Rory McIlroy gets another chance to become world number one player – Golf News
Northern Ireland’s golfing sensation, Rory McIlroy, has another chance ahead of him to grab the first position in the Official World Golf Ranking by winning this week’s Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
He recently had an opportunity to take Luke Donald's top position while he was playing in last week’s World Golf Championship - Accenture Match Play Championship.
For McIlroy, it was mandatory to register a win in the first WGC of the year to place his name on top of the OWGR.
However, the event saw him finish second when Hunter Mahan defeated him in the final by 2&1.
According to McIlroy, he played superb golf throughout the week in Arizona and did not have any negative feelings about his defeat against Mahan.
He looked pleased with his performance as, according to him, he did not play good golf at the start of the tournament.
However, he started getting into his form later in the event and played well on Saturday and Sunday.
Moreover, his only mistake in the final was his slow start on the front nine. He said that his back-nine performance to end the event helped him boost his morale while entering the Honda Classic.
Apart from his chance to become the number one, another interesting thing to watch in the event will be McIlroy’s rivalry against world number three, Lee Westwood, who lost to McIlroy in the semi final of the WGC last week.
"You know, he is one of the guys that when you look at a leaderboard or you look at a tournament field, he's one of the guys that you look for because he's been so consistent," McIlroy said of Westwood.
He went on to say, "I think we both respect each other for the way we play and how we go about our games".
Westwood will play his opening two rounds while partnering with Tiger Woods and Ian Poulter.
"It will be a great atmosphere out there," Westwood predicted. "I get on really well with Ian, so I'll be taking the Mickey a bit there and I get on well with Tiger. When I saw the draw I thought, 'that's brilliant'".
Westwood was also a candidate for the world number one position when he was playing Accenture Match Play Championship.
However, this week, he does not have any chance to get to the top even if he wins the event.
Therefore, he will have to wait for the second WGC of the year, Cadillac Championship, scheduled to start from Thursday, March 8, 2012, if he wants to reach atop the OWGR.
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