Hunter Mahan
HSBC winner Angela Stanford
Westwood’s Coming To America
John Huh’s Answer
Stanford Survives In Singapore
Wouldn’t it be delicious if Rory McIlroy and
Hunter Mahan met again? At the Ryder Cup
this September. In the final singles. With the
matches tied.
If only.
A high-stakes sneak preview took place
Sunday in the Arizona desert where Mahan
controlled McIlroy and his own golf ball well
enough all afternoon to win 2 and 1 in the final
of the WGC-Accenture Match Play. Mahan’s
biggest measure of satisfaction here comes
from knowing the critics can no longer point to
the 2010 Ryder Cup and insist Mahan’s short
game cracks under pressure.
“Been working on that,” Mahan said. “I had
to trust it and let it happen. It was all there.”
That’s how winners talk.
McIlroy, the 22-year-old Northern Irishman
who would have ascended to world No. 1 with a
victory, may have spent a little too much energy
vaporizing Ryder Cup teammate and fierce rival
Lee Westwood in the morning’s semifinals.
But, McIlroy said of Mahan, “He deserved
to win.”
That’s how sportsmen talk.
(Are you listening, Tiger?)
Before you start feeling too sorry for McIlroy,
consider Robert Allenby. Playing in the PGA
Tour’s “other” event in Mexico, the Aussie
veteran double-bogeyed the 72nd hole to allow
American-born rookie John Huh into a playoff.
Eight holes later, Huh was a first-time winner.
Who? Huh.
Finally in Singapore, Korean Jenny Shin
pulled an “Allenby,” double-bogeying her
final hole to create a four-way playoff at the
HSBC Women’s Champions eventually won by
American Angela Stanford.
Cruel game.
