To add further insult to injury, Rory McIlroy arrived in Kaula Lumpur and this week’s Maybank Malaysian Open without his golf clubs.

It was a near 30-hour journey from Augusta via Atlanta and London and then onto the steamy Malaysian capital following McIloy’s Masters meltdown.

McIlroy travelled first class in the company of new Masters champion, and fellow ISM stablemate, Charl Schwartzel.

Schwartzel found himself being congratulated throughout the trip while he was the centre of attention wearing the green jacket between the various connections, and then upon arrival in K. L.

However McIlroy could take some comfort in that Schwartzel’s clubs also didn’t make the connection out of London meaning both players missed out on full 18-hole practice rounds ahead of the $US 2.5m event.

“It was a really long flight to get here and we must have spent 20-hours in the air and 30-hours to get here from Augusta, so hopefully I will get a bit of sleep tonight and wake up a bit fresher in the morning and be ready to go,” said McIlroy.

“It wasn’t the plan that Charl’s clubs and my clubs didn’t arrive but hopefully they’ll arrive before we tee off.

“It happens all the time and you get used to it.

“But looking back on last week, I’m very disappointed.  Fruitfully, to sleep on the lead a couple of nights at the Masters and to go into the final round leading was good as I played some of my best golf I’ve ever played last week.

“I had a four-shot lead going into the last day without making a putt on Friday or Saturday and then on Sunday, after one bad tee shot on 10 I just lost a bit of confidence after that.

“Those three holes really just killed me and then after 13 I knew I really didn’t have a chance.

“But for 63 holes I led the golf tournament and there is a lot of positives to take and only a couple of negative things, and hopefully from what happened on Sunday I will learn, and it won’t happen again.”

McIlroy admits too knowing Schwartzel so well, and sharing the same 1^st Class cabin’s with him to Malaysia has, in some way, eased his Augusta anguish.

“Knowing Charl as well as I do has helped a little bit and if you look at all the current Major Champions, I know them all so well, including G. Mac,” said McIlroy.

“I’ve played  a lot of golf with all of them and I consider them all to be very good friends of mine, and to see them all as Major winners only tells me that if I keep doing the right things it shouldn’t be too far away for me.

“But the way Charl played that last day, you can’t take anything away from him because to go out there and start the way he did, and then to finish it off with four closing birdies was a great performance.”

And while close to Schwartzel for 30 hours, there was no way McIlroy was going to try on the most famed item of apparel in golf.

“No, no way was I going anywhere trying it on and I will wait to next year when I hopefully can get my hands on it,” said McIlroy.

It will be McIlroy’s second appearance in the event after missing the cut in 2008 and he plays the first two rounds in the company of World No. 1 Martin Kaymer and double Malaysian Open winner, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand.

Schwartzel spent time on Kuala Lumpur Golf Club range sharing Louis Oosthuizen’s clubs in the hope his Augusta National winning clubs arrived in time to tee up alongside his fellow Major winning Springbok and defending champ, Seung-yul Noh.

“I don’t what time of day it is, so the body is not exactly sure where it is at present,” said Schwartzel.

“I haven’t had time for any celebration but after this week I am taking a couple of weeks off and sit back and let it all sink in what I’ve done.

“It is just a fantastic feeling because as professional golfers this is what we all work for.

“I’m going to take the green jacket with me wherever I go and it’s just amazing what we do for a jacket, ah.

“It fits pretty well and I didn’t know they made a jacket for someone so thin as me.”

Oosthuizen and Kaymer both delayed their flights out of Augusta to watch the final few holes of the Masters.

But after Schwartzel was among the first on hand to congratulate Oosthuizen at St. Andrews last July, the British Open winner was disappointed he could not be there at Augusta.

“It was great to see the way Charl play as we all had tears in our eyes, and just the way he came through the last four holes was special,” said Oosthuizen.

“Charl and I have a great relationship and whenever he wins an event, he will phone me and vice versa.

“But I was at Augusta Airport to fly at 6pm but Charl was on the 15^th, and I say there is no way I am going to he finishes.

“So we pushed the flight back to 7.15pm and that was the latest we could leave as we had an 11pm connection in New York and we nearly missed that.

“I wanted to go back to the course and see him but I was scared of not being able to get on a flight to the next day.

“But I phoned his wife the minute we landed in New York to congratulate him as I knew he would be busy but when I was on the plane and just before we took off Charl phoned me and that was very nice to hear from him.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before he won a Major and it happened very quickly after mine.

“It’s great for South African golf and that’s eight South Africans to have won Majors, including Nick Price, so for a small country like South Africa it’s great.”

With three reigning Major Champions, and one of those currently World No. 1, it’s the best Maybank Malaysian Open in living memory.

Also in the field is former Major winners Michael Campbell and Todd Hamilton along with talented Korean Seung-Yul Noh, the defending champion. 

 

Bernie McGuire.