McIlroy magic prevails at the WGC Matchplay

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

SO, WE had a new venue, a new format, two players almost coming to blows on the final hole of a meaningless round-robin match and Jordan Spieth failing to reach the knockout stages of the WGC Cadillac championship at Harding Park in San Francisco.

And at the end of it all, the sponsors were sighing with relief when Rory McIlroy, the world No1, did what the best player in the world is meant to do by beating Gary Woodland 4&3 in the final. The Northern Irishman, renowned for the quality of his driving, won this event on the strength of his short game.

He was two down with two to play in the final round robin match against Billy Horschell but won thanks to some remarkable recoveries. He could easily have lost to Paul Casey in the quarter-final, but putted quite wonderfully. And he could have lost to Jim Furyk in the semi-final had the short stick not been behaving itself. The quality of golf in that semi-final was sensational, with Furyk playing a succession of tremendous short irons, but McIlroy finished birdie, birdie, eagle to win one up.

And so it continued against Woodland, one of the few players capable of living with McIlroy off the tee. They shared the first three holes, and then Rory won the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh to go four up. The 10th hole was halved in birdie three and Woodland pulled one back at the 11th.

The 12th is a reachable par four - Woodland drove the green while McIlroy missed right and left himself a difficult pitch. He played it brilliantly but could get no closer than 15 feet. Woodland duly two-putted for his birdie and when McIlroy failed to convert, he was suddenly only two up with six to play.

He should have lost the next, too, but Woodland inexplicably missed a three-foot putt to win the 13th. Still seething over his miss, Woodland three-putted the 14th to hand the hole to McIlroy. Three up with four to play.

The match finished on the 16th when Woodland thinned a bunker shot across the green and failed to hole the subsequent chip.

"I am delighted to win this," he said. "I am proud of the way I fought back in a couple of matches when I was trailing, and it's great to have a second World Golf Championship to my name." To put things in perspective, Tiger Woods has won 18 of them!

In the consolation match, Willett, the leader of the Race to Dubai, holed some outrageous putts against Furyk. The Yorkshire has come of age since winning in Sun City last year and is looking to earn as much money as possible to gain his playing privileges on the PGA Tour. When Furyk's ball hit a cypress tree at the 16th and failed to reappear he conceded the hole and Willett had won 3&2.