RORY McILROY MOVED to third in the world golf rankings on Monday morning but feels he might still have pushed for victory at the KLM Open in Holland over the weekend.
The Holywood golfer has two consecutive top-three finishes from his last two European Tour events – at the Omega European Masters and the KLM Open – and said that two ill-timed bogeys during his final round on Sunday cost him a chance to catch eventual winner Simon Dyson, who claimed the title for then third time. McIlroy told EuropeanTour.com (audio):
“My short game kept me in it for a lot of the rounds. I should have made more of the fast start I got off to (on Sunday) – two under through four holes – but I just had a bit of a slow patch around the turn and couldn’t get anything going.
“(The result) is probably going to be my second top-three finish in a row and hopefully (will) move (me) up a spot in the world rankings, so it hasn’t been a bad couple of weeks. I’ve a couple of weeks off now and then I’ll be ready to go for the (Alfred) Dunhill (Links Championship).”
He later confirmed his new ranking on Twitter:
English golfers Luke Donald and Lee Westwood remain at one and two in the rankings and McIlroy believes that more effective play over the last fortnight might have seen him challenge the latter for the second rung on the ladder.
“My competitive spirit is such that I would rather have gone to third in the world by winning this week,” he is quoted as saying by golfbytourmiss.com. “If I were to close out these tournaments I would go to No. 3 in the world or No. 2 but I just haven’t been able to manage that these two weeks.”
Simon Thornton, meanwhile, picked up a cheque for EUR 26,000 when he finished in a tie for third at the Kazakhstan Open at Nurtau Golf Course. A final round of 71 saw the Newcastle golfer end up three strokes behind Tommy Fleetwood, who claimed victory with a tally of -15.