Northern Irish teenager Rory McIlroy (ranked 16th by Golf Predictor) has delivered on his massive early promise by winning his first professional title at the Dubai Desert Classic. The nineteen year old McIlroy, loser of two previous play-offs on the European PGA Tour, had a comfortable lead of six shots over a strong field with six holes left to play. However, a run of nervy bogeys meant he prevailed by just a single shot from a resurgent Justin Rose (ranked 57th). McIlroy becomes the seventh youngest ever winner on the European Tour and moves up to an impressive 16th in the world rankings. Our top pick, Sergio Garcia, finished in a tie for 11th and we had six of the top twelve. Ernie Els' unbelievable record in the event (finished in the top three in each of the previous five years, with one win) bit the dust as he missed the cut.
On the US Tour, Kenny Perry (ranked 2nd by Golf Predictor) won the FBR Open after a sloppy play-off with Charley Hoffman (ranked 90th). Perry bogeyed the 72nd hole to let Hoffman back in but finally prevailed on the 3rd extra hole for his 13th career victory. Our top pick, Phil Mickelson, didn't exactly cover himself in glory in his first US PGA Tour event of the season. Leftie missed the cut after playing badly by his own admission. He wasn't alone as a host of big names failed to make it to the weekend. That left the spoils for a lot of the lesser lights, but we also had David Toms in the top ten.
Monday 2 February 2009
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