Rory McIlroy may be in fine form, but the world number two has rejigged his schedule to include this week’s tour stop on the PGA Tour, the Texas Children’s Open in Houston, to retain the competitive juices ahead of the upcoming Masters tournament.
A two-time winner already this season, in the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am and The Players, McIlroy had originally mapped out a three-week prep and break period between Sawgrass and Augusta National only to change his mind and has now opted for the Houston Open rather than the following week’s Valero Texas Open.
McIlroy’s form – two wins in four tournaments stateside this year, all part of the reduced playing itinerary aimed at finally requiring a fitting for a green jacket – has seen him leapfrog Xander Schauffele to move from third to second in the world rankings, but still far behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is also playing in Houston ahead of his Masters defence.
Shane Lowry is also Masters bound in fine form but, after four productive weeks of the Florida Swing (11th-7th-20th-8th), the Offaly man – who has risen to a career best 12th on the official world rankings on the back of that rich vein of form – has sufficient competition sharpness and is not playing in Texas.
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McIlroy is one of three Irish players in the field at the Memorial Park Golf Course, where Séamus Power, who secured his first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour since August when finishing tied-eighth alongside Lowry in the Valspar, will be aiming to find an exemption (through winning) to the Masters.
Pádraig Harrington’s hopping from one tour to another continues – having played on the Champions Tour last week the Dubliner has been given a sponsor’s exemption into Houston on the main circuit.
For Power, that top-10 finish in Palm Harbor brought some welcome upward movement in the world rankings, jumping from 125th to 110th. Incidentally, Tom McKibbin’s third-place finish in the Porsche Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour saw the Northern Irishman regain some lost ground (since his move to LIV Golf) by moving from 117th to 107th.
Given his improved form, bouncing back from successive missed cuts at the Cognizant Classic and The Players, Power can have heightened expectations in the two Texas tournaments in that quest to, as he put it, “play my way into Augusta.” If that doesn’t happen, Plan B will see him adding the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic the week after the Masters to his schedule.
Of his first top-10 since the FedEx St Jude Classic last August, Power – who has battled injury issues over the winter – remarked: “All in all a lot of good stuff and a step in the right direction.”
Viktor Hovland had missed three straight cuts ahead of his win in the Valspar Championship, which jumped him from 19th to eighth in the updated world rankings, while also seeing him move up 86 places to 19th in the Europe Ryder Cup standings.
Hovland has been fighting swing changes and, even in victory, admitted: “It’s still not great. I’m still hitting the same shots that I have been the whole year, really. But it’s just I was able to time it extremely well this week.
“It felt like every single good shot that I hit I just saved it really well, because the club is just not in a great place for me coming down. It’s just not what it used to be. So I can’t really rely on my old feels any more because the club is in a different spot and I have to change my release pattern to make that work.
“Now, incredibly, I did make it work and was able to win and I think that is something that I’m extremely proud of that I can show up at a PGA Tour event at one of the hardest golf courses we play all year and still win with not my best stuff. I think that’s really cool, that’s something that I’m extremely proud of, but at the same time it makes this game a lot more stressful than I think it should be.”
With the Masters on the horizon, Hovland admitted: “I probably shouldn’t doubt myself to that extent. I still need to be honest so I can attack the problems that I have and we can improve, but at the same time I got to give myself some credit and even no matter how bad it feels or how many poor shots I’m hitting, I’m still capable of shooting good scores with it, so I kind of have to keep that in the back of my head.”
On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire – who has made a steady start to the season, including one top-10 in her five outings – resumes competition following her Asian endeavours, playing in the Ford Championship in Arizona.
