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| Rory Mcllroy...FACING A CHALLENGE |
The Northern Irishman is grouped with world number two Luke Donald and number three Lee Westwood in the first two rounds of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster course.
Donald was world number one for 40 weeks until McIlroy overtook him with victory at the Honda Classic on Sunday while Westwood held the top spot prior to Donald’s ascent.
Both could return to the top spot with a win at Doral.
While players typically play down the importance of the rankings, insisting their focus is purely on winning tournaments, their grouping is bound to be closely followed.
“I think it adds a little bit of interest. I’m not sure that the players are quite as concerned with it as maybe you guys (the media) or the fans, at least,” said Donald.
“But anything that adds to a tournament where the broadcasters can talk about it and add to an event, I think it’s probably a good thing.
“There obviously is some jockeying for position. There isn’t one stand-out player right now that certainly is what the world rankings would say.
“When Tiger was number one, no one really talked about the world rankings much, and maybe the big talking point was who was in the top 50, not who was number one.
“It obviously changes with the time. As a player, I try not to get too wrapped up in it,” he said.
Westwood chose a characteristically light-hearted approach when asked how tough it was to be top dog.
“There’s nothing hard about being number one in the world, no. If you don’t enjoy that, then you need to take up another sport,” he said.
“Me and Luke were talking about it on the putting green today. I said, ‘Oh, morning, number two,’ and he looked at me and nodded and said, ‘Yeah, it’s sort of a bit of a relief’.”
“He said, ‘There’s only one way to go when you’re number one. At least there’s more than one way to go at number two.’
“So, you know, you’re at the top there and everybody shoots at you but I think that’s the position you want to be in. You want the position that everybody is envious of,” added Westwood.
McIlroy said he wasn’t feeling any particular pressure now that he was on top.
“It depends what type of mind you have and if you thrive in the spotlight or if you welcome it. I feel like I do thrive in the spotlight, and I like the attention.
“I’d love to keep myself here for a while. But I know that it’s inevitable that I’ll lose it at some point. That’s for sure. I just hope that it’s a little further away.
“But that’s not what I play golf for. It’s not to keep the number one ranking. It’s about winning tournaments, and if I win tournaments, the ranking will take care of itself.”
New No. 1 McIlroy tries his hand at tennis
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy hits tension-packed golf shots with the world’s best players, but he had never been so nervous as when he was asked to play a little tennis with one of his girlfriend’s pals.
But then, McIlroy’s girlfriend is women’s tennis star Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, the friend was Russian star Maria Sharapova and the request came during an exhibition match at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.
On Tuesday, McIlroy arrived at Doral for his first tournament as the World No. 1, a World Golf Championships event that starts today, and admitted he was gobsmacked by his brief tennis foray the night before.
“I’ve never been so nervous in my life,” McIlroy said. “I can hit a golf shot in front of a million people but getting up there, I wanted to hit a serve but I was thinking, ‘If I frame this into the crowd it’s going to look so bad.’
“So just a little under-arm over the net. Maria was nice. She hit it back to me at quite a gentle pace.”
Sharapova hit a McIlroy backhand wide to win the point, delighting the crowd.
“Never thought I’d play tennis at Madison square garden!! Had a great time,” McIlroy tweeted. “I even won a point!”
McIlroy explained that he felt obligated to join Wozniacki on the court ahead of her match, which went to Sharapova 6-3, 6-4.
“Maria had got someone from the crowd to dance with and then Caroline turned to the crowd and said, ‘Any hot guys that want to dance with me?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t want anyone else dancing with you,’ so I put my hand up.
“Thank God she didn’t ask me to dance. I was much happier hitting a tennis shot.”