John Huggan: McIlroy's decision to play two tours is a risky strategy

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 19:39

GIVEN HIS endearingly mop-topped combination of jauntiness, natural charisma and respectful politeness that is a credit to his rightfully proud parents, it has never been hard to like and admire Rory McIlroy. But this past week that already less than onerous task got even easier.

On top of the prodigious physical gifts that produce his beautifully natural and rhythmic action and a subsequent array of shots superior to perhaps everyone except that Tiger fellow, the Belfast boy revealed a powerful strength of character that can only augur well for his future.

Against the advice of his manager and at least three vastly more experienced players, the 20-year-old officially announced his intention to join the PGA Tour next year.

But McIlroy is apparently confident enough to reach his own conclusion even after Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and Ernie Els whispered in his ear that perhaps another year or two in Europe might be best for his burgeoning career. Add a mind of his own to the many other attributes that have so far carried the lad from Holywood on the outskirts of Belfast all the way to number 13 in the world – 12 spots lower, no doubt, than the exalted position McIlroy ultimately has in his sights.

But such a coronation is for the future. For now, there will inevitably be those who question the ability of a mere youngster to make such a bold move this early in his professional career. McIlroy has played golf for money only since September 2007. But they would be wrong to do so. Even a quick glance at the list of those men who have made themselves the best golfer on the planet reveals one glaringly obvious common factor. Not one of them – not Tiger, not Seve, not Faldo, not Nicklaus – got to the top of the mountain by copying anything anyone else did. Like Frank Sinatra, they did it their way.

So, although the PGA Tour has long been McIlroy's favourite golfing environment – even as a schoolboy in short trousers he was allowed to stay up late to watch the American tournaments on television – it is surely only a means to an end. To reach number one on the world rankings any golfer has to play as often as possible against the strongest competition. For McIlroy, that means teeing up alongside Tiger and Phil and all the rest more than he already does. Across the pond, like it or not, is where the most ranking points are to be found.

"I want to challenge myself against the best," confirms McIlroy, who today may well become the winner of the inaugural "Race to Dubai" and so don the mantle of Europe's number one golfer for 2009. "The only way to do that is by playing in the best fields possible. I think I'll become a better player by playing a bit more over there. I'll be playing with better players and obviously you can learn a bit from that."

While duly respectful and betraying not a whit of boastfulness, that is a comment containing more than a hint of steel. This, one suspects, is a man with the self-belief to not only take on Tiger but, at least occasionally, beat him. To which the world's best player will no doubt counter: "bring it on."

Anyway, starting at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in February, McIlroy will play a maximum of 17 times on the PGA Tour next year. His schedule contains only blue-chip tournaments like Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Invitational, Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament, the Players' Championship, the three US majors, the World Golf Championships and, providing he plays to his own and everyone else's high expectations, the four Fed-Ex Cup play-off events. Over that feast of goodies he will sprinkle a few visits to the European Tour that will remain his home.

"My decision is not that much of a big deal," points out McIlroy, by way of reassuring his home circuit. "I am only adding a couple of events and Europe will still be my home tour. I can't thank the European Tour enough but I am in a privileged position where I can play wherever I want."

As ever, this street-smart young man has a point. So, while his decision is far from good news for a slightly beleaguered European circuit – this week in Dubai what should have been stunning climax to the long season has been played alongside hundreds of half-finished houses, in front of a similarly incomplete clubhouse and on a strategically-bereft course that asks only that the competitors be able to mindlessly blast their shots almost anywhere into the middle distance – it is far from disastrous. Indeed, the scheduling difference between this year and next is, at best, minimal. According to his manager, Chubby Chandler, 2010 will see the game's most appealing young player absent from only one European event in which he appeared this year.

"My only fear is that Rory doesn't have enough two-week breaks next year," says Chandler, who also handles the affairs of Clarke, Els and Westwood. "But he's only 20. So if it goes wrong, we have 15 more years to get it right."

The wily Chandler is surely right to hint at caution. Playing a worldwide schedule balanced enough to produce simultaneous success on both the European and PGA Tours has never been easy for any player, even the most talented. Both Clarke and Westwood tried for a while and found it too much to handle, although as both have young families their circumstances were more than a little different to the relatively uncommitted McIlroy.

Perhaps only Els managed to flit back and forth across the Atlantic while still maintaining a world ranking commensurate with his talent level. But, even with three major titles and more than 60 regular wins across the globe, it can be argued that the prodigiously gifted South African has under-achieved. Not many would have predicted that Ernie would win only one more major after he swept to his second US Open victory back in 1997. Yes, in the years since then he has more than once been cruelly victimised by the genius that is Woods, but his travel schedule has surely, at least at times, hurt his ability to compete at the highest level.

So care must, as Chandler clearly recognises, be taken with a still maturing McIlroy. Joining the PGA Tour is one thing, playing well on both sides of the Atlantic is quite another. Ask anyone.