THERE was a time when the WGC Matchplay Championship was a fairly simple affair. The winner ploughed on, the loser went hame. Or at least went back to his hotel room until he could get hame on the next available flight.
These days, of course, that kind of win-or-pack-yer-bags format doesn’t sit well with tournament organisers, sponsors and TV companies when you’ve got big players competing for even bigger bucks and you’re trying to hold the attention and stir the imaginations of big audiences. So you piece together a round-robin group system for the opening exchanges whereby everybody plays at least three times regardless of whether they conquer all or get well and truly marmalised.
Rory McIlroy has always revelled in this dog-eat-dog environment, from those early years in the amateur scene to the battlegrounds of the Ryder Cup. The 27-year-old won the WGC Matchplay crown in 2015 and was a semi-finalist last year and he knows what it takes to thrive in this type of golfing warfare.
“I think a ruthless streak... selfishness, in a way,” said McIlroy as he mulled over the matchplay weapons in his armoury. “And pride. I’m too proud to be beaten. I won’t let anyone get up on me. I sort of think too much of myself to let anyone do that to me. So that’s why I’ve always enjoyed matchplay because if you do get yourself into a bit of a dogfight out there, it’s something I’ve always quite enjoyed.
“Some guys think that you can wear your opponent down by putting them under pressure on every hole. Hitting every fairway, hitting every green and being really consistent. I think that’s one way to play matchplay. But then the other way is that you can be a bit erratic, but if your short game is saving you, and you’re holing putts and you’re getting it up and down from bad positions, that can frustrate your opponent as well.
“I would probably be in the former of those two categories. I feel I can wear my opponents down just by hitting quality golf shots and sort of mentally beating them by making them say to themselves, ‘this guy isn’t going to miss a shot today, so I’d better be on my game’. I think that makes a good match player.”
In these early Champions League-style group stages at the Austin Country club in Texas, McIlroy has been drawn to face Gary Woodman, the man he beat in the 2015 final, as well as Emiliano Grillo and Soren Kjeldsen. The last time McIlroy was involved in a matchplay duel was during the Sunday singles of the Ryder Cup when he went up against Patrick Reed in a titanic tussle that worked all and sundry into a roaring, eye-bulging fankle. Reed would eventually conquer as the US went on to regain the little gold chalice.
With the Masters on the horizon, McIlroy has Georgia on his mind but he also has revenge on his mind this week too.
“It would be nice to play Patrick again,” he added. “There is some unfinished business there. But we’ll see what happens. I feel like we both play well in this format of the game. He’s played well in matchplay, especially in the Ryder Cup. So, yeah, if it came to that and we were to face each other on Saturday or Sunday that would be awesome. It’s something I’d really look forward to.”
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