DUBAI – With what would appear to be less than his best stuff, Rory McIlroy leads however in Dubai. Rinse, repeat; rinse, repeat. In this country, it feels inevitable.
It’s no less impressive, but it’s about as much this tour and this part of the world has seen from McIlroy, who called Dubai home early in his career. After winning PD World Tournament Championship last fall – en route to a third Tour title in Dubai – McIlroy holds a share of the lead through 54 holes. As a result, he is a dominant favorite to claim a fourth consecutive race in Dubai. Only Tyrrell Hatton (one shot back) could stop them and a Hatton win may not be enough.
;)
How playing with Rory McIlroy led to the professional’s retirement
Josh Berhow
McIlroy has shown moments of inadequacy (and frustration) this week – half pretending to drive his ball onto the green on a Saturday afternoon – but the inevitability of his game now looks something like 67 or 68 shots around the Earth at Jumeirah Golf Estates. His last seven rounds here have been:
68-69-66-69-69-69-67
He has admitted to trying to “put together” parts of the course when he’s not playing his best, even using his “scoring skills” to finish a round of sub-70 on Friday. When his putt started to falter on Saturday — missing several tees on the first few holes — he let it get to him a bit. But ultimately his long game thrives on a course that highlights him.
On Sunday, he will find himself playing alongside Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson, a young Dane with zero career wins at this level. Behind them are six more – Tommy Fleetwood and Hatton – both of whom appear to be playing the best golf of their lives. You could easily say the same for a number of others, like Laurie Canter and rookie Angel Ayora. The best golf of their livesit will appear. And against McIlroy, on this course, it may not matter.
Perhaps the best example came at the end – an uphill par 5 that is all about positioning. After driving it brilliantly most of the day, McIlroy blazed one right, leaving it into the imported chestnut wood chips that surround much of the fairway on the Fairway. From there he stepped outside, stepped up to eight feet and made the putt, ending an otherwise average day for him, and nearly an end to Race to Dubai 24 hours earlier.
As for his closest competitor for that award, McIlroy isn’t thinking too much of him.
“I’m focused on myself,” he said. “If I go out and play the golf that I know I’m capable of, especially on this golf course, I know it’s going to be good.”
