*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
We all love a big of Golf drama and it’s hard not to celebrate Rory McIlroy’s win over his nemesis Patrick Reed in Dubai today. Reed had started the Hero Dubai Desert Classic by throwing a tee at McIlroy on Tuesday last after Rory ignored his presence. Why did he do something so ridiculous?
Well, Reed’s lawyer had served a subpoena at Rory’s house on Christmas Eve (of all the days!) regarding the DP World Tour and PGA Tour suspending those rascally break-away LIV players. It’s all very schoolboy, albeit with huge amounts of money, but it’s very entertaining. Sure, it’s almost comforting to know that mega-rich talented sport stars are just as petty as the rest of us. Oh, Reed also likened McIlroy to ‘an immature child’ even though he was the one throwing tees around like confetti.
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Rory McIlroy’s Next Golfing Events
Next up for the Northern Irishman he’ll be appearing at the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona on Feb 9. Spain’s Jon Rahm is the current favourite there followed by McIlroy and it would be great to see them going head-to-head in Arizona.
This will be followed by the Genesis Invitational in Riviera, California to close off February. In March, he’ll be putting in an appearance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill in Florida and then, the big one, the US Masters in Augustas in early April.
In July, the 151st Open Championship will take place at Royal Liverpool in England. The last time it was held in Holylake, McIlroy lift the Claret Jug back in 2014 and he’ll be hoping to repeat that performance. He’s also confirmed he’ll be playing at the Irish Open which is being held in early September which will be the final event before this year’s Ryder Cup, due to be held in Rome, Italy.
Rory McIlroy at the PGA Tour – The Players Championship
TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida plays host to the Players Championship in early March. It’s not confirmed yet that McIlroy will take part but we all know he’ll certainly be appearing. Spain’s Jon Rahm tops the list of favourites for the Florida competitions with the Northern Irishman hot on his heels in the current betting odds.
Rory McIlroy at the Masters 2023
Rory McIlroy currently tops the list of favourites for this year’s Masters at Augusta. Many might feel that McIlroy didn’t have the best year of his career in 2022 but it’s worth pointing out that he won the Canadian Open, Tour Championship and CJ Cup. The current World No. 1 also topped the FedExCup standings and DP World Tour rankings in the same year for the first time in his career. To date he’s spent 15 weeks as the World No. 1 which brings his total to 121 weeks as the world’s best male golfer.
With one title under his belt already in 2023, after what was an incredibly tough and high-pressure final nine holes he kept his cool and showed his experience to lift the Hero Dubai Desert Classic title.
There was, of course, some additional controversy, one of Reed’s balls hit a palm tree and disappeared, he identified it as being somewhere that it just couldn’t possibly have ended up. But hey, Patrick Reed is gonna Patrick Reed.
McIlroy will take plenty of confidence from this recent victory, should he get a couple more Top 5 finishes between now and the Masters his odds are going to come crashing down from where they currently are.
Rory McIlroy at the US Open
McIlroy is also the favourite for this year’s US Open, due to be held at the Los Angeles Country Club in mid-June. At the time of writing he’s priced at 9/1 to take the title home for the first time since 2011. He’s followed in the betting by Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas who are all priced at 11/1.
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