The world No2 and No3 have been drawn together at the Lake Malaren course near Shanghai, in a 30-man event offering a first prize of £1.25million — a record for a golf event in China. The pair were stablemates at Andrew 'Chubby’ Chandler’s ISM until McIlroy announced he was leaving to join Conor Ridge’s Dublin-based Horizon team.
While the organisers were clearly keen to provide a marquee group in the first round, they might have considered keeping a diplomatic distance between the two. McIlroy responded to Westwood’s “bizarre decision” message on Twitter last Friday night by 'un-following’ Chandler and his English rival on the social networking website.
Westwood, when contacted by The Daily Telegraph, was loath to expand on his sentiments. “You’ll have to ask Rory or Chubby,” he said. “It’s not something that impacts on me directly.”
His relationship with McIlroy has appeared strained for some time. After last year’s Masters, amid an outpouring of public sympathy for the Northern Irishman’s final-round unravelling at Augusta, Westwood offered the less than gracious view: “I’ve played with Rory and he does snap-hook under pressure.”
In tense exchanges last month, Westwood also seized upon McIlroy’s relationship with tennis world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki to describe his adversary as “half-Danish”. McIlroy hit back: “At least I’m not English.”
McIlroy has spent the past four days with Wozniacki at the WTA finals in Istanbul and is likely to be fatigued by his spate of long-haul travel. At last week’s PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, he faded noticeably, falling from a share of the lead to finish third.
Westwood, by contrast, appears to harbour a particular affinity for playing in Asia. The 38 year-old has won each of his three previous tournaments on the continent: the Indonesian Masters, the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea, and the China Golf Challenge. His chances of conquering a field also comprising Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie are difficult to dispute.
But the Shanghai Masters, used by the leading names as a tune-up for next week’s HSBC Champions, was criticised yesterday as a Chinese “vanity project”.
The Lake Malaren event is not sanctioned by any of the major tours, has no halfway cut and offers no world ranking points. And yet major champions such as Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley have not hesitated to turn up, enticed by hefty appearance fees and the fact that even last place guarantees a £15,000 pay-out.
“I just don’t think exhibition tournaments like Lake Malaren help the players develop,” said Kyi Hla Han, executive chairman of the Asian Tour.
“They are just short-term situations making the rich players richer. In a way these are vanity projects.”
Caroline Wozniacki Rory Mcilroy
Caroline Wozniacki Rory Mcilroy
Caroline Wozniacki Rory Mcilroy
Caroline Wozniacki Rory Mcilroy
Caroline Wozniacki Rory Mcilroy
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