The Masters Champion made the decision to take his driver out of the bag for the tight layout. And without being taken advantage of his prodigious power off the tee, the Holywood man struggled for momentum
Rory Mcilroy during the DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club(Image: Prakash Singh/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy fell well short of his Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood at the DP World India Championship in Dehi and hit his worst round of the week on the final day to finish well back in a tie for 26th.
That was some 11 shots behind English star and great pal Tommy Fleetwood who was victorious in Delhi and won the top prize of $680,000. Japan’s Keita Nakajima finished second on 20-under-par. Another Ryder Cup star Shane Lowry finished in a tie for third and banked $207,200.
It was a subdued week for Rory McIlroy. The Masters Champion made the decision to take his driver out of the bag for the tight layout. And without being taken advantage of his prodigious power off the tee, the Holywood man struggled for momentum and could not mount the weekend charge many expected of him in New Delhi.
McIlroy earned a cheque for $38,000 but he still retains a healthy lead in the Race to Dubai rankings over the second-placed Marco Penge.
Fleetwood, who rattled off four successive birdies from the seventh, was happy to get another long overdue individual tournament victory under his belt – and make the most of a special family moment.
“I had said for all the good that has happened this year, a couple of things have disappointed me, that my DP World Tour sort of has, so another win feels great,” the Southport golfer said in an interview on the DP Tour website.
“We were at home last week and we were driving the buggy. I think we were playing golf together, and he (Frankie) just said randomly, ‘do you know what you’ve never done?’
“He said, ‘you’ve never won a tournament and I’ve been able to run on to the 18th green’. I was like, ‘I’m writing that down’, so I had that written down all week.
“It was just another opportunity really, there is going to be many more times where I hopefully get the chance to do that.
“But all day today, I had in my mind could I put myself in a position where I can actually make that moment happen?
“It is just one of those little things, it means a lot to me. It means so much to me. That was really cool, that is what I wanted to do all day.”
