Rory McIlroy moved marginally closer to World No. 1 Brooks Koepka on the World Rankings despite tumbling from victory’s summit in missing a five-foot birdie putt in a five-way playoff at the Omega European Masters.
McIlroy had re-faced his 2008 Swiss playoff demons on the eve of the Alpine event in letting slip what would have been a first European Tour win and those demons resurfaced, again at the first extra playoff hole, as a first Tour success since capturing the 2016 Irish Open slipped McIlroy by.
“This is my seventh event in eight weeks so I’ve played a lot of golf,” said McIlroy, who looked visibly relieved that the run of events was finally over. ”Playing so much, little mental errors can creep in here and there. It just wasn’t meant to be.
“I’ll put the clubs away for a few days, rest, recover and reflect on what has been a pretty good season so far, and try to get myself back up for Wentworth.”
Koepka edged .13 of a World Ranking point ahead on the standings by not competing last weekend while McIlroy remains at World No. 2 to be 2.96 points behind Koepka, compared to the 3.13 points he trailed his American rival before Switzerland.
It had been predicted that for McIlroy to go ahead of Koepka, he needed to win in Switzerland and also claim victory in the September 22nd concluding BMW PGA at Wentworth. McIlroy may win a second time at Wentworth but returning to World No. 1 is now on hold until the duo square-off in Shanghai in the first week of November.
Ireland’s World Ranking movers:
Rory McIlroy – No. 2 (Unchanged)
Shane Lowry – No. 21 (Down 1)
Graeme McDowell – No. 101 (Unchanged)
Paul Dunne – No. 225 (Down 9)
Cormac Sharvin – No. 259 (Up 7)
Seamus Power – No. 326 (Down 6)
Padraig Harrington – No. 341 (Down 9)
Gavin Moynihan – No. 683 (Down 14)
Michael Hoey – No. 764 (Down 6)
Darren Clarke – No. 2076 (Down 5)
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