Northern Irishman finishes joint-second behind JJ Spaun who jokes that family’s love of presenter was reason for presence at Wentworth
JJ Spaun and wife Melody’s affection for Jeremy Clarkson was clear for all to see at Wentworth
Rory McIlroy had two factors to blame for his latest close call at the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday. The first was his putting. The second was Jeremy Clarkson.
After another Wentworth day when McIlroy set up enough chances to streak clear of the field – his flat stick simply would not oblige – the American champion JJ Spaun revealed that the only reason he was in Surrey was because of his and his wife’s love for the TV series Clarkson’s Farm.
Such was their devotion to the show, that Melody Spaun even brought a cutout face of Clarkson to Wentworth in an effort to inspire her husband.
“We’ve grown so fond of him, along with the English culture, we actually take holidays in December in the Cotswolds – we really enjoy his show,” Spaun said. “I went to his pub, The Farmer’s Dog, with the hopes to catch a glimpse of him but he wasn’t around.
“So my wife said we would have a surprise guest following this week if I competed in the tournament and sure enough Thursday morning, I see the face of Jeremy Clarkson and her holding it. Jeremy was there in spirit and I think he brought me good fortune. He is why I’m here.”
In truth, there was more incentive for Spaun than simply the Amazon Prime hit. Despite winning last year’s US Open and finishing 10th in the Presidents Cup standings, the world No 13 was bizarrely overlooked for the match against the Internationals that starts at Medinah on Thursday.
“Yeah, I played with a huge chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I definitely had something to prove this week. The extra motivation, I think that is the willpower that you kind of have. And being left off the Presidents Cup team a couple weeks ago was very disappointing, and you know, I wanted to prove that I deserve to be on that team. I took care of my business this week. So all the best to the team next week at Medinah and I’ll be watching.”
Spaun showed so much grit down the stretch that US captain Brandt Snedeker must surely wonder. He birdied four of the last five holes on the West Course to shoot a 67 for a 17-under total. But the man from Los Angeles looked likely to be overhauled at the end when Spaniard Manuel Elvira stood on the 18th tee needing a birdie to win. The par five was rated the second easiest on the layout and after finding the middle of the fairway it was there for the taking for the world No 294.
But, with one of the great Wentworth shocks, Elvira made a baffling choice and laid up instead of going for the green. Alas, he found the bunker and so it unravelled into a double-bogey seven meaning that on 15 under, he had to share second with a group, also comprising England’s Aaron Rai and Australia’s Adam Scott, as well as McIlroy.
“Devastated,” he said. “I hit the wrong shot at the right time on the lay up and left myself the toughest shot in the fairway bunker, and wasn’t able to pull it off.”
McIlroy could have prevailed by a country mile. But this was his fourth runner-up finish at the DP World Tour’s flagship event after winning in 2014 and there was only one culprit.
But there was consolation in the fact that he has made huge inroads into Patrick Reed’s lead at the top of the circuit’s standings. Reed was forced to withdraw with injury during his second round and McIlroy capitalised impressively. Even if he did believe that he should be the one holding the trophy with the £1.2m winning cheque.
“I hit the ball better than I have all week, but I just didn’t hole the putts that I should have,” McIlroy said. “I missed good chances on two, three, five, eight, nine, 10. The list just goes on, and you can also add 13 and 18 to it.
“Yeah, I made a couple of good ones I guess, but I think it might have been a different story if I had holed the amount of putts I should have. But I’ve made a decent dent in Patrick’s lead over me in the Race to Dubai, and I made it pretty clear once the majors were over, that trying to equal Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight years as European No 1 was my aim.
“I’ll play three more events after this – India, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. I’m still not playing the golf I’m capable of, but I’ve seen plenty of encouraging signs this week, and if it keeps moving in the right direction I’ll have a great chance of getting title No 8.”
