GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Rory McIlroy is No. 1 in the world of golf. At the Ryder Cup, he sees himself as one of 12.

McIlroy and the rest of the Europeans have been hearing all week about how the Americans are targeting the top players at Gleneagles. The concept is nothing new. For years, Tiger Woods was the player everyone wanted to beat. Woods is recovering from back injuries and is not at the Ryder Cup for the second time in six years.

U.S. captain Tom Watson has mentioned McIlroy and Ian Poulter as two key players to beat.

“You knock off the big dog, that gives your team a boost,” Watson said last week.

McIlroy has won the last two majors to establish himself anew as the best player in golf. Poulter has the best record of any active player in the Ryder Cup, winning 12 of his 15 matches including seven in a row.

“I know Watson has been talking about targeting us two and whatever, but at the same time, it’s only one-sixth of the team,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “There’s 10 other world-class players that he has to worry about, as well, and they are just as capable of putting points on the board for Europe. They can try and target us all they want, but there’s guys alongside us that can do just as good a job.”

Colin Montgomerie once said beating Woods felt like it was worth more than one point. McIlroy was having none of that.

“Someone beats me, they win a point – no more, no less.”

This is nothing new for McIlroy. Two years ago, he won the U.S. PGA Championship by a record eight shots, and then won back-to-back in the FedEx Cup playoffs to reach No. 1 in the world going into Medinah. His presence might be even greater at Gleneagles coming off victories in the British Open, U.S. PGA Championship and a World Golf Championship, primarily because Woods isn’t around.

“It’s not hard to pick out the best player in the world right now,” Jim Furyk said. “It’s Rory McIlroy. And Ian has obviously had a great record in this.”

McIlroy was still buzzing on Wednesday morning over an evening spent with former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson.

Boy Wonder caused a stir himself during practice by using a new driver.

It’s rare for someone to make any equipment changes the week of such a big event. Perhaps the most famous was in 2004, when Phil Mickelson signed a new equipment deal with Callaway and changed out his driver and golf ball at Oakland Hills. He was paired with Woods and they lost both of their matches.

McIlroy is aware of that incident – he was a 15-year-old Junior Ryder Cup player who was in the gallery.

“Phil Mickelson nearly hit me off the tees in 2004,” McIlroy said. “I was standing down the left-hand side, so I’m very aware of what he did that week. Hey, look, Phil changed from one equipment manufacturer to another. This is a driver that I’ve actually been using and practicing with since June. I wouldn’t be putting it in the bag if I didn’t feel it was better.”

It appeared to be working fine. McIlroy drove the green on the par-4 14th.

“Everyone saw yesterday it was the only driver I had out there in the bag,” he said. “It’s looking likely that it’s going to be in the bag this week.”

McIlroy then headed out for another day of practice. He was in a group with Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer on the first full day of practice. On Wednesday, he was sent out in a group of four with Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Plucking two scarcely believable shots from the cactus for par saves in the Match Play Championship final in February thrust Victor Dubuisson into golf’s global consciousness.

Gary Player said he hadn’t seen anything like it in 60 years in the sport. Nick Faldo compared him to Seve Ballesteros.

Dubuisson, despite losing the final to Jason Day, briefly was the talk of golf.

For the reserved, private and softly spoken Frenchman, he’d rather that hadn’t been the case.

Dubuisson, who keeps his past very much in the past, is the European team’s mystery man heading into his first Ryder Cup this week. Even his teammates know little about him.

“Does anybody really know Victor?” Thomas Bjorn asked Tuesday.

Graeme McDowell, a potential partner for Dubuisson when play starts Friday, described him as an “enigma” and a “tough guy of get your head around of what he’s thinking.”

The 24-year-old Dubuisson acknowledges he is quiet and humble but, after just a day at Gleneagles, is already embracing the team dynamic that makes the Ryder Cup so special.

“Everybody has two different (sides) … I think when you are at your work and when you are outside with your friends, it’s very different,” Dubuisson said. “Honestly you can ask the other players. I’m a very funny and cool guy.”

The little that Dubuisson has spilled about his back story is interesting. He is the nephew of Herve Dubuisson, one of French basketball’s greatest players, and he has indicated in interviews that he left school before he was a teenager to concentrate on golf and that he “didn’t really have family.”

He played tennis and football as a youngster but settled into golf, he said Tuesday, because “you’re on your own” and he didn’t want to play in a team sport. Dubuisson smiled when it was put to him that he was the “Greta Garbo of golf” because of the mystery surrounding him.

What is not in question is Dubuisson’s talent.

The world’s No. 1 amateur in 2009, he held off a high-class field including Tiger Woods and Justin Rose in the final round of the Turkish Open last year to win his first major professional tournament. And that extraordinary performance in the match-play format in the Arizona desert in February effectively sealed his place at the Ryder Cup, where he is the European team’s youngest player.

His ball was at the bottom of a cactus on one playoff hole and it was at the base of bush on another. He gave it a good whack on both shots, with the ball shooting over TV cables and through rough to land close enough to the pin to make par.

“When some people compared my shots with what he (Seve) used to do, with a few shots he did in the past, it was a very big thing for me,” Dubuisson said. “It was very emotional.”

Dubuisson, whose first memory of a Ryder Cup is when he attended the K Club in 2006, practiced with Henrik Stenson and McDowell on Tuesday. It is the latter who is being talked about as a partner for the Frenchman.

“His relaxed mood, personality, could be confused with maybe intimidation and nervousness,” McDowell said. “I’ve been trying to get close to him the last few months and spend a little time with him. He’s a great guy.”

Dubuisson is the third Frenchman, after Jean Van de Velde (1999) and Thomas Levet (2004), to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup. And it just might raise extra interest in his home country, which is hosting the Ryder Cup in 2018.

“I actually have a funny feeling,” Bjorn said, “that this guy might just stand up and be a great hero by the end of this week.”

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – European captain Paul McGinley is having second thoughts about a Rory McIlroy-Graeme McDowell partnership in the Ryder Cup.

Attribute that to an ordinary record, not an acrimonious lawsuit.

The Northern Irish duo has made it clear in recent weeks that McIlroy’s lawsuit against Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management – which involves allegations against McDowell – has not affected their friendship and would not be a problem at Gleneagles this week.

“Both of them have assured me all along that there’s no issue, and that’s the way I’ve always seen it,” McGinley said Monday in the opening news conference of Ryder Cup week. “Whether they come together or not is another story.”

McDowell and McIlroy are longtime friends and major champions. They have been Ryder Cup partners for all but one session dating to 2010 at Wales, though their record is hardly impressive. They have won only two of those matches and halved another.

“Three or four months ago, I had a very strong view that they would have been (partners),” McGinley said. “But the more I look at their statistics, and the more I look at the different value I have with them, I’m thinking there may be a value in not doing it. But if I don’t do it, it certainly won’t be because of any issues.

“As both of them have said, there are no issues between them and both will be happy to play together,” he said. “But it will be my decision ultimately.”

Both teams arrived at Gleneagles on a relatively quiet day in which a haircut attracted most of the attention.

Rickie Fowler, a teen idol in golf circles, stepped off the U.S. charter at Edinburgh with “USA” cut into the side of his hair. Even old-school Tom Watson, the 65-year-old American captain, liked it.

Rickie Fowler (Twitter)

“I thought it was terrific,” Watson said. “It brings a light spirit to the team.”

The Americans flew overnight as a team, and planned little more than chipping and putting Monday before getting started on their practice rounds. Watson has reminded them from his vast experience – only three American players were even born when Watson played his first Ryder Cup in 1977 – not to worry if it takes a few days for their golf games to come around.

Half of the European team lives in Florida and players began arriving in the U.K. over the last week.

McIlroy left Horizon more than a year ago and their lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial as early as January. An Irish judge has recommended that both sides go through mediation because of sensitive material that would be public. Among other things, McIlroy has alleged that McDowell received more favorable contract terms from Horizon, and McIlroy’s lawyers have requested confidential documents.

McDowell announced last week that he also was leaving Horizon, under amicable terms, to put his own team around him.

They said they remain close and even had dinner together in Denver earlier this month.

McIlroy has had only one other partner in his two Ryder Cups. He was with Ian Poulter in fourballs in the final session at Medinah two years ago, and it was memorable. Poulter birdied his last five holes to give Europe an improbable point, and plenty of momentum that carried the side to a stunning comeback to retain the cup.

That has become a focal point for the American side.

“I made it very clear to them that this trip is a redemption trip,” Watson said. “Those players that played on that team, it’s time to make amends and try to redeem yourselves from what happened in 2012. I think it’s a motivation rather than a negative.”

Europe is considered a favorite, and McGinley believes that to be a badge of honor instead of a burden.

“We have been favorites before,” said McGinley, who has never been part of a losing Ryder Cup team as a player or vice captain. “And I think our players deserved it. The guys have worked very hard to be in the position they are.”

Even so, he has implored his team not to read too much into it. Europe has won only three of the last 13 sessions dating to 2008, and just two sessions in the last two Ryder Cups they won. The matches have been close, and the rosters of both teams indicated Gleneagles could be another replay of that.

“This is not a weak American team,” McGinley said. “We might be slight favorites with the bookies, but the two teams are very well balanced and very close together. We know it’s going to be a very tough contest ahead of us.”

NEWPORT, Wales – Joost Luiten overcame a shaky start to shoot a level-par 71 and hang on for a one-shot victory at the Wales Open on Sunday.

Luiten opened with two straight bogeys but bounced back with three birdies on the back nine and then recovered from a poor tee shot on the 18th to make par for the victory. The Dutchman, who had led by two shots after the third round, finished with a 14-under total of 270.

It was Luiten’s third European Tour victory and comes after he was overlooked as a captain’s pick for next week’s Ryder Cup in favor of Lee Westwood.

“I knew when the qualification ended I needed to play better so luckily I’m in good form now,” Luiten said. “I just wish the team all the best and hopefully they can win.”

England’s Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Ireland’s Shane Lowry (7) shared second place. European Ryder Cup rookie Jamie Donaldson shot a 67 to share fourth place at 12-under par.

In contrast, Westwood struggled over the final day with five bogeys on the front nine, and added a double bogey on the 14th before closing with two late birdies for a 76. He plummeted to a share of 60th place at 2 over.

“I needed to play some competitive golf and I’ve done that,” Westwood said. “I hit a few good shots this week, not so good today, but I probably had one eye on next week. I don’t think the concentration and the focus was there.”

Thomas Bjorn heads to his third Ryder Cup, and his first in 12 years as a player, after closing with a 74 and finishing just one shot ahead of Westwood.

“It’s been a strange week,” Bjorn said. “I didn’t play particularly well early on but played pretty well on the weekend, but didn’t score that well with my putter letting me down. But if that’s all I have to work on then that’s pretty good for my concentration levels going into the Ryder Cup.”

NEWPORT, Wales – Joost Luiten birdied three of his closing four holes in a 6-under 65 at the Wales Open on Saturday to take a two-shot lead.

The three-time European Tour winner came from a stroke back at the start of the third round to overhaul Ireland’s Shane Lowry (68) and move to a total of 14-under 199 in ideal scoring conditions on the Twenty-Ten course at Celtic Manor.

The 28-year-old Luiten arrived in Wales having finished fifth in his defense of last week’s KLM Open title and is now primed to become the first Dutch-born winner of the Wales Open.

“I played solid, consistent, hit a lot of greens, and got my round going with some nice putts at the beginning,” Luiten said. “I didn’t really make a lot of putts in the middle part, but came back strong at the end with three birdies on the last four so I have to be happy.”

He could have finished three clear of his rivals when his long eagle putt from the back of the green at the 18th hit the edge of the hole before Luiten managed the sixth birdie of his round from four feet.

Luiten finished 15th overall on the European Ryder Cup points table but was overlooked for a wild card pick by the 16th-placed and eight-time Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood.

“Since the qualifying process ended I have been fourth and then fifth last week, so if you have these last couple events counting for the qualification of the Ryder Cup, maybe I may have had a chance,” Luiten said.

“Bu then we know the date when qualification ends and you have to play well before that and I didn’t do that.”

Lowry got the start he wanted to his third round with birdies at Nos. 2, 3 and 6 but the Dubliner stalled to then par his closing 12 holes.

“I’m still there and that’s the main thing,” he said. “If you had given me this Thursday morning before I stood on the first tee, I would have taken your hand off. “

Former Welsh Open winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand shot a 67 to share third on 11 under with Frenchman Gregory Havret who signed for a 66.

Havret, who last won in 2008, is looking to follow compatriot Gregory Bourdy who captured last year’s Wales Open.

European Ryder rookie Jamie Donaldson continues to impress, shooting a 68 to move to 8-under overall while Westwood jumped 23 spots with a round of 68 to be in a share of 32nd on 3 under.

However, Dane Thomas Bjorn slipped two dozen spots with a round of 71 and is tied in 46th position at 2 under.

NEWPORT, Wales – Shane Lowry shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Wales Open on Friday, while Stephen Gallacher missed the cut in his last tournament before his first Ryder Cup.

Lowry didn’t drop a shot as he moved to 9-under 133, one shot ahead of Joost Luiten (69) and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who eagled the 18th hole for the second day in a row in shooting a 68.

Gallacher failed to recover from his opening round of 78 at Celtic Manor, with his 70 leaving him five shots below the cut line.

“I’ve missed the cut but there’s no alarm bells ringing and I am looking forward now to next week,” Gallacher said. “I just felt that I was trying maybe a wee bit too hard yesterday and teeing-up thinking too much about next week, whereas today I was a lot more focused. … I feel good both mentally and physically so there should be no concern come next Friday.”

Fellow Ryder Cup player Lee Westwood nearly missed the cut but birdied two of his closing four holes for a 69 to sit nine shots behind Lowry. Westwood will be making his ninth straight Ryder Cup appearance for Europe, but this is his first tournament since missing the cut at The Barclays last month.

“With the Ryder Cup next week I needed to play all four rounds here, so after not being too competitive yesterday when it was pretty scrappy, I played bit more solid today,” Westwood said. “After taking three weeks off I am not quite match fit and you do lose your sharpness, so that’s the pleasing thing about getting those two birdies.”

Jamie Donaldson, another Ryder Cup rookie, remains well-placed to become the first Welshman to win the Wales Open after a bogey-free 67 put him four shots back. Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who is playing in his first Ryder Cup since 2002, added a 69 to move to 2 under.

Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe’s winning captain in 2012, missed the cut after scores of 82 and 76 before also heading north to Scotland as a vice-captain at Gleneagles.

NEWPORT, Wales – Joost Luiten birdied seven of his last 10 holes to grab a one-shot lead in the first round of the Wales Open at Celtic Manor on Thursday.

Luiten parred his opening eight holes before storming up the leaderboard with a 6-under-par 65 on the Twenty-Ten course.

Of Europe’s four Ryder Cup players in the field, Jamie Donaldson shot a quiet 1-under 70, Thomas Bjorn birdied the 18th to finish on par, Lee Westwood, who hasn’t played in a month, bogeyed his last two holes to card a 2-over 73, and Stephen Gallacher failed to manage a birdie in a 7-over 78.

“I haven’t played in three weeks, so there’s a fair bit of rust in my game, but then I am thinking more about next week than this week,” Gallacher said.

Luiten needed just 28 putts to match a similar score he shot on the opening day of last week’s KLM Open, where the Dutchman eventually finished in a tie for fifth.

“A 6-under-par start is always very good,” he said. “I holed some good putts and, looking back, I only missed one green all day, and had one bogey, and that was on 17.”

One shot behind and tied for second with Andrew McArthur of Scotland was former Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts, who hit the longest recorded European Tour drive.

The Belgium-born Colsaerts, who played in the 2012 Ryder Cup, hit his tee shot 447 yards at the 575-yard, par-five 18th hole. That left him with a wedge to the green, and he walked off with an eagle three.

“The hole was playing downwind and I managed to get a good bounce. I thought it was too far right but there is a bit of a speed trap down the right side of the fairway, and it must just have luged it down there,” he said.

Another stroke back at 4 under in a share of fourth place, were South Africa’s Justin Walters and Englishmen Robert Rock and Sam Walker.

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands – New dad Paul Casey shot a four-under 66 Sunday to win the KLM Open at 14 under, a single shot ahead of fellow Englishman Simon Dyson.

Casey’s win came less than two weeks after his partner gave birth to their first son.

“First tournament as a dad and first win as a dad,” Casey said after his victory at the Kennemer Golf & Country Club.

Casey looked to be cruising to victory before recording his only bogey of the day at the par-three 15th. He followed that with a wild tee shot on the 16th but his second shot out of the rough landed wide and bounced onto the green, giving him two putts for par.

Dyson, looking for his fourth KLM Open title, birdied the 18th to move within a shot of the lead, but Casey comfortably closed out with pars on the 17th and 18th for his 13th European Tour title.

Andy Sullivan completed an all-English top three, thanks in part to a hole-in-one on the 15th which won him a 100,000-euro seat on a commercial flight into space offered by a sponsor.

Casey set up his win with a blistering 62 on Saturday, when he came within inches of the European Tour’s first ever 59. An eagle on his final hole, the par-four ninth, would have meant a 59 and his second shot narrowly missed the cup before spinning off the green and leading to a bogey.

Casey began Sunday’s round four shots behind overnight leader Romain Wattel, but the young Frenchman could only manage a 74 in his final round while Casey shot four birdies on the front nine followed by a birdy and bogey coming home.

“My game plan was to have as much fun as we could,” Casey said. “We tried to concentrate on every single shot, but relax and be aggressive if we could.”

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands – Pablo Larrazabal broke the course record at Kennemer Golf & Country Club on Friday, shooting an eight under 62 to take the lead at the halfway stage of the KLM Open at 10 under.

The Spaniard got off to a blistering start, birdying his first six holes, and did not drop a shot until a bogey on his 17th hole of the day, the par three eighth. He followed that with another birdie to break the Kennemer Golf & Country Club course record by a shot and go to 10 under after two rounds.

The red-hot opening had Larrazabal thinking about shooting a 59.

“I knew I had to make five more birdies to reach that magic number,” he said. “Maybe I put too much pressure on myself.”

Romain Wattel of France also got off to a strong start on the back nine with four birdies on his way to a five under 65 to take him into second place, level with Edoardo Molinari, who recorded his second consecutive round of 66 to put him two shots behind Larrazabal.

Defending champion Joost Luiten struggled to a level par 70 – mixing three birdies with as many bogeys – to drop to a tie for seventh, five shots off the lead.

“I wasn’t quite sharp enough. I hit the ball too far from the flags,” Luiten said. “Then you have to make long putts and I didn’t do that.”

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands – Defending champion Joost Luiten fired a 5-under-par 65 and has a share of the clubhouse lead at the KLM Open after the first round was interrupted when Fabrizio Zanotti was hit on the forehead by a wayward tee shot on Thursday.

Zanotti was driven off the Kennemer course in an ambulance for checks at a nearby hospital after being hit. The Paraguayan later tweeted he was discharged from the hospital and would be taking “a couple of weeks off.”

Thanks a lot to all the players for the messages and especially to Ricardo Gonzalez and @FelipeAgui for being always with me!!!

— Fabrizio Zanotti (@fabrizanotti) September 11, 2014

The nearly two-hour suspension caused by Zanotti’s injury did not faze Luiten, who was even par when play stopped. He shot three birdies and an eagle over his last seven holes.

“That’s how I would like to start every tournament,” Luiten said.

The Dutchman started on the 10th tee and had eight straight pars before birdieing the 18th and giving up the stroke immediately with a bogey on the first.

He parred the second before play was halted and then made his move.

“I stayed patient and got my chances,” he said. “I had a few good holes at the end. Holes six, seven and eight are a corner where you can score well, especially today with the wind behind you.”

Jamie McLeary of Scotland was also at 5 under when his round was suspended by darkness with two holes to finish early Friday.

McLeary birdied his final hole of the day, the seventh, to draw level with local favorite Luiten.

Former French amateur champion Gary Stal and Italians Edoardo Molinari and Andrea Pavan were a shot back at 4 under.

Zanotti was playing the 16th hole, his seventh of the opening round at the Kennemer club, when he was struck by a ball hit from the 14th by Alexandre Kaleka.

Players Felipe Aguilar and Ricardo Gonzalez accompanied Zanotti to the hospital. All three players withdrew from the tournament.

Zanotti, who won the BMW International Open in June, had one bogey and a birdie to put him at even par when he was hit.