Down, but not out; and with an eyeon the bigger picture! As Rory McIlroy was dethroned as WGC-Dell Matchplay champion – losing out on the 18th green in the semi-final to new world number one Jason Day – the 26-year-old Northern Irish man had an upbeat attitude in adversity as he looked ahead to the upcoming US Masters, the season'sfirst Major championship.
After suffering a one-hole defeat to Day in a mesmerising semi-final at Austin Country Club in Texas, McIlroy – who now has a week off, missing out on the Houston Open, to prepare for his assignment at Augusta National in less than a fortnight’s time – felt his run to the final four was “very valuable” in gathering momentum up to the Masters.
“Coming into this tournament, (I said) if I play three rounds or six rounds or seven rounds, playing matchplayand feeling like you’re in contention every time you step onto the first tee, is a a great feeling and something you can’t really replicate in practice.
“Theweek has been a great week overall and I wish I would have been able to get one more win under my belt. But I’m really happy with my game going into the Masters,” said McIlroy, who fell at the penultimate hurdle in defence of a crown he won last year.
Day, the recent Arnold Palmer Invitational champion, who has assumed the world number one spot in leapfrogging Jordan Spieth for that particular accolade, got the better ofMcIlroy in a match that swung one way and then the other before the Australian took the initiative just after the turn and closed the deal with a fine up-and-down for par on the 18th to secure a one-hole winning margin.
Although Day won the opening hole to jump into the lead, McIlroy squared matters on the second and it became a nip and tuck affair up to the turn with the Ulsterman winning the sixth, losing the seventh and then winning the eighth which enabled him to hold a one-hole leadat the turn.
However, Day won the 10th to again level the match and, in many ways, the decisive shift in momentum cameon the Par 3 11th. It appeared as if McIlroy would again edge ahead there but Day got a half against the head, getting up from greenside rough for a par; and, then, the reigning US PGA champion won the 12th and 13th holes to move two up.
“Losing 12 and 13, that was the shift in momentum. Not birdieing 12 or 13 was the real downfall. To go two down after that, I knew I had a real uphill battle on my hands and Jason wasn’t giving me anything,” admitted McIlroy afterwards.
McIlroy reduced the deficit to one hole when he rolled in a 12-footer for a birdie on the 14th but he failed to take his opportunities on the way home in his bid to outduel Day, especially a great chance on the 17th where his birdie putt clippedthe hole.
On the 18th, McIlroy – using his driving iron – found a fairway bunker off the tee and Day seemed tobe in trouble when pushing his 2-iron tee shot into the trees down the right.
He got a break when his ball hit a tree trunk and kicked left, which left him with a clear shot. Day's approach missed the green left and his chip to 12 feet was holed for a par that proved sufficient to move him into a final against South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, who beat Spain's Rafa Cabrera Bella in the other semi-final.
“I felt like I played well, didn’tmake a bogey, didn’t hand him anything,” observed McIlroy of failing to maintain his unbeaten streak of two years in the championship.
For Day, there was an element of relief in his fighting display in which he used his putter just 23 times. “I was very pleased to get past Rory, it was a very, very tough match.”
For Cabrera Bella, meanwhile, there was the consolation that his run in Austin had earned him a ticket to the Masters via the world’s top-50 cut-off.
