Rory McIlroy (right) defeated Miguel Angel Jimenez and moved closer to a spot atop the world rankings.
Feb. 24, 2012
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM
MARANA, Ariz. -- Yes, it seems inevitable. Yes, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood remain on a path that could have the two European Ryder Cuppers meeting in Sunday's semifinals at Dove Mountain. Yes, it's likely one of them will get a shot to move to No. 1 in the world on Sunday afternoon.
No, don't count on it happening.
If we've learned anything in the first three days of this week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, it's that predictions mean nothing, seedings are useless and brackets are made to be broken. Just listen to Westwood talk about the projections made on the Golf Channel on Wednesday prior to the first tee shot being struck.
Asked where the Golf Channel experts projected him, Westwood replied with superior English wit: "On the BA 289 on Thursday night."
Meaning, he'd be flying out after a second-round loss, his usual stopping point in this event.
But now Westwood's through to the quarterfinals, and he's looking eerily like fellow Englishman Luke Donald did last year when he ran roughshod through the bracket. Westwood has yet to reach the 18th hole in his three matches, and even more impressive, he has yet to trail at any point in his 49 holes. In fact, he's led in 48 of those holes.
The only time he hasn't led? After the first hole in his opening match against Nicolas Colsaerts, when each halved the first hole with pars. Westwood birdied No. 2 and hasn't looked back. On Friday, he opened with consecutive birdies for the second straight day and took care of Nick Watney 3 and 2, avenging losses to Watney the previous two years.
"My overall game has been pretty good," said Westwood, the top seed in the Snead bracket. "There's not really been a weakness."
McIlroy's path to this point has been tougher, although he hasn't trailed the past two days. He knocked off Miguel Angel Jimenez 3 and 1 and was encouraged by what he saw.
"I definitely saw a glimpse of my best golf out there today," he said.
McIlroy now takes on Sang-moon "Just call me Moon" Bae in Saturday's quarterfinals. You wouldn't think the reigning U.S. Open champ would have much problem with the PGA TOUR rookie from Korea. As John Maginnes said on the PGA TOUR Radio's coverage Friday: "I'm not sure Sang-moon Bae's mother had Sang-moon Bae getting this far." An 11th seed, Bae is the lowest-seeded player left in the tournament.
But McIlroy knows first-hand how dangerous Bae can be. At the 2009 Korean Open, the two were paired in the final round, and Bae shot 67 to McIlroy's 72 to win the event.
Rory's just 22, but he's taking nothing for granted. After all, Bae already has knocked off a previous Match Play champ (Ian Poulter) and a reigning Masters champ (Charl Schwartzel) before holding off Australian John Senden 1 up on Friday. Who's to say he can't continue the unlikely run?
"He's had a great week so far," McIlroy said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow."
Meanwhile, Westwood will face Scotland's Martin Laird, who hasn't trailed since squaring his first-round match against Spain's Alvaro Quiros on the fifth hole. Laird played bogey-free golf Friday to beat fellow Scot Paul Lawrie and was nearly as flawless in beating Italy's Matteo Manassero the day before. A win over Westwood would make it four straight wins over Europeans for Laird. Not a bad way to make a Ryder Cup impression.
"I'm getting all the Europeans it seems like this week," Laird said.
Laird is a 10th seed. There's another 10th seed still remaining in Mark Wilson, who'll face 9th-seed Peter Hanson on Saturday. Hanson, like Westwood, has yet to trail at any point in his three matches. Two Americans, Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan, are in the other quarterfinal match on that side of the bracket.
With just three of Friday's eight matches won by the higher seed -- and 15 upsets in the first round, including Donald's loss to 64th overall seed Ernie Els -- predicting Saturday's outcomes seem useless (not that it will stop anybody from doing so). What isn't difficult, though, is looking ahead to that potential semifinal match against Westwood and McIlroy. The winner would not only get a spot in the final but the opportunity to supplant Donald as No. 1 by winning the tournament.
Asked if it was difficult to not let his mind drift to that possibility, McIlroy said, "To be honest, it is. But in a way, that's a good thing."
Then he explained: "It's a nice incentive. It's nice to have that in the back of your mind." McIlroy said if he was struggling in a match and finding it hard to get some momentum, he'll start thinking about being No. 1 for the first time in his life and use that as motivation to dig deep.
"You can turn it into a positive if you want," he added.
Westwood, of course, has already spent time at No. 1, 22 weeks to be precise after taking over for Tiger Woods. A return to No. 1 would be nice but he doesn't consider it a priority. Still ...
"It means you're playing well, for starters."
Right now, Westwood appears to be playing better than anyone else left in the field. He's gone twice as far than any of his previous 11 visits. He's hitting on all cylinders. He seems to be having fun. He likes the course and the company of his opponents. On Friday, he and Watney discussed English football and who might be England's manager.
"I've always enjoyed this tournament," Westwood said, "and wondered why I haven't played well in it."
There's one good explanation -- it's unpredictable. Welcome to the weekend at Dove Mountain.