GOLF:RORY McILROY – who returns to action in this week's Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland, the official start of qualifying for Europe's team for next year's Ryder Cup match in Chicago – doesn't expect any further problems with his wrist. The problem, now, is his elbow!
McIlroy, who sustained the injury to his wrist when hitting an exposed tree root during the first round of the US PGA championship in Atlanta, has been given a clean bill of health on that particular medical concern.
“It is totally fine,” he said, adding: “But, when I’ve been practising, I have experienced a little bit of soreness on the outside of the elbow . . . I practised three times last week and, after maybe an hour, it started to get a bit sore.
“But I can definitely play. I think when I injured the wrist in the USPGA I started to compensate with my elbow and shoulder, so that’s where it has come from. They are usually muscles that are inactive during the golf swing and weren’t used to the action.”
He added: “I’ve had loads of work done with the phsyio on the shoulder which freed everything up nicely and I haven’t hit a ball since Friday, so it will be nice to have a good practice in Switzerland – when I eventually get there. Hurricane Irene put an extra day onto my travels this week, so I’m getting there late.”
McIlroy, who is scheduled to arrive back in Belfast today before flying on to Switzerland in the afternoon, missed a scheduled sponsor’s day for Audemar Piquet in Crans yesterday because of the delay in reopening airports after the hurricane.
The 22-year-old Ulsterman – who hasn’t played competitively since injuring his wrist in the US PGA in Atlanta earlier this month – returns to action in an Irish contingent in the Alps that also includes British Open champion Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey, Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin.
The European Masters is the traditional starting point for Ryder Cup qualification and Europe’s captain Jose Maria Olazabal will be present to see the gathering of early qualifying points in the year-long process.
“You only have to look at how strong the field is this week to see how important the tournament is to players. I’m excited that the qualification period is starting and it is going to be very difficult to make the team, to be one of the top five on the European points list or the world points list.”
He added: “We know we will have a tough battle in Chicago next year, but if the boys keep on playing the way that they have for the last number of years, then I think we will have a good chance.”
Two men who won’t be in Crans are FedEx Cup chasing duo Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell.
If the jigsaw pieces had seemed to be thrown all over the place with little or no comprehension of where they should be for much of the season, it would seem that Harrington has finally found some clarity. And, for someone who two weeks ago wasn’t even in the FedEx Cup series, the Dubliner’s plan – somewhat forced on him by necessity – of playing from week-to-week in the hope of finding deliverance would seem to be working.
This week, Harrington has moved further up the eastern coast of the United States, from New York to Boston, for the Deutsche Bank Championship – the second tournament of the US Tour’s play-off series – and, although it will mark his sixth straight tournament in six weeks dating back to the Irish Open at Killarney in July, there are no signs of any fatigue. The opposite, if anything.
In recent weeks, Harrington has moved from 130th to 124th and now to 80th position on the FedEx Cup standings. He heads to the Deutsche Bank still outside the cut of those who will qualify for next week’s BMW Championship in Chicago – when the top 70 progress – but very much within touching distance of guaranteeing a further pit-stop in the American mid-west.
Of his play in the weather-afflicted Barclays Championship, won by Dustin Johnson after it was reduced to 54-holes because of the threat of Hurricane Irene to the US’s east coast, Harrington remarked he had played with “a bit of freedom, we had nothing to lose . . . it was definitely not desperation, but certainly more freedom. It is harder for the guys who are in, they feel like they are going to lose out. The guys who aren’t in, you’re losing nothing.”
It will be a similar mindset, so, for this week’s tournament as Harrington remains on the wrong side of the bubble. One aspect of Harrington’s game that didn’t please him in Saturday’s third and final round was his putter: he used the blade on 30 occasions on a day when the receptive course at Plainfield played generous.
“Now I have to go out and work again this week (in Boston, to stay in the FedEx),” remarked Harrington after failing to give himself some leeway.
“I was very happy with how I struck the ball (in New Jersey) – probably the best of the year of what I’ve seen. But I didn’t chip the ball very well. I didn’t bunker it very well. They’re areas that are normally strong, they were weak. I’m looking forward to putting the two together (in Boston).”
Apart from moving up the FedEx standings, Harrington finally made some movement in the right direction in the world rankings – from 75th to 71st – having fallen from 23rd at the start of the year. He needs to return to the world’s top 50 by mid-September if he is to avail of an invite from Tiger Woods to compete in the Chevron World Challenge in December. For now, though, the on-going week-to-week quest for FedEx Cup points is the primary objective.
McDowell, who has moved to 84th in the latest FedEx Cup standings, will – like Harrington – need to leapfrog a number of players to force his way into the top 70 who travel on to the third stop, the BMW, next week.
