Dengue Fever takes away the better part of the rampaging Rory McIlroy in the Dubai World Championship
Hopeful of toppling the world number one Luke Donald from the top of the Race to Dubai Money List on the European Tour, McIlroy landed at the Jumeirah Golf Estate, also his official sponsor, only to find out that his China and Thailand tourneys have landed
him in deep trouble. Suffering from constant fever and nausea, McIlroy has now been confirmed with a mild case of Dengue Fever, mostly rampant in the tropical climates of Asia and Africa. The young Irishman barley managed to complete his four rounds at the
season-ending Dubai World Championship, finishing down the leaderboard.
McIlroy went over to share the lead during the second round of the championship but finished with consecutive bogeys to fall five shots behind the leader Alvaro Quiros. Quiros later went over to win the title, earning a colossal €922,645 winner’s prize share.
McIlroy was able to card final round score of 1-under 71 but insisted that the scores had nothing to do with his sickness.
“To be honest, I don’t feel too bad,” he said. “But yeah, we got the blood test results back last night and yeah, I mean, it was basically the same. Platelet count was low and my blood cell count was low as well.”
McIlroy started off the event in a hope to topple Donald from the top of the Money List and prevent him from winning the Money List titles on both sides of the Atlantic. Donald, who finished for a third in the event, achieved the unprecedented feat in the
history of the sport, becoming the only player to win the Money Leader titles on both continents. The young Irishman was coming out of a strong form after his splendid victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open, another of the European Tour co-sanctioned events, which
helped him surge to the world number two on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
For the moment, the US Open Champion will probably go in an extended rehab to recuperate from the sickness and will probably not be available for the upcoming events. McIlroy revealed that he will be visiting his doctor on Saturday and would decide later
whether to be a part of the field at next week’s Thailand Golf Championship.
“She’s going to have a look at me and determine whether this is the last tournament for me or not or if I go to Thailand next week,” he said. “To be honest, I’m ready for the season to be done … I’m looking forward to putting the clubs away at whatever point
that is and taking a break.”
McIlroy had a blistering year on both sides of the Atlantic where the 22-year-old Irishman won several titles including the notorious US Open title in Congressional in June. He has met success all over the world, winning titles on the Asian, European as
well as the Caribbean turf.
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