McIlroy and Finau look to bounce back at the Concession
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits his tee shot on the third hole during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on February 06, 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy might have spectacularly missed the cut in the Genesis Invitational but his stunning record should be more than enough reason for optimism as he chases his fourth World Golf Championship in Florida this week.
The Holywood star (31) has gone winless for 15 months and fallen from world number one to eighth in the space of eight months.
But with a win ratio of 7.9% worldwide, he rates as one of the most successful golfers of all time.
His near seven-year drought in the Majors is perhaps more difficult to comprehend but when to comes to the cut and thrust of PGA Tour combat, his record bears comparison with the best.
Granted, Tiger Woods won an otherworldly 22% of his starts to stand head and shoulders above the rest, including Jack Nicklaus (16% at his peak but 12% globally).
Compared to the rest of the world’s current top 10, McIlroy fares better than all bar Dustin Johnson (8.2%) and Jon Rahm (9.73%) while greats such as Ernie Els (7%), Phil Mickelson (6.79%), Vijay Singh (5.86%) or Padraig Harrington (3.18%) are all trailing in his wake
Having won the RBC Canadian Open in 2019 and the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill just a week after missing a cut, it would be foolish to write McIlroy off for this week’s $10.5 million WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession, south of Tampa in Florida.
The course was designed by Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin and named in honour of the Golden Bear’s famous gesture of conceding the final putt in the 1969 Ryder Cup to the Englishman.
Tiger Woods does not make the field, having strongly hinted in Sunday’s CBS broadcast that he’s a long way from playing a warm-up event for the Masters after undergoing his fifth back surgery over Christmas.
"I'm feeling fine - I'm a little stiff," Woods said. "I have one more MRI scheduled so that we'll see if the annulus is scarred over finally and then I can start doing more activities.
"Still in the gym, still doing the mundane stuff that you have to do for rehab. The little things where I can start gravitating toward something more.
“A lot of it is based on my surgeons, my doctors and therapists, making sure I do it correctly because this is the only back I’ve got. I don’t have much more wiggle room left there.”
Asked if he would be at Augusta National in seven weeks' time, Woods replied: "God, I hope so. I don’t know what the plan is. The plan right now is to go ahead and get the MRI and see if the annulus is sealed and scarred over and we can start progressing.”
As an indicator of Masters form, the Genesis Invitational Riviera revealed McIlroy has work to do but that Tony Finau (2nd), Rahm (T5), Johnson and Francesco Molinari (both T8) are all trending with Jordan Spieth (T15) another man on the move.
Finau’s near five-year wait for his second PGA Tour win goes on but after losing to the outstanding Max Homa at the second extra hole, the big man from Salt Lake City was defiant.
“I'm not a quitter, I'm not someone that's going to fade away into the sunset because I can't win in these situations,” Finau said after what was his 10th runner-up finish, his 21st top 5, and 37th top 10 since his last victory, 131 events ago in the Puerto Rico Open.
“I had another great shot today. I don't know what else I can say other than I enjoy playing good golf and one of these days it will happen for me and hopefully turn into kind of a domino effect.”
Shane Lowry, in contrast, might have racked up just two top-10 finishes since he won The Open in 2019 but with a win percentage of just 1.65%, it’s no surprise.
The Offaly man’s ball-striking statistics look better than ever and if he finally finds his putting touch this year, the sixth career win he needs to propel him into the Ryder Cup reckoning is only a matter of time.
As Lowry joins McIlroy in Tampa for the WGC, the European Ryder Cup skipper Pádraig Harrington joins Seamus Power in the opposite field Puerto Rico Open at Grand Reserve Country Club.
The Dubliner (49) will be hoping for better on the greens in Rio Grande having struggled with their pace in the Genesis Invitational.
“I really struggled on those first nine holes to get the pace and the firmness of the greens,” Harrington said. “Hit a lot of greens that ran off and struggled to get up and down and that put me on the back foot for the rest of the week anyway.”
