Managers wipe away tears of frustration

WHILE WE were busy doffing our caps to Rory McIlroy on Sunday night we couldn’t but spare a thought for his 60-odd former managers who, we’re sure, would have applauded that rather stupendous round of 62 if they weren’t so busy wiping away their Golf Masters’ tears.

“I just need to take a bit of a break and come back with a refreshed attitude,” McIlroy had said after missing the cut at the Masters, the opening tournament of our 2010 competition. “I am supposed to play Quail Hollow in a couple of weeks but I might need a bit more time to let this (back) injury clear up and clear my head. Maybe I’ll come back at Wentworth or something. We’ll see what happens.”

So, understandably enough, a sizeable proportion of the 512 managers, who had included McIlroy in their teams at registration time, opted to give him a rest, perhaps intending to rehire him in time for that trip to Wentworth later this month for the BMW PGA Championship.

Well, you saw what happened, not only did McIlroy make it, after all, to Quail Hollow he played with a crystal clear head, not least when he was sinking those eight birdies and an eagle in the final round. It was, then, a rich reward for the managers who stuck with him, having shown more confidence in the 21-year-old’s ability to rediscover his form that he appeared to have himself.

The eight managers who recruited McIlroy just last week should probably invest in a lottery ticket – you could, possibly, be on a roll. But what can we say to Ian, Kieran and Paul other than, perhaps, “drat”? Ian and Kieran are entitled to feel especially aggrieved seeing as they replaced one big money signing – that’d be McIlroy – with another: the fella who missed the cut for only the sixth time in his professional career. Yes, Tiger.

Ian’s sole consolation – and it was only worth €11,750 – was that another of his new recruits last week, Darren Clarke, managed to make it back to the Spanish Open in time for his third round, having flown to London because he assumed he’d missed the cut. It took a private jet and a two-hour drive to get him to Seville in time, an effort that at least helped Ian avoid a truly cataclysmic Golf Masters weekend.

Michael Delaney had a considerably more relaxed time of it than either Ian or Darren, his Pearl Mussels featuring both of week four’s tournament winners, McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros, the first local to triumph at the Spanish Open in eight years. Congratulations to the 22 who signed Quiros up last week; heartfelt commiserations to Evin who, well, you know. We noted the name of Evin’s team with some sorrow: I Always Lose.

Michael, though, had no such tales of woe, JJ Henry his other big contributor – he took a share of seventh at Quail Hollow. Pearl Mussels, then, won their manager a fourball at Druids Heath, as well as a snazzy Nike Golf Dri Fit polo shirt.

The mysteriously named Nene has gone top of our overall leaderboard, Flamengo the first team to break the €800,000 barrier. Deposed leader Robert Webster dropped to sixth, his line-up winning just over €50,000 at the weekend. He will trust that they have clearer collective heads at this week’s Italian Open and Players’ Championship, the latter tournament offering one and a half times the regular Golf Masters prize money.