The Players Championship 2012
The Players Championship 2012, In the end, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood just couldn’t resist.
The Nos. 1 and 3 players in the world are back in the Players Championship field this week after their “boycott” of the event last year.
A year ago, the pair was back in Europe sending out disparaging tweets while K.J. Choi won. Each said scheduling conflicts forced them to skip the Players, but it was easy to see the real reason their manager Chubby Chandler tried to pull a power play with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem in support of the European Tour.
McIlroy has since left Chandler, partly because of last year’s incident, while even Westwood admits he’s back because, “I missed the Players Championship last year, watching it on television.”
“Yeah, I mean, looking back on it, it wasn’t one of my brightest moments,” the 23-year-old McIlroy admitted this week. “Yeah, I mean, I’m glad to be back. It’s a tournament I’d love to win.”
It’s also a tournament he’s favored to win.
Tiger Woods is back searching for his game again, and on this course, where his record isn’t stellar despite one victory, he is unlikely to find it. Masters champ Bubba Watson isn’t playing so he can be back home with his wife and newly-adopted son. Phil Mickelson, another one-time champ, has to be super accurate off the tee to have a chance.
That leaves McIlroy in the favorite’s role even though he has missed the cut in his two appearances in 2009 and 2010.
At the time, the Irishman said Pete Dye’s Stadium Course simply didn’t fit his eye.
“I don’t like the course,” McIlroy said as he talked his way out of contention in 2010. “Visually, it’s very tough off the tee. It makes you feel uncomfortable because it looks like you’ve only got a little bit of fairway to hit, but actually once you get up there, it’s a little bit wider. It’s just very demanding visually.”
McIlroy, however, must have learned something in his year off, mainly that strategy counts more than power. He’s put a 2-iron in the bag this week to lay back on some of the holes and have better angles in. (New York Daily News)
_________________________________________
Please feel free to send if you have any questions regarding this post , you can contact on
Comments