Global Golf Post - May 10, 2010

LEWINE MAIR
WRITING FROM EDINBURGH
People think that Rory McIlroy, who
won at Quail Hollow, has lived an en-
chanted existence since he turned pro
at the end of 2007. In fact, there have
been several disappointments in the
mix, and probably none more so than
that on the last day of the 2008 Euro-
pean Tour Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre
in France.
The then 18-year-old McIlroy was
14-under par and one ahead of Jean-
Francois Lucquin as he played down
the last. When he hit two grand shots
15 feet past the flag, the tournament
was as good as his.
As it transpired, he took three to
get down and ended up losing to the
Lucquin indicated that that was fine by
him, only for McIlroy to hurry up to the
putt and miss.
Lucquin, comfortable in the knowl-
edge that he now had two for it, signed
off with a resounding birdie and was

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy was mortified but, even in
the crisis, his natural charm did not
desert him. Using the language of his
hosts he muttered a wry, “C’est la vie.”
Luke Donald
will make his debut
in the Celtic Manor
Wales Open from
June 3-6 in his
continuing bid to
win a place in Colin
Montgomerie’s
Ryder Cup side at
the same Welsh venue. Donald played
in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2006 – he
collected an impressive five-and-a-half
points out of a possible seven – but
missed out on the 2008 version be-
cause of a wrist injury. (Donald’s injury,
which he sustained at the ’08 US Open,
was largely ignored amid the screeds
of newsprint devoted to Tiger Woods’
cruciate ligament problems.).
A World Cup winner with Paul Casey
in 2004, Donald has three top-five fin-
ishes in majors under his belt, with the
last of them a fifth place at Turnberry.

Luke Donald
view to sharpening his links game. He
played – and won – before each of his
Open triumphs in ’07 and ’08.

With the dates of the Irish PGA
having been changed, Harrington,
a creature of habit, is now looking
for something similar in the way of
a warm-up event and, if he cannot
find one, might well stage his own. “I
wouldn’t,” he said, “be averse to doing
something like that. It might be a 36-
hole or a 54-hole event, just for 20 pros
and perhaps a few amateurs.”
Padraig Harrington has usually
played in the Irish PGA championship
in the week before the Open with a
Loch Lomond, the course of which
Tom Lehman once said, “There may
be a few places in the world as beauti-
ful but none more so,” is still suffering
from one of the worst winters in recent
history. The venue of the Barclays
Scottish Open, which is held in the
same week-before-the-Open slot as
Harrington could be hosting his links-
type event, has had four of its putting
surfaces completely re-laid. Meanwhile,
the members are using temporary
greens at the other 14 holes.