RORY: BRING IT ON
McIlroy hits 65 then talks of a Sunday shootout with Tiger
NEVER mind the $10million winner-takes-all duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson that has purportedly been pencilled in for Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend in November.
How about one between Tiger and Rory McIlroy for the Bridgestone Invitational this weekend?
McIlroy has been yearning his whole professional life for such a Sunday shootout against his boyhood idol and, if it were to happen here at Firestone, of all places, he would probably consider it worth the wait.
‘Welcome back to your playground, Tiger,’ shouted a fan on the first tee but, as McIlroy (right) showed with one of those effortless first-round 65s that have been a hallmark of his career, he is a fan of this storied layout as well. With Tiger carding a useful 66, both players were right where they needed to be at the end of a thrilling opening day, with McIlroy just three behind the pacesetter, England’s Ian Poulter. The Holywood man was only too happy afterwards to contemplate the thought of a Woods confrontation. ‘I think we last talked about it in 2014 but the way we’re both playing right now I guess there’s a possibility of it happening somewhere,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘I’ve got to be honest, it has surprised me how Tiger has slipped seamlessly back into playing well nearly every week after so long out, but I guess if you’re born with it, you never lose it.
‘I think we know golf, it’s not like other sports with direct rivalries and so a shootout between us might never happen. But it would be so cool if it did.’
The golf equivalent of a titlewinning football team grinding out a victory while playing badly is a top player turning in an underpar score while not striking the ball well. After eight impressive holes to begin, Woods’s ball striking deteriorated thereafter, but he still kept any bogeys away until his 18th hole, the ninth on the card.
‘That is how you win golf tournaments,’ said Tiger who, lest we forget, has won 79 of them. ‘You’re not going to play great in every round and so the key is turning average days into a three- or four-under-par score rather than three or four over.’
An eight-time winner of this event but playing here for the first time since 2014, the theory that Tiger is more popular now than in his prime received supporting evidence with a walking gallery that had to have been 10 times the size of Rory’s, playing directly in front.
‘It felt like the old days out there,’ said Woods. ‘I saw faces in the crowd that I’ve been seeing for over a decade. I’ve shared so many great memories with them over the years and hopefully there will be one more.’
The sub-plot looming large here is the Ryder Cup, with this event and next week’s US PGA Championship all but deciding the remaining places in the two teams.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and in-form Scot Russell Knox are presently on the outside with their faces pressed against the glass but that could all change if they build on rounds of 66 and 67 respectively.
‘I think it might help me just being outside the automatic places in that I can push on rather than defending my spot in the team,’ argued Fitzpatrick, who outscored his illustrious playing partner, Jordan Spieth, by five shots.
Knox was feeling ‘mentally fried’ after the Open following his wonderful run of form in July but recharged the batteries with an Alaska cruise last week where no one recognised him.
‘I have a good face for blending in,’ said the dry-witted soul from Inverness.
As for the Ryder Cup, he reasoned: ‘I think we all know it’s coming down to these two weeks, so it’s up to me to play well and impress the captain. I know if I don’t I have little or no chance.’