Rory McIlroy has just won the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in what was a quite spectacular final round of golf.
Shooting a wonderful round of 66, the Northern Irishman finally grabbed his first win of the 2014 season at just the right time with three Majors coming up over the summer as well as the race to make the Ryder Cup team in September really hotting up.
And what a week for McIlroy to win such a big event. As was well documented on Wednesday and throughout the tournament, the two time Major winner has broken off his engagement and relationship with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. Now let's be spared of people saying McIlroy is brave in winning this tournament. On the eve of the tournament, he hadn't lost a close family member or friend.
But a break up is never easy to do particularly after they got engaged only on New Years Day and had started to send out wedding invitations last weekend. It would only have been natural for McIlroy to let that play on his mind on the course throughout the four days of competition and his golf was up and down all week.
But unlike Thomas Bjorn who started the day seven ahead of McIlroy and five ahead of his closest challenger Luke Donald, McIlroy truly delivered when it mattered most as he so often has during his career so far on a Sunday.
He had promised a lot so far this season with regular top tens over in America including a tied second at The Honda Classic and good performances at The Masters and The Players Championship.
As many have said in the wake of this win, it shows how foolish it is to predict golf tournaments but it does seem that breaking up with Wozniacki has given McIlroy a boost. I'm not saying for a moment that every club golfer or indeed professionals should suddenly call off relationships but McIlroy's form had suffered over the last year or so when in a very public relationship with another famous sports star though of course Wozniacki wasn't the only reason for that poor form.
With Tiger Woods injured right now, there can be no doubting that McIlroy is key to drawing crowds in at tournaments and on TV and that was certainly the case at a superbly attended PGA Championship at Wentworth.
With the US Open just around the corner McIlroy has grabbed the bull by the horns and got himself back in the winners circle at just the right time. And on the back nine today, he was striking the ball as well as he has done in a long time and looked mentally in the zone.
That can only be a good thing for golf. Summer 2014 for Rory McIlroy might just be about to be massive.
Sunday 25 May 2014
Wednesday 7 May 2014
The Jester has the last laugh: How Mark Selby won the snooker World Championship
Mark Selby had waited seven long years to get the monkey off his back. Ever since reaching the World Snooker Championship final in 2007, where he ultimately lost to John Higgins, the man nicknamed 'The Jester from Leicester' had been tipped for world glory.
As the years rolled by it looked as though Selby wasn't going to achieve his dream of becoming a world champion, but that all changed on bank holiday Monday at just after quarter past ten when he sealed a fantastic 18-14 win over the five time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
World titles don't come easy and boy did Selby have to fight tooth and nail to collect the trophy and the winner's cheque for £300,000. O'Sullivan who was looking for a third consecutive title at the crucible came out like a train during Sunday afternoon's first session and raced into a three nil lead which included breaks of 102 and 69.
Selby on the other hand wasn't at the races and looked tired from his efforts in getting through 17-15 against Neil Robertson in the semi-final the previous night. However, Selby hadn't won three Masters titles and a UK Championship since that final appearance in 2007 without showing some true grit.
Slowly but surely he got to grips with the occasion and the match but was still playing nowhere near his best. All credit then that thanks to some grinding safety play and taking some half chances, that he got out of the first session only 5-3 down, and indeed he missed a glorious opportunity to make it 4-4.
However, O'Sullivan still looked very focused in the evening session as two half century breaks in three frames allowed him to build a commanding 8-3 lead before Selby won the next two.
The killer moment seemed to have come when O'Sullivan at his ruthless best rattled off two frames in no time to move into double figures with a 10-5 lead and as six time champion Steve Davis said in the BBC studio, O'Sullivan was winning two frames to Selby's one at that point. There looked no way back for him against a man looking to match Davis's six titles.
It turns out Mark Selby hadn't read the script for the World Snooker final of 2014. Playing what some shamefully described as "anti-snooker"- I thought of it as extremely clever- Selby kept himself in the hunt by winning the last two frames of the evening session to close the gap to 10-7 overnight.
And whilst most people were off work on Monday, Selby was like a man possessed at the crucible table doing his job. O'Sullivan was clearly rattled when Selby went ahead for the first time at 11-10. This was a situation O'Sullivan had never faced before; being behind in a world final. Would Selby be ruthless or would O'Sullivan fight back?
It looked odds on as though O'Sullivan would go 12-11 up heading into the final session but he inexplicably missed a pink in the final frame of the afternoon that frankly some pub players would have made.
And from then on, it didn't look as though the man from Leicester was going to let go of his best chance yet to win a World Championship despite O'Sullivan winning the first frame of the evening. His clearance of 25 to seal the trophy once and for all might not sound much but under massive pressure, it was one of the best clearances I've ever seen at the Crucible. And that was that, 18-14 and Selby had beaten one of the greatest snooker players of all time, despite being five frames behind on two occasions.
And let's not forget who else Mark Selby had to beat to win his first world title. His 17-15 semi final win over Neil Robertson was full of high quality snooker and will live long in the memory. In a classic nip and tuck match, both players had nerves of steel throughout with some magnificent long potting and it was Selby who happened to have the edge on the night.
Before that, he dispatched experienced Scotsman Alan McManus 13-5 in the quarter finals- no mean feat considering McManus's safety play and in round two he had to get past two time world finalist Ali Carter. In Round One, he was in serious danger of going out to Michael White after almost blowing 5-1 and 8-4 leads to eventually win 10-9. Perhaps then more of us should have known Selby's name was written on the trophy for 2014.
Still only 30, Selby has all the attributes to become a true legend in the game. Indeed, he already is only one of nine players to win the World Championship, Masters and UK Championship. If he can defend his World Title next year or indeed become a two time champion at any time in the future, he can be considered a legend of the game.
Then the jester really would have the last laugh.
As the years rolled by it looked as though Selby wasn't going to achieve his dream of becoming a world champion, but that all changed on bank holiday Monday at just after quarter past ten when he sealed a fantastic 18-14 win over the five time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
World titles don't come easy and boy did Selby have to fight tooth and nail to collect the trophy and the winner's cheque for £300,000. O'Sullivan who was looking for a third consecutive title at the crucible came out like a train during Sunday afternoon's first session and raced into a three nil lead which included breaks of 102 and 69.
Selby on the other hand wasn't at the races and looked tired from his efforts in getting through 17-15 against Neil Robertson in the semi-final the previous night. However, Selby hadn't won three Masters titles and a UK Championship since that final appearance in 2007 without showing some true grit.
Slowly but surely he got to grips with the occasion and the match but was still playing nowhere near his best. All credit then that thanks to some grinding safety play and taking some half chances, that he got out of the first session only 5-3 down, and indeed he missed a glorious opportunity to make it 4-4.
However, O'Sullivan still looked very focused in the evening session as two half century breaks in three frames allowed him to build a commanding 8-3 lead before Selby won the next two.
The killer moment seemed to have come when O'Sullivan at his ruthless best rattled off two frames in no time to move into double figures with a 10-5 lead and as six time champion Steve Davis said in the BBC studio, O'Sullivan was winning two frames to Selby's one at that point. There looked no way back for him against a man looking to match Davis's six titles.
It turns out Mark Selby hadn't read the script for the World Snooker final of 2014. Playing what some shamefully described as "anti-snooker"- I thought of it as extremely clever- Selby kept himself in the hunt by winning the last two frames of the evening session to close the gap to 10-7 overnight.
And whilst most people were off work on Monday, Selby was like a man possessed at the crucible table doing his job. O'Sullivan was clearly rattled when Selby went ahead for the first time at 11-10. This was a situation O'Sullivan had never faced before; being behind in a world final. Would Selby be ruthless or would O'Sullivan fight back?
It looked odds on as though O'Sullivan would go 12-11 up heading into the final session but he inexplicably missed a pink in the final frame of the afternoon that frankly some pub players would have made.
And from then on, it didn't look as though the man from Leicester was going to let go of his best chance yet to win a World Championship despite O'Sullivan winning the first frame of the evening. His clearance of 25 to seal the trophy once and for all might not sound much but under massive pressure, it was one of the best clearances I've ever seen at the Crucible. And that was that, 18-14 and Selby had beaten one of the greatest snooker players of all time, despite being five frames behind on two occasions.
And let's not forget who else Mark Selby had to beat to win his first world title. His 17-15 semi final win over Neil Robertson was full of high quality snooker and will live long in the memory. In a classic nip and tuck match, both players had nerves of steel throughout with some magnificent long potting and it was Selby who happened to have the edge on the night.
Before that, he dispatched experienced Scotsman Alan McManus 13-5 in the quarter finals- no mean feat considering McManus's safety play and in round two he had to get past two time world finalist Ali Carter. In Round One, he was in serious danger of going out to Michael White after almost blowing 5-1 and 8-4 leads to eventually win 10-9. Perhaps then more of us should have known Selby's name was written on the trophy for 2014.
Still only 30, Selby has all the attributes to become a true legend in the game. Indeed, he already is only one of nine players to win the World Championship, Masters and UK Championship. If he can defend his World Title next year or indeed become a two time champion at any time in the future, he can be considered a legend of the game.
Then the jester really would have the last laugh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)