Rory McIlroy Shows Once Again Why He Is And Isn’t The World’s Best

This latest version of the European Omega Masters was made for Rory McIlroy.  It was there for the taking, a 6,800- yard mountain golf course served up for him to devour.

It was the type of course that doesn’t have any defense for a guy with Rory’s enormous talent and basically, when you look at the field, Rory was the class of this bunch.

Once again, McIlroy showed why he frustrates the living daylights out of his fans and why he leaves most of us scratching our heads when he finds new ways to not win golf tournaments.

Suffice to say that this past week at birdie/eagle-friendly Crans-sur-Montana Golf Club, nestled high in the Swiss Alps, was perfect for Rory.  Surely he’d have the good folks at Omega falling all over themselves, patting each other on the back over the decision to make Rory the fact of their uber-expensive timepieces.

McIlroy ebbed and flowed at this one.  He’d be out of contention, then right in it, then out of it and then in again.  Once again, the wedges and putter were the obstinate culprits in his golf bag.

Day one saw Rory shoot a respectable 67, three-under.  Consider that over his final eight holes, he missed four putts from six-feet and under.

Day two and Rory got into it, a seven-under par 63 put him a shot off the 36-hole lead.

Day three was a train-wreck for Rory.  He was moving in the wrong direction and the par four 14th pretty much summed it up when he hit a massive 415-yard drive on the par five, middle of the fairway.  From 129 yards out, pin cut right with a small pond right, Rory fans a sand wedge into the water, pitches to five-feet and misses the par putt.  Add bogeys at 17 and 18 and he looked pretty much out of it after 69 left him four back.

Things got even worse over the final round.  Rory was all out of sorts with four bogeys over his first 10 holes.  He was two-over for the round and pretty much finished.  But sometimes even poor play can’t stop pure talent.  Five birdies over the final seven holes, including four straight starting at the 12th, added up to 67 and Rory found himself in a stunning five-man playoff at 14-under par.

Two players bowed out immediately at 18, the first playoff holes.  Andres Romero made par and Lorenzo Gagli hit his second in the water — done.  Rory stuck his approach to six-feet,  Finland’s Kalle Smooja was inside him at five-feet and Sebastian Soderberg had to be incredibly nervous knowing he probably had to make his birdie effort from 10-feet.

Soderberg drilled his right in the middle then watched as the improbable happened.  Of course Rory missed the six-footer but then Smooja choked on his five-footer.  Soderberg had his first European Tour win and Rory, once again, had to only look at his putter and wedges to identify the letdown instruments.

Give McIlroy credit, he’d been playing a bunch.

“This is my seventh event in eight weeks, I’ve played a lot of golf,” McIlroy pointed out. “Playing so much, little mental errors can creep in here and there. The sloppy finish yesterday (Saturday) probably cost me but I fought back today and did my best. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Wasn’t meant to be?  Rory’s putting stroke looks pretty decent, so you wonder if his green-reading skills may be the cause of all those missed short putts.

He’s now looking forward to some well-deserved rest.

“I’ll put the clubs away for a few days, rest, recover and reflect on what has been a pretty good season so far, and try to get myself back up for Wentworth,” McIlroy said of the BMW European PGA that starts September 19th.

“I had a good battle with Francesco (Molinari) last year and I’ve won before at Wentworth,” McIlroy said, “so I’m looking forward to it.”

In the meantime, Soderberg, ranked 287 in the world, can have a beer with his friends and tell ’em what it’s like to beat Rory McIlroy.

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