Rory McIlroy does the honors in the tournament that begins today at the K Club in Straffan in Ireland and the friends who have joined him for this race, sponsored by the foundation of the world number three, are really many. At the forefront we find the Italians Matteo Manassero and Renato Paratore, young, eager to seize new successes and to improve their position in the various rankings. Paratore can still get a ticket to Rio and it is to be hoped that, one point after another, he will succeed in the enterprise.
The field is rich and important and achieving a good position will not be easy. It includes, among others, Danny Willet, winner of the Masters and leader of the Race to Dubai; Martin Kaymer, former world number one; Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, major winners; and again Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Rafael Cabrera Bello, David Lingmerth, Thongchai Jaide. The twenty-year-old Korean Jeunghun Wang, this year's revelation and winner of the last two races on the European circuit, is eagerly awaited.
Rory is the favourite, but it must be admitted that he is not playing well, or rather, not as well as he could. In 2016 his performance has always been fluctuating, this was also seen last week at The Players, where he finished "only" twelfth, while world number one, Jason Day, dominated the race for 4 days. Particularly beautiful, in that prestigious context, was the performance of Francesco Molinari, seventh, in his first top ten of the year. This weekend Molinari won't play, given the numerous commitments that await him shortly. The jackpot is four million euros, one of the highest on the circuit.
In the meantime, the AT&T Byron Nelson starts today on the Pga Tour, on the route of the TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, in Irving, Texas. A good level competition, which boasts among the participants, the world number two Jordan Spieth. The blond from Dallas seems to be in crisis, given last week's missed haircut; probably the bad memories of the Masters still undermine his safety and playing in a place he knows will help him find his reference points. The level of the participants is excellent. Among others, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Keegan Bradley, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandt Snedeker, Bryson DeChambeau, Ian Poulter. The prize pool is $7.300.000 with the first coin being $1.314.000.
Both tournaments are partially broadcast live on Sky Sports.
