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Showing posts with label rory mcilroy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rory mcilroy. Show all posts

World Rankings: An English Golf Update (0)

15:00 by Golf Pro , under , , , , , , , ,

Despite not playing as much golf as one might expect of a world leader, Lee Westwood has maintained his position at top of the world golf rankings for the 3rd week in a row. In fact, the only change in the entire top 10 ranked world golfers was the two Northern Irish players, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, who swapped positions to leave McIlroy down in 10th and McDowell up to 9th. Having finished 4th at the Australian Masters at the weekend, Tiger Woods has also stayed put, remaining in 2nd place behind the English world leader.

Outside of the leader board, Lee Westwood has won his 10th European Tour title by closing the UBS Hong Kong Open with a 22 under par aggregate of 258, causing him to leap 3 positions up the rankings, to world number 11! A single step higher for Poulter will make him the 4th Englishman in the top 10 ranked world golfers, along with Paul Casey, Luke Donald and, of course, Lee Westwood. Although that will bring England level with the USA in terms of the top 10, we mustn’t get too cocky as, after Poulter, the rankings are devoid of any English players until Justin Rose and Ross Fisher at 28 and 29.



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An Awkward Decision... (0)

22:58 by Golf Pro , under , , , ,

Rory McIlroy has admitted that he’d find it awkward deciding whether he would want to play for Great Britain or Ireland if golf is accepted at the 2016 Olympic Games. He said, “It'd be an honour to represent your country and I don't mind which one I play for...I'd probably play for Great Britain. I have a British passport. It's a bit of an awkward question still”.

The history of golf in Ireland makes the question especially tricky; the Golfing Union of Ireland is the oldest in the world, founded in 1891 and including all four provinces – uniting the country in a way that few other things can. This will be made very apparent at the world cup, where Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will both be represented under the same team – Ireland.



In the Beijing Olympics, it was a close split between those athletes from Northern Ireland who chose to represent Ireland and those who chose to represent Great Britain – though the majority chose Ireland. To be honest, it may be a case of taking the option that leaves you with the bet chance of making the team; there’s little doubt that it’s harder to make the British Olympic team than the Irish. If McIlroy had to choose today, for example, he’d have to compete with likes of Lee Westwood and Paul Casey to play for Great British at the Games - something he probably wouldn't enjoy too much!

Either way, many athletes will be making a similar awkward decision before 2016.



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