RORY McILROY was described by no less than Tiger Woods last night as having “all the components to be the best player in the world” but golf’s most talented teenager saw his challenge dissipate late in the third round of the CA Championship at Doral in Florida.
Three-time major winner Phil Mickelson and fellow American Nick Watney, both on 16 under par, will take a four-shot lead over Colombian Camilo Villegas and India’s Jeev Singh into today’s final round, six shots ahead of McIlroy, who lost his way on the back nine after closing to within one shot of Mickelson through 12 holes.
His ball-striking failed to match the consistent sharpness so evident in his first and second rounds in which he shot 68 and 66. From the outset, he was ragged off the tee, dragging his opening drive of 330 yards left into the rough. He salvaged a birdie with an excellent approach shot to within 20ft of the pin and an undemanding two-putt and his mindset remained indefatigably positive. A bogey on the par-three fourth when he pulled his tee shot into a greenside bunker did not dent his confidence, for he responded immediately with a birdie on the short par-four fifth hole when he executed his approach shot to within 3ft of the flagstick. Another up-and-down from behind the green on the par-five 10th moved him to 12-under and a two-putt birdie on the 12th left him within striking distance of Watney and Mickelson.
Then his assault began to fall apart. He missed the green on the par-four 14th and failed to get up and down after using his three-wood out of the fringe rough. Duffed chips and further bogeys on the 15th and 17th quickly followed and a round so full of promise two-thirds of the way through finished disappointingly in 72 strokes to leave him where he had started the day on 10 under par. He lost position in the field from third to 10th. “It was a pretty difficult day out there and I thought I was doing very well as three-under through 13 was a good score,” he reflected. “But I just let a few slip at the end. I hit a bad drive at the 14th, got away with it, just missed the green to the right and had a terrible lie. It could have been better but I am still there or thereabouts. It has been a great three weeks but it would be nice to shoot a good round tomorrow before I head home for a couple of weeks.”
The 19-year-old from Holywood, Co Down, has demonstrated a precocious talent in America and in only his second strokeplay tournament on the PGA Tour his performance here has been extraordinary. He is unlikely to become the youngest winner in the history of American professional golf today, breaking by two days the record of Philadelphia’s Johnny McDermott, who was aged 19 years and 315 days when he won the US Open in 1911, but even Woods, who walked off with a satisfying four-under-par 68 to move to seven-under overall, has noted his potential.
“There’s no doubt, no doubt, hopefully while I’m not around or even while I am around,” Woods declared when asked if he has seen golf’s future No 1 in McIlroy. “The guy’s a talent, he certainly has the talent and we can all see it, the way he hits the golf ball, the way he putts, the way he can chip and get up and down. He has the composure and all of the components to be the best player in the world, there’s no doubt. It’s just a matter of time and then basically gaining that experience in big events. That takes time and, jeez, I mean he’s only 19. Just give him some time and I’m sure he’ll be there.”
Confronted by the same challenge in their second rounds on the Blue Monster course, Woods and McIlroy reacted in ways that said much about them both. On the par-five eighth hole Woods drove his ball 281 yards, leaving a shot of 270 yards over water to the pin. “I can’t get there,” he decided. “It’s 250 into the wind to the front of the green. Over water, there’s no way.” He laid up, pitched to 25ft and took two putts for par.
Then came McIlroy. Bogeys on the fifth and seventh holes had stalled the teenager’s momentum but his drive bounded 284 yards down the fairway, so 268 yards — over water — remained to the pin. He unleashed his three-wood, the ball arrowed through the wind onto the middle of the green and came to a stop 7ft from the flagstick. “The two best shots I think I’ve ever hit,” McIlroy reflected, referring to this and the four-iron he hit off the fairway on the 18th hole to 8ft, which yielded a birdie to add to his eagle on the eighth. Uninhibited youth had prevailed spectacularly.
Woods once played like this, too, but we may have to become accustomed to the more calculating version. The surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, which required an eight-month programme of rest and rehabilitation, seems to have forced him to play less aggressively. He played his best golf of the week but continued to struggle with his putter in yesterday’s third round, missing birdie efforts from 11ft on the second green after a two-putt birdie on the first, from 8ft on the fifth and 15ft on the sixth, much to his chagrin. But a beautiful tee shot to the ninth to 15ft was followed by a perfect putt, moving him to five under par, and he went six-under with another two-putt birdie on the par-five 10th before missing from inside 9ft again on the 12th, another par-five. He birdied the 14th and holed out from a greenside bunker on the 16th to go eight- under but a bogey on 17 spoilt his finish.
Luke Donald shot a 68 to move to nine-under, Padraig Harrington carded 71 for eight-under and Paul Casey remained at seven-under with a 72.
Source:the times
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Max Mosley intends driving through Formula One budget limits
Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, launched a Formula One revolution yesterday by proposing a stringent budget cap in an attempt to ensure the sport’s survival, but was immediately accused by some of going too far.
While fans of grand-prix racing may have paid more attention to a restructuring of the points-scoring system, which means that the driver who wins most races will become world champion — a practice that would have deprived Lewis Hamilton of the title last season — it is Mosley’s dramatic initiative of a £30 million budget limit that will have the most far-reaching implications.
The cap is voluntary in theory, but Mosley has also slanted a series of new technical regulations to favour heavily teams that opt for it, allowing them complete freedom to design their cars and the use of unrestricted engines. As a result, he and Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, believe that most of the teams, some of whom were spending more than £200 million a season until last year, will go for the new deal. “What team can afford not to accept the new proposal?” Ecclestone said.
However, the two most powerful men in the world’s richest sport appear to be facing a backlash. Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari and chairman of the Formula One Teams Association (Fota), said he was disappointed by what he regards as “unilateral” measures by Mosley that “run the risk of turning on its head the very essence of Formula One and the principles that make it one of the most popular and appealing sports”. While Fota claims to speak for all the participants on the grid this season, Di Montezemolo’s criticism did not reflect reaction in some quarters, especially outside of Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, where inquiries by The Times suggested that the budget cap was being cautiously welcomed. If Mosley and Ecclestone were hoping to use this initiative to help to split Fota, they may have made some headway.
Mosley’s new world order reflects his conviction that the global recession, which has affected the car industry more than most, represents a serious threat to Formula One’s survival. He said that an initiative by the teams to cut costs by 50 per cent last December was a step in the right direction, but subsequent events had shown that it was not enough.
“The world economic crisis has worsened very significantly since then,” Mosley said. “No one can say the situation will not deteriorate further in the coming months. If this happens, we may lose other manufacturers or even independent teams, despite their best intentions. If we wait, and things get worse, it will be too late.”
He was confident that the limit of £30 million, which is likely to lead to huge job losses, was realistic. “It has been carefully costed,” he said. “The cars will be much less refined in detail, because teams will not be able to spend huge sums on minute advantages — for example, $1,200 (about £850) on a wheel nut which is only used once — but from the grandstand or on television they won’t look or sound any less ‘Formula One’ than the current, ultra-expensive cars.”
The new budgetary regime is a massive shock to the system in a sport in which even the back markers on the grid are spending almost £150 million a year on staff, design, car- building, logistics, entertainment and public relations.
It is also inevitably going to affect drivers, some of whom — such as Hamilton, McLaren’s British world champion, and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari — are among the world’s highest-paid sportsmen.
However, Mosley has softened the blow for the stars of the sport by suggesting that they could be paid outside the cap through dividends from shares in the companies they represent.
Source:the times
While fans of grand-prix racing may have paid more attention to a restructuring of the points-scoring system, which means that the driver who wins most races will become world champion — a practice that would have deprived Lewis Hamilton of the title last season — it is Mosley’s dramatic initiative of a £30 million budget limit that will have the most far-reaching implications.
The cap is voluntary in theory, but Mosley has also slanted a series of new technical regulations to favour heavily teams that opt for it, allowing them complete freedom to design their cars and the use of unrestricted engines. As a result, he and Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, believe that most of the teams, some of whom were spending more than £200 million a season until last year, will go for the new deal. “What team can afford not to accept the new proposal?” Ecclestone said.
However, the two most powerful men in the world’s richest sport appear to be facing a backlash. Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari and chairman of the Formula One Teams Association (Fota), said he was disappointed by what he regards as “unilateral” measures by Mosley that “run the risk of turning on its head the very essence of Formula One and the principles that make it one of the most popular and appealing sports”. While Fota claims to speak for all the participants on the grid this season, Di Montezemolo’s criticism did not reflect reaction in some quarters, especially outside of Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, where inquiries by The Times suggested that the budget cap was being cautiously welcomed. If Mosley and Ecclestone were hoping to use this initiative to help to split Fota, they may have made some headway.
Mosley’s new world order reflects his conviction that the global recession, which has affected the car industry more than most, represents a serious threat to Formula One’s survival. He said that an initiative by the teams to cut costs by 50 per cent last December was a step in the right direction, but subsequent events had shown that it was not enough.
“The world economic crisis has worsened very significantly since then,” Mosley said. “No one can say the situation will not deteriorate further in the coming months. If this happens, we may lose other manufacturers or even independent teams, despite their best intentions. If we wait, and things get worse, it will be too late.”
He was confident that the limit of £30 million, which is likely to lead to huge job losses, was realistic. “It has been carefully costed,” he said. “The cars will be much less refined in detail, because teams will not be able to spend huge sums on minute advantages — for example, $1,200 (about £850) on a wheel nut which is only used once — but from the grandstand or on television they won’t look or sound any less ‘Formula One’ than the current, ultra-expensive cars.”
The new budgetary regime is a massive shock to the system in a sport in which even the back markers on the grid are spending almost £150 million a year on staff, design, car- building, logistics, entertainment and public relations.
It is also inevitably going to affect drivers, some of whom — such as Hamilton, McLaren’s British world champion, and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari — are among the world’s highest-paid sportsmen.
However, Mosley has softened the blow for the stars of the sport by suggesting that they could be paid outside the cap through dividends from shares in the companies they represent.
Source:the times
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