Tiger will always have influence on golf: Rory
Mcilroy tips Woods to stay in game, even if car crash ends playing career
RORY Mcilroy believes Tiger Woods will still have a huge impact on the game of golf regardless of how the 15-time Major champion recovers from his horrific car crash.
Woods was involved in a single-vehicle incident in Los Angeles on Tuesday which left him needing to be extricated from his SUV by paramedics, and he later required surgery to repair injuries to his tibia and fibula.
The incident saw an outpouring of well-wishes on social media for the 45-year-old and Mcilroy added his own ahead of the Wgc-workday at The Concession, which begins tonight in Bradenton, Florida, and added that he thinks the legendary figure will still be influential within the sport, even if his injuries prove to be severe enough that he never plays again.
“At this stage I think everyone should just be grateful that he’s here, that he’s alive, that his kids haven’t lost their dad,” said Mcilroy. “That’s the most important thing. Golf is so far from the equation right now, it’s not even on the map at this point.
“Obviously, hopefully he comes back and is able to play. But if he’s not, I think he’ll still be a part of the game in some way, whether it’s obviously his design business and his foundation and hosting golf tournaments.
“It may be the end of seeing the genius at work with a club in his hand, but there’s still a lot of other ways that he can affect the game in a great way.”
While the first World Championship of the year may be played in front of a rather sombre backdrop this week, Mcilroy is aiming to continue a positive trend of performances after missing cuts.
The World No.8 failed to make the weekend for the first time in 30 events at the Genesis Invitational, ending the PGA Tour’s longest run of consecutive made cuts that stretched back to the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush, and he admits that, despite putting in a lot of work, he didn’t actually feel ready for last week’s event.
But what is working in Mcilroy’s favour is his record the week after missing a cut. After missing out at the Memorial in 2019, he proceeded to win the Canadian Open the following week, and he was tied-fourth at the WGC-FEDEX St Jude the week after Royal Portrush.
“Of course I know the last two missed cuts I’ve had I went and played well,” admitted Mcilroy, who tees of his opening round at 4.31pm UK time, paired with Justin Thomas and Max Homa, who won at Riviera last week.
“I worked so hard the week before Riviera in that week off, but I felt so unprepared to play. I stood on the range for hours a day hitting golf balls and working on my swing, but didn’t play golf. I didn’t do any of the things that you need to do to shoot scores.
“I need to play with more freedom and I need to be able to swing away. So it’s sort of like do the work on the range and just trust that the more work you do, the more that it’s just going to naturally find its way in there.”
Meanwhile, Stephanie Meadow plays her first event of the new LPGA Tour season at the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona in Florida tonight.
The Jordanstown woman tees off her first round at 4.30pm UK time alongside Jeongeun Lee and Jing Yan knowing that there are still spaces available in Catriona Matthew’s European Solheim Cup team if she can kick on from a strong finish to her 2020 season and impress this year.
Cavan’s Leona Maguire is set to tee off her opening round in Orlando at 5.58pm with Tiffany Joh and Wichanee Meechai.