Tucson draw means McIlroy and McDowell can only meet in final

World number seven McIlroy faces Boo Weekley

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and caddie JP Fitzgerald during practice prior to the start of the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona yesterday. Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Two little slips in the world ranking – Rory McIlroy down from sixth to seventh, and Graeme McDowell from 15th to 17th – have contrived to ensure the only two Irish players in this week’s WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship can only meet if they both make it all the way to the final in Tucson.

With three of the world’s top-four ranked players – Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson – staying away, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson is the top seed in the championship and McIlroy is actually the top-ranked player in the Ben Hogan bracket, where he will open his quest for the matchplay title against American Boo Weekley.

McDowell is seeded fourth in the Sam Snead bracket, on the opposite side of the draw to McIlroy, where he has a first round encounter with the big-hitting American Gary Woodland.

Two-week breakMcIlroy returns to action after a two-week break, following his tied-ninth finish in the Dubai Desert Classic. An indicator of McIlroy’s determination to push his body came in the interim when he attended the Human Performance Lab established by GlaxoSmithKline, and “focused on applied and discovery research” to help professional athletes achieve their full physical potential.

Whilst McIlroy – who has finished second and ninth in his two outings in the Gulf Swing, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – has improved his physical conditioning, he has always worked on sharpening his game. Last year, as world number one, he made a first-round exit at the hands of Shane Lowry. In 2012, he was a finalist when he lost out to US Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan.

The winner of the McIlroy-Weekley first-round match will meet whoever emerges from the Lee Westwood-Harris English encounter.

McDowell – whose best finish at Dove Mountain was in reaching the quarter-finals last year – opens his quest for a maiden WGC title with a match against Woodland, with the winner facing either Hideki Matsuyama or former US PGA champion Martin Kaymer.

Having just made the cut in the Northern Trust Open, Bubba Watson’s peerless display of golf over the weekend – two 64s without dropping a shot – gave the left-hander his first win on tour since he captured the US Masters in 2012.

Of rediscovering the winning habit, Watson, who missed a short putt on the final green to forced a play-off in the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, confessed: “You never know when your last win is going to be. My last win could have been the Masters, which would have been a great way to go out. But winning (the Northern Trust Open) is nice, any time you can get another win, it’s very nice.

“I never looked down, I never felt down that I haven’t won yet but just kept plugging along and somehow it fell into my lap, adding: “I’m always going forward now. You’re always trying to go forward.”

Watson has moved on to the WGC-Accenture matchplay as one of the favourites, especially given his form with the driver. Watson ranks first in driving distance (averaging 320 yards) but has also improved his accuracy, and was ranked fifth in driving accuracy at Riviera. Watson opens his matchplay quest with a first round meeting with Finland’s Mikko Illonen.

Although he has switched from playing to caddying, the Northern Trust Open also proved to be a good one for Bray native Keith Nolan. The one-time US Tour player was on the bag of Jason Allred, who secured a place in the field through the Monday qualifying tournament.

ExceededAllred finished third behind Watson, which earned him a $388,600 cheque that exceeded the total he had made in his previous 153 events on tour.

“I’m so thankful to have Keith Nolan, my buddy, and a great caddie on the bag, really helping me,” said Allred, whose third-place finish earns him an invite into the Honda Classic in two weeks’ time.

McIlroy in optimistic mood ahead of a busy schedule

World number seven looking forward to matchplay test as season swings into full gear

Graeme McDowell plays a shot during practice prior to the start of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona. Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy might have gone down on bended knee to ask for Caroline Wozniacki’s hand in marriage but when it comes to golf, he’s more of a pragmatist than a romantic.

The world number seven has been more concerned about his putting than the demise of Augusta National’s Eisenhower tree as he prepares to face the colourful Boo Weekley in the first round of a WGC-Accenture Match Play that is without three of the world’s top four in Tiger Woods and the reigning Masters and Open champions, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson.

“It’s a tree,” McIlroy shrugged, smiling broadly.

Seeded number four at Dove Mountain this week, the 24-year-old is in Arizona looking for his first win of 2014.

More consistentBut rather than trying to get back to the level he showed in 2012, when he reached the final in Tucson and counted a second Major victory among his five wins that year, he’s looking to improve on that by being even more consistent and contending even when he’s not at the top of his game.

“I haven’t hit the ball as well for a long time,” said McIlroy, who said things are far different to 12 months ago when he arrived in a chilly Tucson and made an early exit to Shane Lowry, having struggled with his game and his new clubs.

Asked if 2012 was the benchmark, he said: “I can do better. I went through a period in 2012 when I missed four cuts in five events . . . It was a benchmark because anytime I got into contention, I was there or thereabout or I won, but I feel I’d like to try and got better than that.”

Having spent the early part of this week working with Dave Stockton his putting, especially his grip, he’s hoping to win here or at the Honda Classic or the WGC-Cadillac Championship Doral in a fortnight so that he goes in to the build up to the Masters with a win under his belt.

Third in Abu Dhabi despite a two-shot penalty in the third round and ninth in Dubai after an average putting performance in the final round, his confidence is high though he’s aware that in 18 hole matchplay, anything can happen.

Chipping and putting is crucial and that’s the key for Graeme McDowell, who is on the opposite side of the draw to McIlroy. He is hoping tactics and putting will count for more than length when he faces his Lake Nona neighbour Gary Woodland in the opening round.

The big-hitting American will be outdriving McDowell by 50 yards or more but the Rathmore man points to the fact that a bomber doesn’t win at Dove Mountain every year, despite the fact that it measures more than 7,700 yards from the tips.

Putting wellMcDowell said. “Length is important in some areas but you also have to place it well as well so I wouldn’t call this necessarily a bombers’ track.

“Look at the past winners – Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald. It hasn’t historically been the bombers who have taken care of business around here.

“This format has a lot to do with iron play and putting. You can really destroy a guy by putting really well.”

McDowell is feeling good about his game after knocking the rust off with a seventh place finish in his first start of the season in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am two week ago.

“There are no easy matches and you have just got to get your head down and try to get out of Wednesday.”

This week’s event is the first of eight for McIlroy which will see him use a bag bearing the logo of his sponsor’s Bose in exchange for a contribution to the Rory McIlroy Foundation.

McIlroy plans to tee it up in the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship before playing the Shell Houston Open, the Masters, the Wells Fargo Championship, The Players Championship and the Memorial Tournament before auctioning off the bags for his Foundation.

Royal County Down to host 2015 Irish Open

McIlroy and McDowell welcome move to bring event to course they know well

Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell enjoy a round of golf at Royal County Down.Photograph: Mark Pearce/Presseye/Inpho

Another iconic seaside course in Northern Ireland is to play host to the Irish Open in 2015. Royal County Down, the wonderful links in Newcastle with a backdrop of Slieve Donard, is set to be confirmed by the PGA European Tour as the site for the championship next year.

As a course, it is a very worthy choice, but its selection will come as a surprise, given the likely crowd restrictions. When the 2007 Walker Cup between Britain and Ireland against the United States was staged there, the crowds were limited to 10,000 a day with spectators allowed to walk the fairways as is tradition in the amateur match.

When the Irish Open was staged at Royal Portrush on the Causeway Coast in 2012, it was a sell-out with 112,000 attending over the four championship days. Such crowds won’t be possible at Royal County Down due to health and safety factors, but the establishment of a rota system involving courses in the North and the Republic – the event returned south to be staged at Carton House in Co Kildare last year and will be held at Fota Island in Cork this June – means that historic venues are again getting the opportunity to stage the championship.

Royal County, which last staged the Irish Open in 1939 when England’s Arthur Lees won, has consistently been judged among the top ranked courses in the world.

“Royal County Down is definitely one of my favourites in Ireland,” admitted former US Open champion Graeme McDowell. Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland, McDowell said: “There is always that internal debate in Northern Ireland which is the best? They are very different tracks, Portrush and County Down. County Down is an acquired taste, you have got to play it a few times to find your way around, with those blind tee shots, but the more and more you play it, the more you recognise it for the class place it is.”

Rory McIlroy also welcomed the anticipated move to bring the Irish Open to a course he knows like the back of his hand. “I think it was a huge success at Portrush and I think going to County Down can only be great for the Irish Open and for golf in Ireland in general,” said McIlroy. “In my opinion, it would be a good idea to alternate between a course in the south and one in the north every second year.”