McIlroy ready to take over
RORY MCILROY may have missed out on an opportunity to top the world rankings after his defeat in the final of the Accenture Match Play Champions but his victory over Lee Westwood in the semis had a real changing of the guard feel about it.
Westwood has been a bastion of Europe’s Ryder Cup team, has featured in the last seven renewals of the competition and has regularly taken the fight to the Americans.
He’ll no doubt feature at the Medinah Country Club in September but I’d anticipate McIlroy to be the spearhead of Jose Maria Olazabal’s team judging by the way he performed in Tucson this week.
In essence, his match-up against Westwood was the final and the way he played to claw back three-hole deficit was remarkable – he was like a force of nature.
Westwood, who won’t have tasted many match play defeats in that way over the course of his career, simply had no answer and it looks very much a case of when rather than if McIlroy becomes the dominant figure in European and world golf.
It took a huge effort, both physical and mental, for the Northern Irishman to overhaul Westwood and it was no surprise he ran out of steam in the final against a really canny competitor in Hunter Mahan.
McIlroy is set to play two more tournaments before taking a three-week break ahead of the Masters as he did last year to some conjecture.
For me, pre-tournament preparation is down to the individual and if McIlroy feels he’ll give himself the best chance of winning at Augusta by taking time out then so be it. Nobody knows his game better than him.
Sam Torrance OBE won 21 European Tour titles and is a former Ryder Cup captain.
Follow Sam on Twitter @torrancesam