The promise of afternoon rain offered Rory McIlroy the best chance of coming back tomorrow in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final after a defeat this morning to Charl Schwartzel.
McIlroy, who shot a 71 to lose by a stroke, was scheduled to face Tiger Woods in his final round-robin match today, a contest he must win to have any chance of making the knockout stage.
“I played a little better today,” McIlroy said. “I started off pretty well but Charl came back and birdied three of the last four holes. There is not much you can do about that. I will be trying my best to beat Tiger, otherwise it looks like a day on the beach for me tomorrow.”
Woods, who shot a four-under-par 67 to cruise past Matt Kuchar by five strokes, said he would be “going at it” against McIlroy no matter what the state of play. “It’s the match-up the galleries want to see. I know it is only an exhibition match but I think we will both be going for it. No-one wants to lose. I doubled two and bogeyed four this morning but after that hit it pretty well. ”
In the battle of the European Ryder Cup heroes Justin Rose beat Lee Westwood by three strokes. A round of 66 was seven shots better than Rose’s opening effort against Hunter Mahan and all but guaranteed progress to tomorrow’s knock-out stage. “Lee’s a great player. He kept the pressure on all the way. I putted much better today. The putts at 15 and 17 were crucial, really,” Rose said.
Following the success of this limited-field event, Turkey will feature for the first time next year on the main European Tour. The Turkish Open will debut as the penultimate-event on the Race to Dubai schedule, boasting a $7 million (£4.5m) prize fund.
