Rory McIlroy was just where he wanted to be, that is, in control of the Dubai Desert Classic after 36 holes. Sure, Thomas Bjorn shared the top of the leaderboard with him, but that was a mere distraction to McIlroy’s gaining his second title at this Middle East outpost. Only by the time 72 holes had been played, that was Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello taking the bows.
A third round that McIlroy termed “pretty ragged, to say the least” was his undoing. The birdies had been flowing fast and freely, seven over each of the first two rounds, with just a single bogey on Thursday to blemish his card, resulting in rounds of 66 and 65. Saturday’s round produced four birdies, but just as many bogeys, leading to even-par 72. That dropped McIlroy two strokes behind Lee Westwood, who topped the leaderboard on Saturday night.
McIlroy couldn’t make any magic happen on Sunday. He opened with bogey at the first hole and played evenly until the ninth, which he double bogeyed. Four backside birdies enabled him to sign for 71, which left him four strokes behind Cabrera-Bello and with a share of fifth place. McIlroy attributed his spotty weekend play to the wind picking up and the greens becoming firmer than they had been for the first two rounds. Four of the remaining five Irishmen on the course played well enough to make the cut and take home some currency, without threatening the leaders. Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin both got a slice of 28th place at 7-under-par 281. Lawrie came in with rounds of 67, 74, 70 and 70, while Maybin signed to 71, 70, 70 and 70. Damien McGrane again had an erratic time, shooting rounds of 75, 65, 72 and 72 to settle into a share of 42nd place at 284.
Shane Lowry played better than his 288 (68-70-73-77) might indicate. He lost four strokes to par over the final four holes on Sunday, dumping him into joint-66th place. Michael Hoey missed the cut by two strokes after firing rounds of 73 and 72. Double-bogey 6s at the second hole on Thursday and the first hole on Friday conspired to send him packing early.
PGA TOUR
Padraig Harrington came back to life in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Teamed with long-time playing partner J.P. McManus for the pro-am, Harrington played well enough to tie for seventh place, seven strokes in back of medalist Phil Mickelson. Harrington and McManus also shared championship honors in the pro-am with Iowan Gregg Ontiveros and pro Brian Harman.
The race for medal honors was going to be a slog after Charlie Wi blazed his way to an opening-round 61, but Harrington shot 68 and 66 to give himself a fighting chance. He made the most of Pebble Beach’s front nine, trimming five strokes off par there in the second round.
He didn’t have the same luck at Spyglass, one of the three courses the field rotated among, in Saturday’s third round.
Two bogeys and a double, offset by only a birdie, left him three strokes over par at the turn. He did well to get back to even at 72 for the round by the time he and McManus cleared off the 18th green.
Harrington might have posed more of a challenge to Mickelson, but for a double bogey he took at Pebble Beach’s second hole on Sunday. He then birdied four of the next five holes, and played the back nine evenly to finish two strokes under par at 70.
Harrington took a great deal of pleasure from the pro-am victory, the first in seven tries for his partner and himself at this track.
“He really hit the golf ball great and hit some putts, he put it at times that pros would like to have put it,” Harrington said of McManus.
McManus had his own take on the duo’s needing to produce at 18 on Sunday.
“I knew I needed birdie because I screwed up big time,” McManus said. “I was in good shape for my drive. And listen, I never doubted Padraig, that he would get it up and down.”
