Golf’s new power couple:
Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki
Sports’ New Royal Couple … The WozIlroys
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES |
Kate and William. Victoria and
David. And now Caroline and Rory. Or
WozIlroy, as tennis and golf’s royal
couple have dubbed themselves (pass
the sick bucket). Wozniacki, the world
No. 4 tennis player, was in Dubai being chaperoned by the world No. 2’s
father, Gerry, and a group of McIlroy’s
Northern Irish mates. Not so much his
Entourage, more his OnTourage.
Caroline strolled outside the ropes to
witness Rory shoot 14-under par to finish tied fifth. It is the third time she has
watched him. He is returning the compliment this week by accompanying her
to the ATP tennis tournament in Qatar.
“I actually do all right when she’s
there,” McIlroy said with a blush. “I do
notice her. It’s great to have her here.”
Ah, bliss. Wozniacki practiced in the
mornings and followed McIlroy in the
afternoons. They seem inseparable. “It’s
nice to get away from the course and sort
of take your mind off it and go be a ball
boy at a practice session,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy said how he has seen how
hard Wozniacki works and it has in-
spired him. “It’s great to see someone
with so much drive and ambition and
dedication to what they do. I feel like
I’ve worked harder than I ever have this
off-season, especially in the gym and
hitting balls just trying to become bet-
ter. I suppose golfers definitely have it a
little easier than tennis players in that
regard,” McIlroy said.
The first thing world No. 3 Lee
Westwood had to do when he arrived
in Dubai was say sorry for swearing on
the 16th tee in the final round at Qatar.
He would have gotten away with it, too,
if it weren’t for those television
boom microphones. Bad luck for Westwood, or maybe serve him right, that
his mother was watching on TV back
home in the UK.
“My mum was the first person on
the phone,” Westwood said sheep-
ishly. “And she said, you might want to
apologize.”
Westwood got straight on to his
Twitter page. “Sorry about swearing on
the 16th tee. Came off like a rocket and
thought it was going further! Wash my
mouth out! Perils of live TV!” he wrote.
Fred Couples was back at the
Dubai Desert Classic for the first time
since 1996 when he was the defending
champion. That was in the Year 1 B. T. W.
(Before Tiger Woods). Everyone knows
Tiger’s story of the rise and fall (and
comeback) of Tiger’s empire after he
won the Masters in 1997, and it didn’t
take long for Couples, now 52, to be
asked the obligatory Tiger question.
“The whole world knows he made the
biggest blunder in the world,” Couples
said. “With Tiger, everything is just
pushed bigger and bigger and bigger
and it’s just part of the deal, and he
doesn’t have a problem with it. When
I saw him play in Sydney, besides his
driver, he was as good as he used to be.”
Oh, and by the way, Couples fancies
having a crack at being Ryder Cup cap-
tain. “I still have a chance,” said Amer-
ica’s 2011 Presidents Cup skipper. “The
Presidents Cup is a little more laid back,
but it’s still four days of golf, so I don’t re-
ally understand why anything is different.
So, maybe in the next two or four years
I’ll get a shot at it. But they are going to
name another Presidents Cup captain
in another month and I know they’re all
pushing for me to do it again, so I’m all
for that. But, obviously, I would love to be
a Ryder Cup captain, there’s no doubt.”
How many holes-in-one do you think
world No. 4 Martin Kaymer had bagged
before the Dubai Desert Classic? How
about none. Make that one, now – the
seventh at the Emirates Golf Club. He’s
been close many times and said he had
been talking about it with Sergio Gar-
cia, who aced one in Abu Dhabi.
