Sunday 10 May 2015 16:11, UK
Robert Lee reflects on Rory McIlroy's WGC-Cadillac Match Play win and looks ahead to this week's Players Championship.
If I’m being honest, singles matchplay isn’t my favourite thing in the world. I’d much rather watch the Players Championship this week than I would the WGC-Cadillac Match Play all day long. I just find that they start off with a bang, because there’s so much going on initially, but then fizzle out towards the end. By the end you’re just watching two people, whereas if you’re watching the last day at Sawgrass or the BMW PGA Championship or wherever there could be 12 people with a chance, which I just see as being more exciting.
Having all the big names there for three days was a good thing for the sponsors and meant everyone was engaged for longer, but individual matchplay just doesn’t float my boat. When people say matchplay they include the Ryder Cup, but to me team matchplay is completely different. We’ve got Paul Lawrie’s Matchplay in the summer, so I think two of those events in a season is enough and I don’t think we need any more of it.
British success
Danny Willett had a great week, finishing third and beating Jim Furyk in the consolation match. I haven’t done the maths but I think he’ll now be able to get more tournament invites in America because he’ll be around the threshold needed to keep his card or very close to it. I suspect the ideal world for him is to play a chunk over here and a chunk over there, so that’s a test he hasn’t put himself through yet but is well on the way to achieving.
It was tricky for Paul Casey in the quarter finals, going to bed after a long day locked with McIlroy then picking up some sort of illness. He might have lost anyway, but the least you want to do is turn up healthy and give yourself your best chance.
I enjoyed the fact that McIlroy won, as I thought for him to go the extra mile like he did to get the victory was superb on his part. He found something that little bit extra when he looked up against it, making putts he just had to hole and birdies he had to make. You need your heroes to do things like that and it was almost a heroic performance from McIlroy.
Rory’s life plan is to conquer new grounds and break new earth, so for him to win the Players Championship would be another big boxed ticked. He comes in to the week full of confidence having played some superb stuff last week when he was right up against it, so it’s hard to look past Rory. It’ll be interesting to see how the likes of McIlroy, Furyk and those who had a long week at the Players do, because to have to play seven matches in such a short space of time is tough.
Adding to that, it’s doesn’t especially favour the guys that hit it miles and we’ve had a whole load of winners through the years who aren’t monstrous off the tee, so anyone can win there. Jordan Spieth is in phenomenal form as we know, he has been a revelation this year and then you’ve got the next group with the likes of Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Furyk and Jason Day all lurking behind him. They’re all there and it’s a great field.
Spieth and McIlroy have been drawn together and I don’t think that came out of the lottery ball machine! Their rivalry will be there for seasons to come and after years of Tiger being world No 1 and being pretty distant and evasive in giving normal replies to questions, we’re a long way away from that now with two guys at the top who just seem human. They’re a joy to listen to and to watch playing, so I feel golf is very fortunate, as are the next generation of wannabe's with such great role models at the top of the game.
My SkyBet tip for the Players Championship is obvious and cruising under a full sail, with Rory Mcilroy looking hard to beat. On the European Tour in Mauritius, i'm backing promising young Irishman Kevin Phelan to win for the first time.
Watch the Players Championship and Mauritius Open live this week on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
