While Brooks Koepka and the rest of the PGA Tour elite are on extended vacation, the world’s No. 2 is back at work today.
And what better setting could a player ask for than the beyond-beautiful Swiss Alps?
Rory McIlroy is there at the Crans-sur-Montana Golf Club and before you ask what he’s doing at this lower-purse, European Tour event, consider that he’s the spokesman for high-end Omega watches and this is the Omega Masters. Rory was at a Wednesday presser pimping the new Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Ultra-Light, a Gamma Titanium gem that weighs just 55 grams and you see it on Rory’s wrist while he’s out there lashing 350-yard drives.
Price tag on Rory’s timepiece? A cool $48,600 and you can get yours starting in 2020.
Anyway, back to the tournament and Crans-sur-Montana Golf Club.
This one should be a pushover. It’s only about 6,800 yards and that’s at an altitude of 5,000 feet (remember, we’re in the Alps). That would translate to about a 6,200-yard course at sea level.
Rory, Mr. Omega himself, had an early tee time Thursday, went off the back nine and turned in three-under par. Looked like a six or seven-under round was in the cards but then Rory did what Rory often does coming home. Over his last eight holes he missed four putts from six feet or less and an even-par nine left him with a 67. Not bad, not great but four back of co-leaders Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Matthias Schwab (no relation to Charles).
That didn’t seem to matter much, you get the feeling that Rory could light it up on his short course, 61 isn’t out of the question.
Rory wasn’t overly thrilled with his day’s work but you got the sense he knows he could go low, real low on what amounts to a pitch-and-putt for him.
“Overall it was okay,” said the man who walked away with $15 million last Sunday at East Lake and gave No. 1 Brooks Koepka a beat-down in the process. “I felt like I did okay, so very different from the golf I’ve played the last few weeks,” he said of his time in the FedEx playoffs.
As for being in Switzerland, he has the wife and in-laws with him. “They visited the Matterhorn this week,” he advised. “If I had to play this week, I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else,” he said of this idyllic, picture-postcard setting. “Hopefully I can play good golf over the next three days.”
He knows Matthew Fitzpatrick is the two-time defending champ this week. “Matt’s had some success here. I’m just trying to emulate that,” Rory said.
McIlroy also has another goal in mind and it sounds like he’s absolutely brimming with confidence.
“I feel like when I’m playing my best — I’m the best player in the world. With the work I’ve been putting in, I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time.”
He took the first step to get himself closer to Brooks Koepka and that No. 1 ranking.
Still a ways to go but he’s gone past Dustin Johnson for that No. 2 spot, no arguments there. D.J.’s become a ghost.
There are some huge events ahead for McIlroy in the European Tour’s Race To Dubai.
The European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA at Wentworth is Sept. 19 then the first three weeks in November (Turkish Airlines, Nedbank and DP World) wrap up the season.
In the meantime, Rory’s having fun in Switzerland.
There are birdies to be made and high-end watches to sell.
Editor’s Note: Rory did indeed get it going Friday. He shot 30 over the final nine and his seven-under par 63 got him within a shot of 36-hole leader Gavin Green going into the weekend.
