Stockton Ends Rory Putter Battle

Rory McIlroy credited the influence of putting coach Dave Stockton in the wake of his historic triumph at the US PGA Championship last week. Ironically, Dave Stockton was the Captain of the USA Team at Kiawah Island for the Ryder Cup in 1991 - often dubbed the "War on the Shore".

After his record-breaking eight shot victory at Kiawah Island, the Northern Irishman also spoke with maturity about the development of the mental side of his game and his responsibilities off the course.

And it is Stockton, himself honoured with the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award last week in South Carolina, who has been both helping McIlroy with his putting stroke but also to shape his psychological approach in recent times.

It is no moot point to also notice that McIlroy’s two Major successes have come at venues where Stockton himself excelled during a fruitful playing career of his own.

The now-70 year old guided the American Ryder Cup team to victory at Kiawah Island in 1991 and also won his second of two US PGA Championships at Congressional Country Club in 1976.

“Anywhere Dave’s done well, I seem to do well,” McIlroy said. “Anywhere he’s had success, I’ve had success, too, which is pretty cool.”

Before McIlroy claimed his second Major title on the Ocean Course last week, he of course won the US Open last year at Congressional, in similarly stunning fashion.

“You know, we had a chat last week in Akron,” McIlroy said. “He just said to me, `Just go out and play with a smile on your face. Enjoy it. This is what you've always wanted to do since you were a little boy. There's no point in getting frustrated out there or getting upset. Just go out and enjoy it.’

“That's the attitude that I had for the last couple weeks, and it definitely helped.”

McIlroy also took some pleasure in winning so emphatically so soon after some had questioned him following four cuts in five starts earlier in the year.

"A few people in this room were probably pressing panic buttons for no reason," he said. "I don't think I could have answered it in any better way – and yeah, to be honest, it did motivate me.

"I did want to go out there and prove a few people wrong so that's what I did. It took me all of four weeks to get my game back in shape and get out of my mini slump – and this is the result.”

But despite having some additional motivation thanks to the misplaced criticism in recent months, this is a maturing McIlroy, one who – as well as continuing to fill an exponentially expanding trophy cabinet – seems more aware of his wider role as a sporting icon.

“It’s a nice position to be in,” McIlroy reflected. “I realise that every time my face is on TV or I'm playing in a tournament that I am a role model for a lot of people and a lot of kids do look up to me. 

“I try to do my best in that regard and put myself across as honestly and as modestly as possible, as well.

“Some can view it as a big responsibility but I think if you just go about your life and live it normally and live it the way you always would, I think everything's okay. I prefer to think of it as a huge honour to be put in that position to have an effect on so many people's lives, it’s a nice feeling.”

Still just only 23 years old, McIlroy – who became the fifth youngest multiple Major winner in the history of golf last week in South Carolina – has an increasingly wise head on yet young shoulders.

This is a calmer, more considered McIlroy, a player that has grown fathoms since letting the moment get the better of him on a sweltering afternoon at Augusta in April 2011.

Having let Stockton help him develop the mental side of his game, this is a McIlroy more in control of himself on the golf course, and it was only after the final putt dropped on Sunday at Kiawah Island that the Ulsterman allowed himself an outpouring of emotion.

Just short of the clubhouse, the US PGA Champion halted his progress to share a tearful embrace with Gerry McIlroy, the proudest man in all of America that day, a father who has overseen his son’s passage from boy to man.

Rory and Tiger in Duel at Jinsha Lake

World number one Rory McIlroy will take on 14-time Major winner Tiger Woods in the one-day Duel at Jinsha Lake matchplay contest in China in October, organisers said on Wednesday.

The duo, two of the world’s most famous golfers, will be the only competitors in the 18-hole event, which will be held at Jinsha Lake Golf Club, in Zhengzhou, capital of the central province of Henan, on October 29.

“It’s an exciting concept and it will be a lot of fun going head to head with Tiger,” McIlroy, 23, said.

“The Duel at Jinsha Lake will be the first time myself and Tiger have come together to play a ‘one-off’ match like this, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“I’ve always looked up to him as a player. What he’s achieved in the game is remarkable.”

The showdown — for which no prize money is up for grabs — will be a month after the pair are set to feature in the Ryder Cup.

McIlroy returned to the top of the world rankings after winning last week’s PGA Championship by eight strokes for his second Major title, having won last year’s US Open by the same margin.

Woods, the world number three, has won three times this year and earned his 100th career worldwide victory, signalling he is getting closer to his brilliant best.

“With the huge growth of the game of golf across Asia and the inclusion of the sport in the next

Olympic Games in 2016, I think it’s fitting for this great event to take place in China,” added McIlroy.

In the meantime they will meet next week as first and second on the FedEx Cup points are certain to be paired together for the first of the four play-off events, The Barclays at Bethpage on New York's Long Island.

Woods has now gone 50 months without adding to his 14 majors and his next chance does not come until The Masters next April.

Pettersen Defends Title at Pumpkin Ridge

North Plains, Oregon welcomes the LPGA Tour to the Ghost Creek Golf Course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club this week. The 41st annual Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola features a dominant field of 144 players competing for a $1.5 million purse and a $225,000 first-place check.

Reigning champ and Rolex Rankings No. 6 and 2011 Ladies Irish Open winner, Suzann Pettersen is back in the Northwest after an outstanding finish in 2011 when she defeated Na Yeon Choi in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. 

The Norwegian fired the lowest round of the week, a 7-under 64, during Sunday’s final round to stage a nine-stroke comeback and her winning score was a four-day tally of 6-under-par 208. This win marked her eighth victory in her 10-year tenure on the LPGA Tour and her latest victory to date.

This week’s field consists of nearly all of the world’s top 50 golfers including No. 12 So Yeon Ryu and No. 17 Angela Stanford, who both had impressive finishes at last week’s Jamie Farr Toledo Classic.

Rookie standout Ryu became the fifth Rolex First-Time winners this season after taking a commanding lead in the final round last week. She tied the LPGA record for the lowest final round by a winner, shooting 62 to win by seven-strokes over Stanford. Ryu finished at 19-under-par for the event following four-straight rounds in the 60s.

Earlier this season, Stanford captured her fifth LPGA victory at the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore in a three-hole playoff. She tallied her third top-10 this season with a runner-up finish last week, her 65th top-10 in 12 seasons.

The eight other top-10 finishers from last week join Ryu and Stanford at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola including South Koreans Inbee Park, I.K. Kim, Jiyai Shin and Chella Choi.

Bagman JP Dubs McIlroy Destroyer

Rory McIlory was dubbed ‘Destroyer’ by caddie JP Fitzgerald after his USPGA win.

McIlroy, 23, repeated the eight-shot drubbing he handed the opposition at the US Open last year — but this was even better.

Rain-softened Congressional was tailor-made for McIlroy’s power and high ball flight last year but this time he had to answer the doubts over whether he could handle high winds and unforgiving greens.

He provided the perfect answer and Fitzgerald insisted he was not surprised.

He said: “I called it at The Open. I said the way this guy is hitting the ball he is going to destroy fields.

“He was playing that well in practice, I knew if it wasn’t going to be that week it would happen soon.

“Yes, you could say he destroyed everyone at Congressional but the conditions here were very different. You wouldn’t have thought they would suit him.

“You can see he has this ability now to hit shots like the four-iron he held up against the wind on Friday.

“That is the result of hard work.”

Fitzgerald also said that McIlroy refused to let his intensity drop.

He added: “We got to seven clear standing on the 18th and Rory said to me: ‘We won our last Major by eight — let’s do it again’.

“Then he made that 20-footer for birdie at the last. Incredible.”

Padraig and Graeme Lead McIlroy Tributes

Rory McIlroy’s fellow Irish Major Champions Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell led the tributes for the 23 year old history-maker after the season’s final Major saw the 23 year old from Holywood crowned the US PGA Champion.

McIlroy’s record-breaking eight-shot win over David Lynn at Kiawah Island further underlined his staggering ability, and Harrington believes the curly haired one can go on to challenge the intimidating Major record of the great Jack Nicklaus – the man whose US PGA record-winning margin Rory eclipsed on Sunday evening in South Carolina.

“At this stage, people could be saying I was right when I was saying he could challenge Jack,” said Harrington, who still holds the bragging right over his young colleague with three Major titles to his name.

“To get to Tiger's 14 or Jack's 18, you really do have to start doing it when you're in your early 20s, because they don't come around as easy as people think they do. You know, it's prolific winning to win one a year, so he has another 20 years ahead of him, maybe 25 years of golf.

“He's lapped the field twice now. That's two Majors where he has lapped the field and the only other person that's ever done that in Majors in my time has been Tiger. Rory has done it twice now and that's quite impressive.

“He won the U.S. Open last year and he has not had an easy ride of it since then. It brings a lot of pressure with it and I think winning his second Major is going to make things a lot easier for him. I think he'll be a better player for winning this time around.

“The last time heaped a lot of pressure on him and I think winning a second time now will help him relax in that position and make it a lot easier on him going forward; to handle being the Number One player in the world.

McDowell will always have one over his Ryder Cup team-mate due to the fact “my name will always be above his on that US Open trophy”, but the Portrush man concurs with Harrington that McIlroy is a very special player.

“He's a hell of a talented player,” said McDowell. “He's had a few months off by his standards, so you could say he's back to his game. I've been saying it for years how good he is. He showed us at Congressional how good he is; he showed by getting to Number One in the world this year after winning the Honda Classic how good he is, and here we are again.

“Rory was already a star of the game but he's a real superstar now. He's going to be the player that kids look up to; the player that kids measure their own games by. Ten years ago it was Tiger Woods. It still is Tiger Woods to a certain extent, but now we've got superstars like Rory McIlroy for kids to be looking at.

“Young kids now will be looking at how Rory swings the club, how he strikes the golf ball, how he chips with just incredible, touch and feel and technique, and how he has learned how to putt and how to score. And he does it all with a great attitude and great charisma and great character. That's pretty much in a nutshell: he's great for the game, an absolute breath of fresh air for the game of golf. He’s a superstar.”