With every one of the world’s top 50 players in the field, Justin Rose’s victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday was particularly sweet. The Englishman’s splendid performance moved him to No 7 in the world rankings and took to four the number of players from the UK inside the top ten.
These are exciting times for British and Irish golf with Rose, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood all expected to challenge strongly for the game’s highest honours this year, starting with the Masters in three weeks’ time. That’s not to mention the likes of Graeme McDowell, a fit-again Paul Casey, or Ian Poulter. The sky’s the limit.
What a contrast Augusta National will offer to the Blue Monster Course at Doral, scene of Rose’s finest moment and the biggest win of his career. If truth be told, in its present form the Blue Monster is not worthy of holding a tournament of such prestige.
The world golf championships are just one-tier down from the majors and should be played on courses of the highest calibre. And yet the choice of Doral smacks of the PGA Tour in the US imposing its will on the other members of the International Federation of PGA Tours who, between them, founded the WGCs 12 years ago.
McIlroy, who finished third on Sunday after a charge up the leaderboard, pulled no punches: “It’s a resort course,” he said. “It was a tough test 15 years ago, but now it has just got outdated. They definitely need to do something with it.”
Advertisement
There is little doubt that the now ironically-named Blue Monster has lost its bite. For the fifth year running, the scoring average was below par, this year coming in at 71.137. With many of the fairway bunkers placed around 280 yards from the tee, today’s fitter, stronger players - armed with better equipment and balls that fly forever - clear them as if they aren’t there.
And to watch Bubba Watson, in his second-round 62, choosing all sorts of weird and wacky lines off the tees and taking out the doglegs, simply underlined the fact that the course was there for the taking. Which may be fine for a low-key, or seniors, event, but not a world championship.
If you believe, as I do, that the WGCs should be played on the best courses and moved around the world, then when the contract to host the Cadillac tournament runs out next year, it will be time to bid farewell to Doral, regardless of the pressure that will no doubt be exerted by one Donald Trump.
Trump is in the final stages of buying the resort and is promising a major make-over of the course, which is undeniably good news. And if Tim Finchem, head-honcho of the PGA Tour, wishes to reward him, then he can take a regular tour event there instead. But as far as the world championships are concerned, Doral has had its day. It is time to move on.
Changing of the guard
Advertisement
While Rory McIlroy was charging through the field at Doral on Sunday, so Tiger Woods was labouring away with an Achilles tendon injury that eventually forced his withdrawal from the competition. The 36-year-old former world No 1, and the greatest player of his generation, is playing catch-up at the moment and is finding that McIlroy, 14 years his junior, has his number.
And how fitting it was that when the television cameras came away from Woods exiting the course in his blacked-out Mercedes, they should immediately return to McIlroy, who was in the process of “doing a Tiger” - holing out from a greenside bunker for an eagle at the 12th hole. It was a symbolic moment that was lost on no one. It was not quite a case of “The King is dead, long live the King”. But it was not far off.
Friends in high places
One of the most impressive aspects of McIlroy’s rise to the top is that he is so comfortable in the limelight. And it is why he will have taken a visit to the White House last night in his bouncy stride. The Northern Irishman, along with a number of celebrities, was invited to a state banquet as a guest of President Barack Obama, who was hosting David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and his wife Samantha.
On Twitter, McIlroy posted: “Going to have dinner in the White House ... Got a little help with my suit from Alexander Nash in New York.”
Advertisement
Lewis in good company
Tom Lewis, the bright young thing of English golf, gets a chance to mix it with the big boys next week after being invited to play in the shindig that is the Tavistock Cup - a two-day event between four hideously exclusive golf and country clubs - at Lake Nona, in Florida.
Lewis, 21, will represent Queenwood, the Surrey club, and will play alongside Adam Scott, Thomas Bjorn, David Howell, Soren Kjeldsen and Paul McGinley. Among the other teams are Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els and Bubba Watson.
Road to recovery
Good to see Nick Dougherty back in the mix at the weekend, although not quite able to finish off matters in the Colombia Classic.
Advertisement
Dougherty lost his card on the European Tour last year, after making just one cut in 34 events, and is now trying to rebuild his game and his confidence on the second-tier Challenge Tour. A three-time winner on the main tour, the Englishman led the way after 54 holes but had to settle for a share of fourth place, two strokes behind the winner, Phillip Archer, after a final round of 73.
It is said that every journey begins with a single step. Let us hope that, for Dougherty, this was the first step on the road to golfing recovery.