West of Ireland Championship:Rory McIlroy stood head and shoulders above the rest at Rosses Point yesterday, but the 17-year-old Holywood star still wasn't happy with his game despite cruising into the last 16 of the Radisson-SAS West of Ireland Championship.
After a casual performance in the second qualifying round on Saturday, when he shot a four-over-par 75, the reigning champion came out firing on all cylinders and left Portmarnock's David Kelleher on the receiving end of a 2 and 1 first round defeat.
McIlroy complained that his head was not quite in the right place in qualifying, so it was just as well he produced his Sunday best against Kelleher, who is a grinder in the classic matchplay mould.
The Dubliner fired off three birdies in the first five holes to keep McIlroy at bay, and while he lost the 11th and 12th to birdies to go two down, he never made a bogey and only lost on the 17th when the champion rammed in a 25-footer for his sixth birdie of the day.
"I was hanging on by my fingernails," Kelleher said of his performance over the finishing stretch. "But he is just too good and he put me away there on the 17th when he had the chance."
While McIlroy eased to a 3 and 2 win over Galway's Eddie McCormack in the second round, he headed straight for the putting green for a lesson from national coach Neil Manchip.
"This morning was a bit more like it," said McIlroy. "I knew David was a pretty good player and would be sticky enough and I played pretty well, but not this afternoon. I didn't commit to my putts on the greens, so I just asked Neil for a quick lesson."
The question is, who can stop McIlroy? Rory Leonard, the beaten 1999 finalist and the man McIlroy saw off by one hole in the semi-finals two years ago, is next for shaving, and he's praying that the wind will blow as hard as it did yesterday if he is to have any chance of stopping the McIlroy juggernaut.
"I think tough conditions will give me a better chance to beat him, to be honest," Leonard said. "On a calm day he could shoot six or seven under, which would be tough to match, but level par on a tough day might be easier to match."
McIlroy's Ireland team-mates Niall Kearney or Shane Lowry, crashed to surprise defeats in the first and second rounds respectively. Kearney was the first to go, beaten by a delightful birdie at the 20th by 17-year-old Tommy McGowan of Strandhill, while Lowry, who was joint second in the qualifiers, was a 5 and 3 loser to big-hitting Michael Lavelle from The K Club.
McIlroy's big rival is leading qualifier Simon Ward, the reigning South of Ireland champion from Co Louth, who showed his undeniable class when he came back from three down after four to beat Holywood's Harry Diamond by two holes.
