It was to be a mixed build-up to that first win on the PGA circuit: Rory started well enough in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Dubai Desert Classic but then tailed off with a string of disappointing results and a spell away from events due to a bad back. But as he headed off for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, leaving the cold and misery of a UK winter behind for the warmth and sunshine of the Middle East, he was on a high. He had told his father Gerry that this could be his year – he was feeling confident and knew that he was shaping up to play the best golf of his career. Even a bout of swine flu, which had certainly laid him low, failed to douse his high spirits: he knew he was getting better and better, and that with each experience, whether good or bad, he was learning and mastering the art of the game as well as himself and his own fears and deficiencies.
He was a work in progress, albeit a work not far off becoming a masterpiece as the Quail Hollow victory would confirm in April. First, he had a double mission in the Middle East – in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – and he would complete both satisfactorily.
When Rory and his entourage arrived in Abu Dhabi, he spent some time looking around the city and relaxing before heading off for his first press conference of the New Year. Summing up just how successful 2009 had been, he said: ‘Yeah, it was a great year for me all round – getting my first win early on in the season in Dubai and then kicking on from there and putting in a lot of really solid performances. I had a great chance going into the Dubai World Championship to take the first Race to Dubai title but there was another guy that was just a little too good that week. But it was a great season and it was a long season as well. It was nice to get home and have a bit of a break over the Christmas period but lovely to be back out in the sunshine here and practising again and getting ready for the 2010 season.’
He also admitted that the pressure was now greater but said he felt confident enough to handle it. ‘There probably will be more pressure,’ he conceded. ‘I got myself into the Top 10 in the world, which brings a few pressures in itself, trying to stay there and trying to move higher. It’s a lot more difficult to move from 10th to 5th than it is from 40th to 20th, so I’ve still got to keep playing well. One of my big goals this year is to win more events. I felt as if I put myself in a lot of good positions last year to win and to be able to only win once was slightly disappointing, so I would like to capitalise on the good positions that I put myself in.’
By the end of play on the Saturday he was right in contention for the Abu Dhabi title behind Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who shot his third straight 5-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead. Kaymer would be tough to beat, Rory knew that – after all, he had won the tournament in 2008 and tied for 2nd in 2009.
Rory and Ian Poulter had both shot 67 on the Saturday and were tied for 2nd behind Kaymer. But Kaymer was playing in some pain and there were doubts as to whether he would last the distance – he had had a plate inserted in his foot after an accident the previous summer. Kaymer admitted he was faced with a regular dilemma with the injury: ‘If I have the plate taken out, I will need another two to two-and-a-half weeks to recover and I never really get a break for three weeks during the season. I don’t want to miss tournaments in a Ryder Cup year but I do seem to be able to play good golf with it still in place. There are certain shots where I still have to be careful when I play with the ball below my feet; it hurts a bit. But I do like this course – I always seem to play well here because all the tee shots seem to suit my eye.’
Rory also enjoyed playing the course and he felt he could pounce if Kaymer should start to struggle on the final day. After Saturday’s round, he told reporters: ‘Today was great. I thought the scoring was very good considering the conditions. You know, it was quite windy out there – it was getting quite gusty towards the end. I’m really pleased with 67 out there. I didn’t make too many mistakes and put myself in a great position going into tomorrow. It should be a good battle tomorrow – we are all playing very well, so it should be an interesting day.’
It was certainly that – and a relatively successful one, too. OK, Rory wouldn’t scoop the crown but he would show that he was still up there with the best and progressing. That progress was highlighted by a 3rd placed finish, an improvement on the tied 5th of the previous year – scores of 66, 69, 67 and 67 helped him to up his game in the UAE. And there was certainly no disgrace in finishing runner-up to a talent like Kaymer, whose win now propelled him above Tiger Woods as the World No. 2.
A top-seven finish would have pushed Kaymer beyond Tiger, but Kaymer closed with a 66 for a tournament-record 24-under-par total of 268. ‘He’s killing us,’ admitted Retief Goosen. ‘I have never seen anything above 20-under round here.’
And Padraig Harrington joined in the praise, adding: ‘He’s probably the most formidable player in the world when he is leading. He seems to intimidate the rest of the field into believing that if he gets in front, he is going to win.’
After his win Kaymer exhibited a modesty that Rory would tell friends he was ‘very impressed by.’ The German said: ‘It’s just the perfect course for me. It was more difficult, but I hit a lot of fairways and my putting was amazing. It was just one of those weeks when everything goes my way. I never expected my career to go this fast. There was not a lot to improve this week, but there’s always something and I’ll be working on my game before Qatar in two weeks.’
Rory also paid his compliments to Kaymer, saying: ‘We played great golf, which is one of the most important things. We made birdies and hung in there. Martin made a great birdie at the last, set up by a great tee shot. It’s incredible the way he has come back from having the plate in his foot. This is his fifth win, and he’s a great player. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of battles with him over not just this year but in future years, and he’ll be a great addition to the Ryder Cup team.’
He added that he was also pleased with his own efforts that weekend; they had resulted in him moving up from 12th to 7th in the world rankings. Having produced three eagles and 18 birdies, he said: ‘Martin and Ian played very, very well today and I didn’t get off to the best of starts, but I kept patient and hung in there and made a couple nice birdies towards the end. It just wasn’t enough but it’s still a great way to start the season, last group and going down the last one behind and getting juices flowing again. It was a nice feeling and hopefully that will set the tone for the rest of the year.’
It would certainly set the tone for the next tournament, also in the sunny, humid Middle East – the Dubai Desert Classic. The year before, of course, Rory had become the event’s youngest winner at 19 years and 273 days, beating the previous best of England’s David Howell, who had won the 1999 when he was 23 and 236 days old. This time around, Rory was one of six tied for first place after the opening day – starting his title defence with a 4-under-par 68 to finish alongside Alexander Norén, Charl Schwartzel, Jeev Milkha Singh, Edoardo Molinari and Stephen Dodd.
Rory was happy with his start – especially as he had been forced to contend with wind and sand. He said: ‘It was very tricky out there. It was windy and sandy and dusty, and I did get off to a rough start but I made a very lucky birdie on the third and that got me back to level par after three. I knew the front nine was playing a lot tougher than the back nine so I knew if I kept it around level par the front nine, I was doing OK. Then if I could take advantage of the par 5s on the back nine, which I was able to do. I birdied a couple of them and overall it was a great day’s work, so I’m in good spirits going into tomorrow morning.’
By the end of round two, however, he had slipped to tied 5th after shooting a 70, leaving him with a 6-under-par total of 138, but he was still hopeful he could put together another two top rounds to retain his crown. He said: ‘It was a solid day and the conditions are still pretty tricky out there. Six-under-par going into the weekend is not too bad and only one shot behind at the minute – I still feel pretty good.’ A double bogey at the last hole had proved costly for him, with Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand now taking the lead after shooting a six-under-par. The former Thai army paratrooper made six birdies to record a 66 and finish the day 8-under.
He would retain the lead – but in a four-way tie with Miguel Angel Jiménez, Alvaro Quiros and Lee Westwood – with a third-round 69 and a 205 total. Rory’s third-round 69 meant he was still tied 5th, now on a total of 207. Afterwards he admitted to being ‘frustrated’ with his day: ‘It was a day of frustration with everything; it was just a really slow start of day – I couldn’t really get anything going, I couldn’t get any momentum out there. I didn’t really hit it, the par 5s weren’t the best today so obviously you need to take advantage of them out here, which I didn’t. But I’m still within a couple of shots of the lead, I’m still in with a great chance. I was flat the whole day, ever since the first tee shot, just a little flat – I just struggled to really get anything going.’
On the final round he could only manage a 73, which left him tied for 6th on a 280 8-under-par total. He had relinquished his title – and that was disappointing. The new holder was Miguel Angel Jiménez, who came home in an 11-under-par 277.
Rory was never really in with a shout after bogeys at the 7th and 9th left him with too much work to do down the back nine and at the press conference afterwards, he sounded choked up, saying: ‘I’m obviously very disappointed at the minute. I didn’t play very well today, and didn’t take my chances and just was a bit of a struggle, really. It doesn’t matter anymore – I want to win and didn’t even put myself in a position today to do that. I didn’t really get anything going.
‘I suppose it was very difficult out there today with the wind but I played OK the first few holes and I just didn’t take my chances. Like 20-foot putts, you know, you need to hole maybe two or three out of ten and I just didn’t hole. I’m disappointed with not putting any pressure on the guys. It was hard to get momentum, and I should have made birdie on three and I hit a good putt on four that didn’t go in for birdie. I just wasn’t able to get birdies early – and I needed to do.’
Small consolation that his pal Lee Westwood also blew up: Westwood had the chance of beating Spaniard Jiménez in a playoff, but lost out.
By the time of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in mid-February, Rory was starting to suffer from a sore back. His agent Chubby Chandler revealed that his client had stretched ligaments in his lower back, adding this would not stop him from heading to Arizona for the Match Play Championship.
Chandler explained that the injury had resulted from 10 days of practice in January 2010 to prepare for the new season and then playing two tournaments in three weeks. He added that Rory would rest and have massage therapy before the tournament – and hopefully this would solve the problem. Fourth seed Rory certainly did not seem to be struggling in his opening match – indeed he played some wonderful, battling golf. He was four down to American Kevin Na early on and still two behind with only four holes left, but eagled the next and won on the final green. The display was all the more impressive – and important – as he put it on in front of Colin Montgomerie, who would be Ryder Cup skipper in the following October and had already said he had great hopes for Rory in the event at Celtic Manor.
Before the tournament teed off, Rory was asked how his life had changed in the year since he had last been to Tucson. He said: ‘I’ve gotten two new dogs. I’d like to think that I haven’t changed at all but I’ve taken up my PGA Tour membership, which has been a big change. Apart from that it’s just been great to be playing golf and to be playing good golf – and I just want to try to keep it going. I’ll probably not think about it too much because if I sit back and think, that’s probably when I’ll start to not play my best.’
But was he worried that a sore back might wreck his chances? He told the press conference: ‘No, it’s fine. I rested last week. I hit balls on Friday for an hour and a half and it was fine. In the actual action of hitting the golf swing it’s fine but a couple of hours after I hit the balls on Friday, I felt it a little bit. And then today I played 18 holes and I hit great golf shots so in the motion of swinging a golf club, it’s fine. But I have to think about the way I pick up the ball out of the hole and tee it up. But it’s not painful, it’s just like a niggle.’
He also revealed for the first time that he was contemplating hiring a mental coach to toughen him up still further: ‘I’ve talked to Chubby [Chandler] about it and it couldn’t hurt. Most guys go to see mental coaches when they’re playing poorly, but I want to be able to turn these Top 5s and Top 3s into wins and I think that getting someone on the mental side of things might be able to help me get to that stage.’
After beating Kevin Na one up in the first round, Rory was happy with the victory but admitted he had not particularly enjoyed it. He explained: ‘I definitely didn’t make it very easy for myself today. I got off to a very slow start and Kevin got off to a very good start – 4 down through 6 – so it wasn’t looking too good. I just hung in there and played some good golf around the turn. I hit a really good drive on 15 and then to go square through 16, I knew I was in a pretty good position. I hung in well and had a great drive on the last, which put him under a little bit of pressure and he hit a bit of a wayward one. I was pretty fortunate to get through today. I’ll need to play a lot better if I want to progress into the latter stages of the tournament.’
But he didn’t improve – a fact confirmed by his loss to Oliver Wilson in the second round on a play-off hole. As usual when things hadn’t quite gone to plan, Rory was honest enough to stand up and be counted. He said: ‘I didn’t play great but you don’t have to play well in match play to get through – you just have to beat your opponent. And I wasn’t quite able to do that today. Ollie played well when he needed to and I had a couple of chances to take control of the match and I didn’t, and that was really the key.
‘But it’s match play, it’s very fickle. I could have played a lot better and lost. I could have played a little worse and won. It’s just the way it is. But now I’m just looking forward to going to Florida and playing in the Honda.’
However, the Florida trip would not prove therapeutic as Rory finished tied for 40th – a considerable disappointment when you consider the previous year, as a 19-year-old, he had tied for 13th. Some critics were starting to question his progress and wondering whether he would ever shake off the back problem that was clearly restricting him. But they needn’t have worried: two months after the flop in Florida, Rory was all smiles as he picked up his first PGA trophy. Yes, he was truly back in business.