GOLF: MALAYSIAN OPEN:ANOTHER WEEK, another letdown for Rory McIlroy, who followed his US Masters disappointment with another final-round near-miss in Kuala Lumpur. At least this time the Northern Irishman did not shoot a closing 80, although he did make a bogey on the 72nd hole of the Malaysian Open when a birdie would have earned him a play-off.
The victory, in the end, went to the Italian Matteo Manassero, whose closing 68, four under par, was good enough for a one-shot victory over Gregory Bourdy of France.
It was the Italian’s second victory on the European Tour in a nascent professional career and, given the quality of the opposition and the composure he showed under pressure, it marks him out as the most exciting young talent in the game.
More prosaically, the win will see him climb into the top-35 of the world rankings and earns him a place in the final three major championships of the year.
Tomorrow, Manassero will celebrate his 18th birthday.
McIlroy, meanwhile, will simply be glad to celebrate some time off after the most taxing two weeks of his short professional life, an adventure which began with three days of brilliant play at Augusta National which saw him take a four-shot advantage into last Sunday’s final round of the Masters, the year’s first major. What followed then will, of course, go down in golfing infamy – an epic meltdown under pressure.
McIlroy may have lost his composure on the Augusta course, but he has been widely, and rightly, praised for the way he has comported himself since that devastating loss. Good grace was called for once again in Kuala Lumpur and, needless to say, he was up to the task.
“Matteo is fantastic. He is a great talent – to get two wins on the European Tour before your 18th birthday is pretty special,” he said. “He is great and we’ve known he is a great player. He deserves it.”
In the broader landscape of the global game the Malaysian Open does not register highly, but it nevertheless attracts a strong field every year, with many of the world’s leading players being paid handsome appearance fees to make the pilgrimage.
McIlroy, for instance, was reportedly paid €350,000 to take the 21-hour flight from Georgia to the Far East – a sum that exceeded Manassero’s cheque for winning. However, it can safely be assumed he would have gladly swapped the fee for a victory.
The 21-year-old may be the most naturally gifted ball-striker in golf, but so far he has won only twice in his professional career – a sensational record for someone so young, but a record, nevertheless, that has some observers muttering about his abilities as a tournament “closer”.
Yesterday’s play in Kuala Lumpur will have done little to stop such muttering.
At one stage in the delayed third round McIlroy moved strongly into a three-shot lead only to let it slip away. The player himself, however, was far from discouraged.
“It was a good week. I started off really well in the tournament. To shoot the scores that I did considering the travelling (from Augusta to Malaysia) is a pretty good effort,” he said. “I’m disappointed with the result, but everything else was positive. I’m proud of myself at how I picked myself up from last week.”
American Brendan Steele won the Texas Open last night in San Antonio, carding a one-under final round to claim the title by one shot over fellow Americans Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell.
Steele started the day at the top of the leaderboard on seven-under, and held on to claim his first PGA Tour title.
Final Scores
(Irish in bold, British unless stated)
272 – M Manassero (Ita) 66 71 67 68.
273 – G Bourdy (Fra) 71 69 66 67.
274 – Rory McIlroy69 64 72 69.
275 – A Noren (Swe) 64 69 71 71, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 69 70 69 67.
276 – F Aguilar (Chi) 70 70 66 70.
278 – S Dyson 70 64 76 68.
279 – S Rahman (Ban) 68 71 71 69.
280 – A Canizares (Spa) 69 72 68 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 70 71 67 72.
281 – C Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 71 67 70, S Gallacher 67 70 72 72.
282 – S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 70 72 67, R Rock 70 71 70 71, S Kapur (Ind) 71 69 71 71, J Morrison 69 71 70 72.
283 – S-h Baek (Kor) 70 73 70 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 69 69 71 74, J Luiten (Ned) 72 69 71 71, S Hansen (Den) 70 72 72 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 70 72 71, D Willett 71 69 72 71, M Brown (Nzl) 73 71 70 69, T Jaidee (Tha) 73 71 68 71, K Kuboya (Jpn) 74 70 65 74, J Knutzon (USA) 70 71 71 71, D Lee (Nzl) 71 67 70 75, B Rumford (Aus) 69 68 72 74, T Stewart (Aus) 73 71 70 69.
284 – K Ichihara (Jpn) 71 71 74 68, Peter Lawrie70 71 73 70, P Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70 71 73.
285 – J Donaldson 68 73 71 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 73 69 72, M Fraser (Aus) 69 73 72 71.
286 – Y-S Chan (Tpe) 70 74 73 69, M Campbell (Nzl) 73 67 70 76, P Waring 71 69 70 76, T Hiratsuka (Jpn) 71 69 71 75, G Coetzee (Rsa) 73 71 74 68, C Phadungsil (Tha) 73 69 71 73. 287 – J Kingston (Rsa) 71 71 71 74, P Marksaeng (Tha) 71 72 69 75, T Wiratchant (Tha) 72 68 73 74, M Lafeber (Ned) 74 68 69 76, D Chia (Mal) 71 73 67 76. 288 – I-c Hwang (Kor) 72 71 65 80, JM Singh (Ind) 67 76 69 76, M Both (Aus) 71 70 72 75, Gareth Maybin73 71 74 70, C Nirat (Tha) 71 72 69 76, P Martin (Spa) 73 65 82 68. 289 – D Horsey 72 72 71 74, T Goya (Arg) 72 71 72 74, R Davies 72 70 70 77, B Ruangkit (Tha) 71 72 75 71, A Lahiri (Ind) 75 68 74 72, G Storm 71 70 75 73. 290 – P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 75 68 75 72, Darren Beck (Aus) 67 71 76 76, W-T Lin (Tpe) 70 72 75 73. 291 – U Duangdecha (Tha) 73 70 76 72, C Rodgers 69 74 74 74, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 72 72 76. 292 – A Forsyth 72 71 74 75, W-c Liang (Chn) 70 69 75 78. 293 – J Parry 74 68 74 77, S Barr (Aus) 69 73 74 77, G Flint (Aus) 71 73 73 76, C Plaphol (Tha) 69 73 74 77, M Mamat (Sin) 73 70 73 77. 294 – K Tannin (Hkg) 69 72 74 79. 295 – L Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 75 76 75. 296 – D Drysdale 69 72 79 76, P Karmis (Rsa).
