Rory McIlroy insisted it was only the ambition of winning his first order of merit title in seven years that acted as prime inspiration to play the last three holes in four-under here on Friday – and not the desire to ensure his LIV rebel playing partner did not win the personal duel.
The Northern Irishman – who has been the most vocal big-named opponent of the Saudi-funded circuit that has sparked a Civil War across the golden fairways – was the perfect gentleman during his second round with Adrian Otaegui, despite the Spaniard joining Ian Poulter in taking the DP World Tour – formerly the European Tour – to court to win an injunction to overturn a ban to play in the Scottish Open in July. It is a legal fight that will not be concluded until late February.
At the BMW PGA Championship six weeks ago, McIlroy told the LIV players they were “not welcome” and then after finishing second to compatriot Shane Lowry at Wentworth declared that his first aim was to ensure “nobody from LIV won”.
Yet despite calling for LIV CEO Greg Norman to quit earlier this week he has seemingly softened his stance towards the breakaway league by calling for negotiations and was actually full of praise towards Otaegui and his participation in the Tour’s other flagship event.
“Look, I’ve known Adrian for a long time and it was all fine,” McIlroy said. “He deserves to be here because he is in the top 50 on the Tour’s standings and to shoot 19-under at Valderrama [at last month’s Andalucia Master] was incredible.”
However, McIlroy did flash a wry smile when asked if he was determined not to “lose” to Otaegui. “No,” he said. “But you never want to get beat by any of your playing partners. I didn’t think of anything like that out there. My goal was just to get back into some sort of contention going into the weekend and that was needed with Fitz {Matt Fitzpatrick] doing so well and making this anything but easy.”
Fitzpatrick, the US Open champion, is tied for 12-under in this DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course alongside fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton after they both shot five-under 67s. If Fitzpatrick was to win the event proper then McIlroy would require a runner-up placing to lift the Harry Vardon Trophy for a fourth time. If Fitzpatrick was to come second then McIlroy, who is currently tied 11th, requires a top-seven finish.
“I don’t know all the permutations,” McIlroy said. “But what I do know is that I have to perform more like I did in the last three holes today and not like I did in the first 33 holes. It was a load of mediocrity and then something clicked.”
After bogeying the 15th, McIlroy was on one-under, four off Otaegui and more pertinently, 10 off the pacesetters. But then he birdied the 16th, courtesy of a wedge to four feet, holed a 10-footer for two on the 17th and then went vintage Rory on the 18th when hitting a four-iron from 233 yards, uphill and against the breeze, to five feet for an eagle and a 68.
“I won’t tell what I was mumbling on the way to the 16th tee,” he said. “But I remained patient, kept faith in what I knew I had in my armoury if I could produce and now have a chance. It feels great to finish like that – my mood has been transformed by that last 45 minutes. If nothing else I have spared myself two hours on the range now.”