Sky Sports expert Ross McFarlane says it's only a matter of time before Rory McIlroy is world number one.
McFarlane says McIlroy can now focus his efforts on majors
Sky Sports expert Ross McFarlane believes it is only a matter of time before Rory McIlroy becomes world number one.
The Northern Irishman could have risen to the top of the world golf rankings if he'd beaten Hunter Mahan in the final of the Accenture Match Play, but he was beaten 2&1 by the American.
McFarlane believes that the defeat is a blow for McIlroy, but he should take heart from his performance - he hadn't got past the second round in his last two appearances in Arizona - and he will just have to wait a little bit longer before he can call himself the world number one.
"It will be a huge disappointment to him," he told
Sky Sports News HD.
"He'll obviously be quite pleased with the fact that he's done so well in this championship, which he really hasn't done well in in the past.
"His match play skills were much better this week and he's starting to mature as a player. He's still only 22 years of age, we mustn't forget that because he's been around for such a long time.
"It's just a matter of time as to when he will get to that world number one spot."
In fact it could be as soon as this week if he wins the Honda Classic although he faces some stiff competition in Florida from the likes of Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods.
Peaking
McIlroy is only scheduled to make a couple of appearances before the Masters at the start of April and McFarlane feels that's a sensible approach.
He says the reigning US Open champion, who threw away a commanding lead in the final round at Augusta last year, needs to conserve his energy for a hectic run of big tournaments in the spring and early summer.
"He's making sure that his golf will be peaking at the right time, particularly in a few weeks' time at the Masters in early April," McFarlane explained.
"He's only playing two events up until then and I think that's about right. You don't want to play too much golf because from the Masters onwards it's very intense.
"There's some of the biggest championships, not only World Golf Championships, but the majors start coming in a bit of a rush. All of a sudden he'll be defending his US Open title in no time at all.
"He's got something that he wants to prove to everybody at the Masters, where for the best part of 63 holes he was the champion, but unfortunately we saw that slight implosion.
"That was a sad moment, but seemed to be a turning point in his career as a golfer because that's what set him on to winning the US Open just seven weeks later."
