Thursday, September 2, 2010

Rory Mcilroy may have lost out in the race to be Europe’s No.1 for 2009, but golf’s golden child is planning on taking the title next year, despite his switch to play on the US Tour.

McIlroy tees it up at Mission Hills in China tomorrow with Northern Ireland team-mate Graeme McDowell. And the youngster will be eager to claim World Cup glory in a bid to get over his disappointment at Jumeirah Golf Estates last weekend.

With his decision to take up US Tour membership in 2010, some may say this year was his best chance to be crowned Europe’s best - for the next year or two at least.

However, the 20-year-old insists he will be prepared to challenge for the top on both sides of the Atlantic next year.

He played 25 events on the European Tour this season but said next year he would probably “play 15 or 16” US PGA events.

Despite playing on both tours, he would play fewer tournaments overall as some events are co-sanctioned by the US PGA and the European Tour.

“I’ll play a little less than that next year definitely,” the new world No.10 said.

“But hopefully I’ll be a better golfer this time next year than I am now, so I’d like to think that I can give myself the best chance to win on both tours.

“I made that decision because I wanted to become a better golfer, and the best way to do that is to play against the best players in the world every week. Sometimes that’s in Europe. Sometimes it’s in America.”

Despite his Race to Dubai running out of gas on the Earth course on Sunday, the Dubai Desert Classic champion says he and McDowell are motivated to win the World Cup this week.

The two formed a formidable partnership of the Great Britain & Ireland team in their Vivendi Trophy victory over Europe recently, and are among the favourites for victory in this week’s $5.5million, 28-nation event. And McIlroy said: “I want to play the best I can for my partner. I don’t want to let him down. Obviously we are playing for our country which is a huge honour. It’s my first taste of the World Cup, and, yeah, I don’t think there should be any reason why I shouldn’t be motivated.”

Defending champions Sweden however, are hopeful of retaining the title they won last year.

They will once again be represented by Dubai-based Henrik Stenson and 2008 European No.1 Robert Karlsson. And Stenson said: “I think it’s a whole lot of fun just to be able to play in a relaxed, but still competitive mode.

“It’s also a great honour to play for your country, and I think that’s the most important thing - we are there to represent Sweden.”