Rory McIlroy still looking for momentum

I have always been a great believer of momentum in sport, and last week in golf, we saw two great examples of how it can affect your performance.

On the European Tour in Tianjin, Brett Rumford won the Volvo China Open, which was his second success on the Tour in as many weeks after having won the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea.

Across the globe, on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy put himself in contention to win the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow for the second time in four years, but could only finish tied for the 10th place in the end.

The reason I included Rory with the very obvious example of Brett is because I watched him a bit on television on Saturday, and it was just amazing to see that every time he made a birdie, he followed it up with a bogey. He made an eagle as well, and then gave up the strokes with a double bogey.

You can sense that Rory is close to the kind of form that can help him dominate the game again, but he just needs the momentum going for several holes at a stretch during a given round, and then for a few successive rounds. In essence, what I am trying to say is that he just needs one good tournament to turn around the year.

On the other hand, Brett could do nothing wrong these past couple of weeks in Asia. It was impressive how he kept his cool in Korea after making a double bogey on the 17th hole on Sunday to let others in the playoff, and yet managed to keep his nerves intact and hit a brilliant second shot in the first playoff hole.

In China, there was no such problems for the affable Aussie, who won with plenty to spare. I must also mention about the state of the greens at Quail Hollow. As evident from the television coverage, they were in terrible shape and I was asked by a few people how could the PGA Tour allow a tournament on a course like that.

Let me first clarify that Quail Hollow is a mind-blowing layout and the conditions when I played the tournament have always been top class. The problem has only happened this year with the greens and they have been exaggerated because of the unusually cold weather in Charlotte.

Personally, while I love slick and smooth greens, and I think a golf course should be presented in perfect conditions during tournaments because of the television coverage and worldwide attention it gets, we professionals should not expect picture perfect conditions every time we play.

I only look at it one way — they are the same for the entire field. Once that happens, there should be no complaints.

(Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour)