Rory’s driving hits a new level

No praise is high enough for Rory McIlroy after the way he won the BMW Championship — his second PGA Tour title in as many weeks and third in his last four starts.

To begin with, the quality of the field was world-class and the chasing pack over the back nine on Sunday read like a who’s who of golf. To finally emerge as a two-shot winner with a four-day total of 20-under-par was a stunning effort indeed.

Agreed, the golf course wasn’t playing at its toughest, especially after soaking up so much rain and with preferred lies in play. The greens were holding well, too. But then you’ve got to make sure that you find the fairways – otherwise you cannot lift and place – and more importantly, make the putts for birdies.

With the leaderboard packed with such names as McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Vijay Singh and Dustin Johnson, I was one of the millions eagerly watching the action unfold on the final day. But once Rory pulled ahead at the turn, it was more like a one-man exhibition.

If there was one aspect of Rory’s game that completely blew my mind, it was his driving. He was very long, and he was very straight. In fact, he missed just one fairway throughout the day, and once you start doing that, it takes so much pressure off all other parts of your game.

And of course, he is putting like a dream at the moment. Oh…and he is hitting those irons with radar-like accuracy. What’s left then? Really, he is playing like a well-oiled machine right now and completely deserves to be the world No 1.

When Luke Donald won the Money List on both sides of the Atlantic, it was an outstanding achievement. I think Rory is now in a great position to outdo Donald – he can not only win the Money List on both European and US PGA Tour, but also become the FedEx Cup champion.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs are now in its final stage and the top 30 players gather in Atlanta for the Tour Championship after a week’s rest. The top five players (Rory, Woods, Nick Watney, Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker) have their destiny in their own hands – which means if they win, they win the FedEx Cup. Those are the rules, but the way Rory has played so far, he deserves to be crowned the champion.

It was great to see Peter Hanson winning the KLM Open despite the fact that his son was hospitalised with respiratory problems. That just shows how strong mentally the silent Swede is. He really will be an asset to the European Ryder Cup team when they clash with the US in a fortnight.

I am playing the ANA Open on the Japan Golf Tour this week, thus making a comeback after three weeks off because of the palm injury. It is much better now, although I did feel a bit of pain when I started practising again. Hopefully, it will get better by the time the tournament starts.

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