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Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed headed their own ways after the Farmers Insurance Open, although the two players – who each had to deal with questions of interpretations on the rule relating to embedded balls at the tournament – had different desert destinations on their itineraries.
For McIlroy, next up is a first ever appearance this week at the Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour; for Reed – who included a fuel stop-off in Shannon en route, on a plane that also included Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson – the destination was further afield, for the Saudi International on the European Tour in the oil-rich state with the lure of financial inducements guaranteeing a particularly strong field.
In McIlroy’s case, the addition of the Phoenix Open onto his schedule is part of a plan to play his way into form. Indeed, it will be the third event in as many weeks and part of a busy run that will see him play seven tournaments in an eight-week stretch, with only the Pebble Beach Pro-Am being overlooked.
While Reed ignored the brouhaha over his handling of an embedded ball in his third round, ultimately claiming a five-stroke win over a quintet of runners-up, McIlroy’s reaction to how he had dealt with his own embedded ball issue was to highlight how he had always sought to play the game with integrity.
“It’s the worst thing in golf to be labelled as someone that tries to get away with something or labelled a cheater, and that’s not how you want your reputation to be,” said McIlroy, who identified an incident at last year’s US PGA at Harding Park as an example of his upstanding reputation with regard to the rules of golf.
As he put it: “I got relief because someone stepped on my ball, but I didn’t feel right because the lie that I had was way worse than the lie that I would have been given. So I gave myself a worse lie to just try to be fair to the field and the tournament in general.
“I’ve never tried to get away with anything out here [on tour] . . . . in golf you’d rather be on the wrong side of the rules than the right side of them just because that’s just what our game’s about. Our game is about integrity and it’s about doing the right thing. I always try to do the right thing and hopefully people see that. I feel like I have a reputation of that.”
McIlroy finished third in his season-opener in Abu Dhabi and went into the final round of the Farmers Insurance three shots adrift of Reed, but never made inroads and frustratingly went backwards on the back nine to finish up in tied-16th place.
Truer greens
“I’m looking forward to getting on some truer greens. As the poa [at Torrey Pines] gets soft, it gets a little bumpy and you start to make some really tentative strokes . . . . it was a disappointing finish. I’m seeing some good signs in my golf, but still some things I need to work on.”
Pádraig Harrington’s tied-sixth finish in the Dubai Desert Classic provided evidence of his wellbeing, and the Dubliner travelled on from the Middle East to Arizona for the start of a three-week run stateside that will see him take in the Phoenix Open, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.
Harrington jumped from 308th in the official world rankings up to 244th on the back of his strong showing in Dubai.
Graeme McDowell will aim to bounce back from missed cuts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai when he seeks to defend his title at the Saudi International. McDowell has dropped to 91st in the latest world rankings and would need to arrest that decline if he is to get into the upcoming World Golf Championships through the top-50 in the world criteria.
McDowell is one of four Irish players in the field in at the Royal Greens resort in King Abdullah Economic City Saudi Arabia, where he is joined by Shane Lowry along with Cormac Sharvin and Paul Dunne, both playing on sponsor’s invitations.