2013 brings lighter slate for World No. 1
Rory McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked golfer, ended with a disappointing Hong Kong Open, four-putting the final green on Friday to finish three shots off.
This is not the first time that the 23-year old from Northern Ireland has had to sit out the play. In the San Francisco, US Open, in June, he had also missed the cut in the tournament.
The Race to Dubai was cited being the reason for his rather poor performance,
"When you achieve something that you want to achieve so bad, like the Race to Dubai, there is a letdown considering there are still two events remaining".
The Hong Kong tumble was, needless to add, a bring down. It was like butter spread over too much bread for an exhausted McIlroy.
After wrapping up the European Tour, he arrived in Hong Kong looking wearied.
Emulating Luke Donald, US PGA Champion McIlroy, being the first European who has ever won four PGA Tour events in a single season, went on to finish top of the list in Europe.
Rory is the only player to accomplish this feat, besides Tiger Woods, who triumphed in four events in season 2005.
The Race to Dubai has left McIlroy with a giddy $2.8 million, which replaced the European Tour's Order of Merit in 2009.
McIlroy added, "While there's a part of me that perhaps wished my year had ended as soon as I wrapped up the Race to Dubai, I now look back over the last couple of years wondering why did I stretch myself so much".
He continued, "I've probably played an extra couple of tournaments too much and I have learnt from the last few years, so that's why I'm cutting back my schedule even further from next year".
He was cited, saying that the energy in “sewing-up” the Race to Dubai and the FedEx Cap had taken more out of him than he had realized at first.
Physically, he said, he felt OK, “mentally, I feel really tired”.
This had been the world no.1’s bid at breaking the stalemate of 48 years of no back-to-back winners. He hoped to finish that off with eight bogeys and a closing hole double-bogey.
His contender, Campbell, reportedly admitted that in McIlroy’s absence, he had a superb chance of ending the spell of a seven-year drought.
He said, “What Rory’s done for the game is fantastic but it now makes winning the UBS Hong Kong Open a lot easier, definitely”.
With the Hong Kong miss, Rory McIlroy has had enough lessons learnt. He has vowed to cut back his exceedingly competitive schedule a bit.
Meanwhile he prepares to tee off against world no. 2, Luke Donald, after Donald’s surprising win over Tiger Woods.
Calling missing cuts a “hard pill to swallow, especially when you’re defending champion in a Tournament”, the youthful dark-hired Irishman hopes to not repeat the mistake and looks forward to a lighter slate come next year.
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