Mcilroy fails to keep pace with Woods

On the eve of the Valspar Championship, Rory Mcilroy announced he felt in such good shape he would be “totally ready for the Masters if it started tomorrow”. As it turned out, it was a relief that the Augusta major was not moved forward four weeks, as he struggled to a threeover 74.

Mcilroy is seven off the Canadian pacesetter Cory Conners in Tampa Bay, but what somehow seems more pertinent is that Tiger Woods outscored him by four strokes. This was only Woods’s 11th competitive round in 2018 after he missed almost the whole of last year with back problems. The 42-year-old proved his fitness and, just as importantly, the confidence he has in his body, on the 16th when he managed to save par despite having to slam his club into a tree in the process of his approach to the par four.

“I felt fine after that shot,” Woods said. “It was the toughest day I’ve played this year because of the wind – and I was pleased with every aspect of my game.”

In contrast, Mcilroy faces a battle to make the cut. He has only one stroke-play tournament after this – next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational – before Augusta and will not want to head to Orlando on the back of his second missed cut in four events.

The only birdie Mcilroy made was directly from a bunker on the seventh (his 16th) on an inward nine in which he also made two bogeys and a double bogey on the fifth (his 14th). Missing the four-footer on his last for a par summed up his day.

His playing partner, England’s Justin Rose, managed to breach par. The world No5 shot a one-under 70, the same mark as countrymen Paul Casey and Luke Donald, while Scotland’s Russell Knox is better placed on two under.