AS a rather limited footballer with a history of ankle problems, I should have a great deal of sympathy for Rory McIlroy at the minute, but it’s hard to muster up that emotion.
If you’ve been living under a rock, you might have missed the news that the world’s number one golfer damaged his ankle ligaments while having a kickabout with friends over the weekend and now faces a spell on the sidelines.
The wisdom of having that game of football has been debated by various golfers and big names from other sports over the past couple of days, but I’m pretty sure there is no debate in the minds of McIlroy’s sponsors, or the organisers of the various big tournaments he is due to take part in over the next couple of months, which just happens to be the most lucrative and prestigous period of any golfing season.
The best player in the world is very likely to miss out on the defence of his Open Championship crown next week, while his participation in the US PGA – which he also won last year – next month must also be in serious doubt.
It is a huge blow to the player himself given that both of the season’s remaining Majors are being held at courses which he would expect to rip apart at his best in St Andrews and Whistling Straits.
And it is also a huge blow to my punting plans for the rest of the summer, as I fully expected McIlroy (below) to respond in style to the challenge thrown down by Jordan Spieth winning both the Masters and the US Open this term.
As things stand, McIlroy hasn’t been ruled out of next week’s action at St Andrews but it is highly unlikely he will play, or even be allowed to by his advisors given the potential risk of further injury.
He is a player who needs to be at full power and it is long odds-on that he won’t be there.
Spieth will be licking his lips at that prospect, no matter what he says in public, and the Texan is now the 11/2 jolly for next week’s event, in which he has no sort of record.
He is also as low as 16/1 to complete the Grand Slam by claiming both of the year’s remaining Majors on two courses that shouldn’t come anywhere close to suiting his game, although I also thought that about the US Open at Chambers Bay.
There has to be a very real chance we won’t see McIlroy on the course until the autumn, which undoubtedly means some of the glamour over the next few weeks will be lost, but there will still be plenty of fascinating twists with or without him.
The Holywood man was scheduled to lead the field at this week’s Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open as he fine-tuned his St Andrews preparations, and in his absence, defending champion Justin Rose assumes the favourite’s position.
Rose took this one at Royal Aberdeen 12 months ago and the tournament moves down the east coast of Scotland to Gullane this time around.
He will be joined by many of the game’s leading lights, who are seeking to familiarise themselves with links golf before next week, although Spieth has opted to play in the John Deere Classic in Illinois before flying to St Andrews on Monday.
Phli Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker and Matt Kuchar are the big American stars lining up alongside most of Europe’s elite and while this is a warm-up for the Open, it is a prestigious competition in its own right.
There is nothing in the way of course form to go on, although Mickelson will be relishing a return to the area, having won the Open at neighbouring Muirfield two years ago.
He is second to Rose in the betting and won’t mind being in the hunt at all as he won the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart in 2013 before repeating the trick at Muirfield the following week.
Mickelson saw off Branden Grace in a play-off at Castle Stuart, and it is the South African who is my main pick this week.
Grace has aleady won twice on the European Tour this season, and came close to making that a treble at the US Open, where he was right in the hunt for the entire week before one wayward tee shot at the 16th on the final day took him out of the hunt.
However, the fact he finished fourth in a Major on a links-style course will have filled him with confidence for the next two weeks, and he is a regular winner who knows how to get the job done on Scottish soil.
As well as that play-off defeat to Mickelson two years ago, he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the east coast in 2012 and really relishes this style of golf.
Another big win is just around the corner, and it could well come this week, so get on him at 25/1 generally.
The fact the South African is a regular winner puts him just above Shane Lowry in my punting plan, but I also expect the Offaly man to be in the shake-up this week and next.
Lowry should racked up have more than his two wins on the European Tour, but it is only a matter of time before that number grows, and there is every chance it will do so on links terrain.
Like Grace, Lowry had a great week at Chambers Bay, being right in the hunt the whole way before finishing in a tie for ninth, which equalled his best Major result at last year’s Open at Hoylake.
The 2009 Irish Open winner at Baltray is right at home on this type of courses, with a fourth in this event at Royal Aberdeen last season to his name, as well as a sixth in the Alfred Dunhill last term and a third the year before, when he looked all over the winner for much of the final day.
Lowry has all the talent in the world and will carry the majority of Irish hopes over the next few weeks with McIlroy injured. I think he is up to the task and should be backed each-way at 28/1 with Coral for this one.
My other two runners at slightly bigger prices are a pair of young Englishmen in Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrell Hatton.
Fleetwood is seen as a future superstar of the European Tour, and he is a very consistent performer who grew up on classic links courses around his Southport home.
That grounding will stand to him in the next two events, while his form is pretty decent with four top-15 finishes in his last eight events.
He also loves Scotland, having won his maiden European Tour event at Gleneagles in 2012, and also finished second in the Alfred Dunhill last term.
At 50/1 with Ladbrokes he represents great value this week, while the same can be said for Hatton, who maintained his good form with a tie for 12th on a fast-running course in the Open de France at the weekend.
Hatton was also fourth in the Irish Open at Royal County Down at the end of May and is becoming a regular feature on leaderboards.
He has plenty of links experience and should have another good week, so he’s worth a small each-way interest as we try to build a kitty for next week, which would probably all have been going on McIlroy before ‘anklegate’.
