.

"Trouble is just right there in front of you," Woods said. "It's very simple, but it's hard. It's rare that you see guys go low here, but it's very simple. Really, not a lot of trouble out here, but guys just have a hard time getting it low out there."

Woods holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the second hole and stuffed a wedge into 5 feet on the third to get on track. He made bogey from the bunker on No. 4, and took another bogey on the 14th when his drive sailed into the rough. The Bermuda grass isn't high, but it's thin enough for the ball to sink to the bottom and make it difficult to reach the green, much less keep it on the green.

McIlroy didn't feel he was at a disadvantage playing the Tour Championship for the first time. He saw the course as Woods did - keep it in play, keep the ball below the hole.

"I felt like I hit the ball pretty good," McIlroy said. "So just go out there tomorrow and try to play the same way, and maybe hole a few more putts and turn what I shot today into something in the mid-60s."

9/13/2012

Rory Relaxes Before Atlanta Play-off

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Rory McIlroy plans a little "chill out" time in New York before his crack at the FedEx Cup jackpot a week on Thursday.

Having captured the second and third legs of the FedEx Cup play-offs McIlroy will head into the 30-man Tour Championship in Atlanta as firm favourite for the £6.25million bonus that goes to the winner of the four-tournament series.

Add in the £900,000 on offer for winning the event and the 23-year-old Northern Irishman has a golden opportunity to secure a staggering payday of over £7.15million.

Golf's undisputed world number one has already banked more than £2.7million in the past month and that works out at over £2,500 for each shot.

McIlroy now has six victories in the United States to his name - the same number that Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros managed in their entire careers.

Four have come this season, the latest a two-stroke triumph over cup team-mate Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson at the BMW Championship in Indiana on Sunday night.

This week will mostly be about recharging his batteries, but he also has planned a training session with the New York Knicks basketball team.

"I'm making the right decisions out there and everything is really just going to plan at the minute," McIlroy said.

Those decisions included simply playing at Crooked Stick.

"Some suggested that I could have taken a week off and still could have been in the top five in the FedEx Cup standings going into Atlanta.

"But I felt like I was playing really well and didn't want to stop. I sort of picked up where I left off in Boston.

"It's a nice run to be on and I want to try and keep it going for as long as possible.

"I'm confident in my ability and confident with the shots that I'm hitting and confident on the greens."

Tiger Woods, third and fourth the past fortnight and up to second in the world as a result, commented: "He's doing the things he needs to do.

"Right now he's just really playing well and he's making a ton of putts. That's a great combo.

"He's a great player, he's playing great and he's going to be tough at East Lake. But we'll see - we've got 11 days or so to prepare."

The FedEx Cup system means that the top five in the points standings - McIlroy, Woods, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker - still go into the final play-off event knowing that a victory will make them the overall champion.

That seems slightly unfair on McIlroy, who actually built a lead of 3,232 points this weekend, but has it slashed to 250 points to make the series climax more exciting.

All 30 qualifiers still have a chance and last year saw Bill Haas come from 25th to take both the tournament and the FedEx Cup.

McIlroy is one of six Europeans left in. The others are Westwood, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Carl Pettersson.

Failing to make it into the 30, however, means two weeks off for Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter before the Ryder Cup, whereas American captain Davis Love will see all 12 of his side in action in Atlanta.