Rory McIlroy takes over grizzled Miguel Angel Jimenez in WGC Accenture Match Play Championship
While Lee Westwood may be eyeing the number one spot on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) this week with a victory on Sunday, Rory McIlory is not far away and has done well so far to expect the same.
The young Irish gun took over one of the senior most European Tour players Miguel Angel Jimenez on Friday, in a stiff battle.
Jimenez, known for his penchant for the knock-out format, wrestled against the rampaging Ulsterman and the round remained evenly poised till the last hole.
McIlroy finally won it with a 3 & 1 to proceed to the top-eight.
McIlroy said, “It was great. I felt like I played my best golf of the week today. I hit a lot of quality shots. I still hit a couple of lose ones, but for the most part I felt like I drove the ball great”.
The 22-year-old Irishman has played superb golf so far since the start of the season and although he has not won a title as yet, he has been in contention for number of events on the European Tour.
McIlroy decided to join the PGA Tour last year, taking a u-turn on his earlier statements and, thus, managed to play at the star-studded WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.
Jimenez, the grizzled veteran of the European entourage, kept challenging the US Open champion till the last hole of the 18-hole stretch.
The duo started off from the front nine with McIlroy clinching second hole. Jimenez responded with a birdie on the third and McIlroy came back with another on the fourth.
The young Irishman carded two more holes before making the turn, consolidating his lead in the next set.
Jimenez tried to neutralise McIlory’s lead with two birdies but the blazing golfer was in no mood of letting it go, carding another two birdies on the back.
McIlroy won the round with a 3 & 1, proceeding to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
He added, “I hit a lot of iron shots close to the pin. I was really pleased when I had to hit good shots coming down the stretch, 15, 16, 17. I was able to produce them”.
McIlroy is contemplating to soar to the top of the OWGR for the first time in his career. He has done much of the homework so far and is poised at number two on the OWGR.
Lee Westwood, on the other hand, also needs a win to get back to the top slot he lost almost eight months back to Donald in the BMW PGA Championship.
McIlroy added, “Obviously Lee is playing well at the minute, had a great chance to win in Dubai. And for the most part has looked very strong this week”.
Semi finals will be played amongst the remaining eight players on the field and Final will be played on Sunday, February 26.
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