McIlroy falters after tough semi-final

Marana, Arizona: For Rory McIlroy, his much anticipated duel with Lee Westwood in the last four of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on Sunday ultimately cost him the chance of making a fast start to the final.

Soon after beating world number three Westwood 3&1 in a pulsating semi-final that lived up to expectations, the Northern Irishman set off in the title match against Hunter Mahan at Dove Mountain.

With his energy sapped, world number two McIlroy began erratically to go four down after 10 holes and, despite regaining his sharpness after the turn, ended up losing 2&1 to American Mahan.

"I was so up for that [semi-final] match this morning," the 22-year-old McIlroy told reporters after appearing in his first Match Play final. "It was so great to get through.

Same company

"But I said it in here [the media centre] last night that the difficult thing would be to get myself up again for this afternoon.

"I tried to do the best I could and just got off to a slow start, which was disappointing. But I felt like I played some good golf on the back nine."

McIlroy, who won his first major title by an astonishing eight shots at last year's US Open, is not as close to Westwood as he was when both players were handled by the same management company.

McIlroy decided to leave International Sports Management in October to join rival company Horizon, and relations between the two golfers have, on occasion, been frosty since.