Ireland lose out by a shot to Italy

GOLF/ WORLD CUP: RORY MCILROY is learning all about tough knocks as, for a second week in a row, a major trophy evaded his clutches when the 20-year-old Ulsterman and team-mate Graeme McDowell – attempting to become wire-to-wire winners – were overtaken by Italy on the home stretch in the World Cup at Mission Hills in China.

Just a week after losing out to Lee Westwood in his quest to top the European Tour Order of Merit, McIlroy again had to settle for second best as the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, claimed an historic first World Cup for Italy. The Italians finished with a final round 68 in the foursomes for a 72-hole total of 259, 29-under-par, to finish one shot clear of joint runners-up Ireland and Sweden.

The Irish duo was frustrated in their quest to claim the prestige two-man team event, having turned for home with a three stroke lead. However, a succession of missed opportunities – including a birdie putt on the last from McDowell which would have tied the lead – combined with a strong finish from the Italians left McIlroy and McDowell ruing what might have been.

“It’s been a great week. Myself and Graeme really enjoyed it, especially being in the hunt today was a good feeling. But we weren’t able to pull it off, we both played pretty averagely,” said world number 10 McIlroy, adding: “We shot two under but it could have been a lot better . . . it just wasn’t meant to be.”

McIlroy, who finishes his season’s work in this week’s NedBank Challenge in Sun City, and McDowell, who has headed on to the United States for the Shark Shoot-out where he is expected to team-up with Ian Poulter, were attempting to become the third Irish team to capture the World Cup. The feat was previously achieved by Christy O’Connor and Harry Bradshaw in 1958 and by Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley in 1997.

McIlroy and McDowell shot a final round 70 – only managing one birdie on the back nine – which saw them relinquish the lead for the first time since the opening round, when they shot a sensational 58. Ireland moved three shots clear with a run of four successive birdies from the fourth but bogeys on the eighth and 10th along with a failure to birdie the par-five ninth and 11th holes proved costly.

In the end, though, the Molinaris – the first set of brothers to win the World Cup – rounded out a fabulous season which had seen Francisco claim nine top-10 finishes on the European Tour and Edoardo top the Challenge Tour standings. On the 18th, where both Sweden (in the match ahead) and Ireland had birdie chances, the Italians produced a tournament-winning par save with Francesco hitting a long greenside bunker shot to three feet which Edoardo holed for the historic win.

“It’s been a tough day and we have been playing against some of the best golfers in the world. It was really tough until the last, but it feels even better when it is like that,” said Francesco.

“It’s really great for Italy. I think we deserved it as we attacked from the first day with every putt and every shot and we tried to make as many birdies as possible . . . I was lucky to hole two big putts on 12 and 13 which were probably the key moment and we just had to hang in there.”

Edoardo, the European Challenge Tour number one and winner of last week’s Dunlop Phoenix in Japan, echoed his brother’s joy, adding: “It was a very sweet feeling after holing the putt. When I saw the ball in the bunker, it was lying okay, and I just said, ‘Francesco, just knock it on the green anywhere, and I’m going to hole the putt’. It was I think a great way to finish, to win by one shot against some really good teams like Ireland and Sweden.”

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson made a strong defence of the title, carding a final round 69. For Karlsson, it was the second successive week he had come out on the wrong side of a result with Edoardo Molinari: last week, Molinari beat him in a play-off in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament.