'Very, very impressive': Rory McIlroy lauds Scottish golfer as he bids to match his record
World No 2 opens up on admiration on ten man he’s bidding to join on eight Race to Dubai titles this weekend
It was a record that looked as though it might not be matched, but then a mop-haired youngster called Rory McIlroy burst on to the scene. With seven Race to Dubai titles already under his belt, the Northern Irishman is now bidding to move level with Colin Montgomerie this weekend.
Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra, the new star of European golf, tops the DP World Tour’s season-long points list heading into the DP World Tour Championship, which starts on Thursday at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. McIlroy, though, is lurking ominously in second place and, in truth, if there was one player Montgomerie won’t mind matching his haul and probably going on to beat it, then it’s probably the back-to-back Masters champion.
McIlroy was just four years old when the big Scot landed his first Harry Vardon Trophy triumph in 1993 - he reeled off seven in a row before adding No 8 in 2005 - but, as the world No 2 admitted in a press conference on Tuesday in the UAE, he’s got lots of memories from the latter part of Montgomerie’s glittering career.
“Yeah, I'll always remember that driver he hit off the deck in Dubai at the Desert Classic, was it '96 or whatever, to win that tournament,” he said. “Yeah, he was my first Ryder Cup captain (at Celtic Manor in 2010).
“I remember going to watch him at the Volvo World Match Play at Wentworth over the years as a kid. I played the Junior Ryder Cup in 2004 and then the Ryder Cup was at Oakland Hills. I remember Monty being amazing that week. He holed this massive putt on the 18th green one day when I was at the back of the green.
“Yeah, he was a stalwart for European Tour golf and was super successful and had a lot of longevity. Played the game at a very high level for a very long time, and was obviously unbelievably consistent in terms of winning. A very, very impressive player. I guess the only thing that was missing from that list was a major championship, but he basically did everything else that there was to do in the game.”
Ahead of making his Ryder Cup debut in Wales under Montgomerie’s captaincy, McIlroy famously described it as an “exhibition” before quickly discovering that wasn’t the case and now having taken over from Montgomerie as Europe’s talisman in the biennial event.
“Not really. Not necessarily,” he replied to being asked by The Scotsman if he remembered Montgomerie saying something in particular to him that week that helped alter his view, having made eight consecutive appearances against the Americans.
“I think it was more maybe some of the players on the team that had experienced Ryder Cups before. The likes of G-Mac [Graeme McDowell], who I played with; it was his second one at the time. It was more maybe the other players rather than Monty himself. You know, Monty had a lot of other things to worry about that week, apart from me calling the Ryder Cup an exhibition (smiling).”
McIlroy laughed off a suggestion that playing against him on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates is like any football team taking on his beloved Manchester United at Old Trafford. “Hopefully not,” he said of that claim at a time when the Red Devils are languishing near the bottom of the English Premier League and manager Michael Carrick is in danger of losing his job.
But, with three wins under his belt, two second-place finishes and five other top-five finishes on the Greg Norman-designed layout, there’s no denying that McIlroy is feeling quietly confident heading into this week’s season-ending Rolex Series event.
McIlroy trails Chacarra by 534 points, with others still in the race including American Patrick Reed, winner of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic back in January, and Spaniard Jon Rahm, who landed the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship at Yas Links at the weekend. It’s McIlroy, though, who is Chacarra’s biggest danger and the six-time major winner is licking his lips at being back at a happy hunting ground in the desert as he bids to join Montgomerie in the record books.
“Yeah, I'm very excited to be back here and very excited to be in contention for the eighth,” said McIlroy. “I made some ground up last week (by finishing third behind Rahm in the first of two big-money Play-Off events). Maybe not as much as I wanted, but I felt like it was a step in the right direction.
“And, yeah, getting back to a place where I’ve played well and I’ve had a lot of success. Even last year in the play-off with Matt [Fitzpatrick], it's been a course that's been very good to me over the years, and I have a lot of experience on it and a lot of experience up at the top end of the leaderboard. Experience going out in that final group on a Thursday. So excited to do it all over again and try to play well enough to give myself a real chance at the weekend.”
Like McIlroy, Rahm has won this event three times, as has Fitzpatrick, though the defending champion isn’t in this week’s 50-man field after deciding along with his brother Alex and a few others, including Bob MacIntyre, not to make the trip to the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict in the region.
Rahm admitted his performances in three of this season’s majors had been disappointing, but the Spaniard bristled at the suggestion that was down to playing on the LIV Golf League, which is now being wound down.
“We've got to stop blaming LIV for me playing poorly at the majors,” he replied to a question from The Scotsman. “I know what you are all trying to insinuate. It's not because of LIV. It's my own doing and my own, let's say, golf swing problems. So I hope that what I'm working on recently can be something that makes me more consistent on the biggest stages.”
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