GOLF TOUR NEWS:THE IMPOSSIBLY rude health of Northern Irish golf is reflected by the presence of three Major champions from that part of the world in the WGC-Accenture Matchplay championship – starting tomorrow in Arizona – where one of them, Graeme McDowell, has been handed an opportunity for redemption when he comes face-to-face with his conqueror of a year ago, YE Yang of South Korea, in the first round.
“I have some unfinished business to take care of from last year,” remarked McDowell, who is kick-starting his US Tour season in what he describes as “the start of a really exciting seven weeks leading up to the Masters. I don’t want the first week to be a short one.”
Whilst G-Mac opens his championship with former US PGA champion Yang, world number two Rory McIlroy has been paired against South African George Coetzee in the first round and British Open champion Darren Clarke – playing in the event for the first time since 2006 – has been matched up against Nick Watney. To add spice to that encounter, the winner will face whoever comes through from the Tiger Woods-Gonzalo Fernandes Castano match.
McDowell, who has been preparing at home in Florida since competing in back-to-back events on the European Tour in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, described getting Yang in the opener as a “good draw”, explaining: “Yang is a top, top player and a tougher opener. But I look on it as a good draw. Not that I need added focus for any match I play in this format.”
He added: “There is never such a thing as an easy draw. Every opponent you face is going to be a top player. It’s just a matter of who grinds the match out better on the day.”
If McDowell does manage to overcome Yang, then he faces the prospect of a rematch with the man he beat in the decisive singles of the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. Hunter Mahan, the vanquished on that occasion, is paired against Zach Johnson in the first round.
Of the three Ulster men in the 64-man field – which yesterday saw Coetzee get in as a second reserve after Paul Casey decided against risking returning too soon after his snow-boarding injury – Clarke, the elder statesman, is the one who has fondest memories of this particular event. He won in a gripping head-to-head clash with Woods in the final of 2000, but, 12 years on, he is seeking to rediscover that old edge.
In fact, Clarke will be debuting with his new caddie Phil “Wobbly” Morbey in the matchplay and has also spent time with mind-guru Dr Bob Rotella in recent days.
Clarke hasn’t played since Abu Dhabi, but has spent the past three weeks, as he put it, “working very hard on my fitness . . . I’m fed up with playing poorly and I’ve been working out in the gym to get my fitness in better order.”
Clarke, who has been advised by a specialist to wear sunglasses after discovering he is sensitive to light, will be playing the Dove Mountain resort in Phoenix for the first time (his previous WGC matchplay success came at La Costa) and, apart from working out in the gym, believes he will also benefit from a full bio-mechanic assessment conducted at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown.
Clarke is on a three-week stint in the US that also takes in next week’s Honda Classic – which Pádraig Harrington, absent from Arizona after failing to qualify, has added to his schedule – and the following week’s WGC-CA Championship.
McIlroy, the top seed in his bracket, opens against Coetzee with the winner facing either KT Kim or Anders Hansen.
World number one Luke Donald starts his defence of the title against Ernie Els, who got in when Phil Mickelson opted not to play in the event so he could go on a family holiday. Donald, though, goes into the event with a question mark over his form after shooting a closing round 78 in the Los Angeles Open which left him lagging in 56th place.
