February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
McIlroy eventually got past Clark to advance to the quarterfinals, but that’s where elimination in the form of Geoff Ogilvy awaited. To McIlroy’s credit, Ogilvy went on to defeat Paul Casey in the final round for the championship.
McIlroy began the event on Wednesday with a 2 and 1 victory over Louis Oosthuizen. McIlroy never trailed, edging ahead with a birdie and a par at 9 and 10 to go 2-up. An Oosthuizen birdie at 12, trimmed the lead, but McIlroy came back at 13 with a birdie, and held the margin safe through 17, where his successful par putt clinched the match.
Thursday’s match with Hunter Mahan found McIlroy down two holes through 12, but a McIlroy birdie at 13 and a Mahan bogey at 14 squared the match. Both then birdied 15 and played 16 evenly, before McIlroy broke through with a birdie at 17 that provided his margin of victory.
Friday’s match against Clark couldn’t have been easier. McIlroy ran off to a four-hole advantage after six holes, highlighted by an eagle-3 at the fifth. Clark won his only hole of the match at 7, and McIlroy’s lead returned to four when he birdied 8. The two then stayed on even terms through the 15th, where McIlroy clinched.
In similar fashion, McIlroy took a 1-up lead over Ogilvy on Saturday morning, but the Aussie didn’t let the prodigy squirt away. Ogilvy squared the match at the fourth hole, and then went 1-up at the fifth. McIlroy’s birdie at 9 evened the match once again, but Ogilvy birdies at 11 and 12 meant that the Aussie was 2 up. McIlroy chipped away at that with a birdie at 13, but another Ogilvy birdie at 15 restored the 2-hole advantage, and the match ended at 17 with Ogilvy up 2 and 1.
“I couldn’t have done much more,” McIlroy said of his match with Ogilvy. “Geoff just played great today.”
This was McIlroy’s first competition in the U.S. and he will soldier on in Florida over the next two weeks, first at the Honda Open in Palm Beach Gardens and then at the CA Championship at Doral. His attitude has been buoyed by the transfer of his form on the European circuit to the fairways and greens of Arizona.
“I’ve learnt that I can compete out there and I am able to hang with the best in the world,” McIlroy said. “It is great for my confidence that I have come out in my first event in America and done so well.”
As for designs on chasing Woods for that No. 1 ranking, McIlroy modestly deferred to the king.
“[Tiger] has been the best in the world for the last ten years and I see no reason why he won’t be for another few years,” McIlroy said. “I just want to try and get in the top ten in the world and see how it goes from there.”
As for Padraig Harrington, his top-10 perch became somewhat less secure with his first-round elimination coming on the heels of two missed cuts in California. Although Pat Perez needed 18 holes to finish Harrington off, 1 up, Perez never trailed after winning the first hole. Their match was squared on several occasions, but Harrington could never muster the knockout punch that might be expected from one of his lofty stature.
Zach Johnson eliminated Graeme McDowell in the first round, 3 and 1. Johnson took a 2-up lead thanks to a McDowell bogey at 7 and his own eagle at 8. Consecutive birdies by Johnson at 16 and 17 sealed McDowell’s fate.
EUROPEAN TOUR
After a trio of Irishmen finished on the same number in the previous week’s event, a similar situation occurred in Indonesia, where the names changed to Michael Hoey and Gary Murphy. Both men tied for 22nd place in the Indonesia Open at New Kuta Golf Club in Bali. Their scores of 4-under-par 284 were eight strokes off that registered by the victorious Thongchai Jaidee.
Hoey, who carded rounds of 71, 73, 73 and 67, battled through rough patches in each of the first three days. He sandwiched a birdie inside of two bogeys and a double on the front nine on Thursday, a day that saw him 3-putt on three occasions. On Friday, he went bogey-double bogey-bogey beginning at 14. After birdies at the second and third holes on Saturday, he ran off three straight bogeys. But those were the last blemishes to darken his card, as he went on to produce a bogey-free round on Sunday.
Murphy’s ride was smoother, if less brilliant at times than Hoey’s. A bogey at 18 on Sunday cost him some pocket change.