February: Rory McIlroy had his first opportunity of 2012 to replace Luke Donald as world No.1 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Victory would have done the deed but, having made it through to the final, the Northern Irishman was defeated 2&1 by Hunter Mahan. After holding off a late McIlroy fightback, Mahan said: "Rory is a great player, the best in the world right now."