Rory McIlroy is hoping that a second win at the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship could provide the platform for him to make 2019 a career-best with five wins in a season.
The current World No. 2 has already tasted success three times this year with victories at the PGA Tour Players Championship, the RBC Canadian Open and the more-recent Tour Championship in Atlanta and now he’s drawing on a past experience at Wentworth to provide the spark to even better things.
Four years ago, McIlroy arrived at Wentworth with his private life in a real mess. He was almost in tears in announcing on the eve of the 2014 BMW PGA that he had called off his marriage to tennis ace, Caroline Wozniacki. Then, to the surprise of many observers, four days later McIlroy denied fellow Irishman Shane Lowry to win the event.
McIlroy’s victory along the famed ‘Burma Road’ was the first of four victories that year including lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool, winning a second PGA Championship and then brilliantly adding success in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
McIlroy reflected on his 2014 BMW PGA win ahead of teeing-up in this week’s tournament understandably looking for a repeat winning performance despite vastly different circumstances.
“Obviously that win was something out of the blue, everything else that was going on in my life back then,” he said.
“Yeah, definitely, I think if you can play good golf in those circumstances, it says a lot about your character. And then I went down and rode that wave of momentum all the way through the summer as you said, majors and Ryder Cup and all that.
“I think you sometimes need these little sparks to get you going and that was definitely a spark for me to give me that little push forward and do what I did that year. I think all the great golf that I’ve played up until this point this year is, you know, that moves me in the right direction and gives me motivation to try and end this year well, and try to, you know, as I said, get a couple more wins.”
McIlroy indicated he has five events remaining this 2019 season to accomplish that goal including next week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the ZoZo Championship in Japan along with the WGC – HSBC Champions in China and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
He’ll have work to do however, with McIlroy currently not into the top-30 on the Race to Dubai and presently lying 34th though that scenario should surely change, if not this week then in a tournament or two’s time.
McIlroy indicated also he will take all of December and January off from competition meaning he will not be seen in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions nor the European Tour ‘Desert Swing’ events in Abu Dhabi or Dubai.
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