Tiger puts finger on Rory woes
MCILROY IS TEASED BY WOODS AS TENNIS
RORY McIlroy thought he would wait for the fuss to die down a bit before texting Tiger Woods to congratul ate him on becoming world No 1 again.
Tiger’s response? ‘Thanks, bud. Get your finger out of your ass and win this week.’
Now the rest of us might not have put it quite like that, but doesn’t it sum up the prevailing mood — not to mention the friendly nature of their rivalry — as the Masters looms ever closer on the horizon?
Certainly, there’s a general feeling that only one man can live with Tiger playing as he is right now and so far this year... well, let’s just say his finger hasn’t been on the pulse rather than where Tiger’s placing it.
After Woods finished up his Augusta preparations with his historic eighth win at Bay Hill on Monday to become world No 1 again for the first time since October 2010, the man he replaced will play his last competitive rounds here at the Shell Houston Open, beginning tomorrow.
A final-round 65 in Miami two weeks ago has encouraged the thought McIlroy is now adjusting to his new clubs and ready to shake off such a slow start to the season he admitted a month ago his confidence was at its lowest ebb.
‘Now the goal is to get into contention,’ said the Northern Irishman. ‘To have a chance to win on Sunday, and have that feeling again before going to Augusta.’
Sportsmail captured him last week practising at a municipal course in South Florida, close to where his girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki was playing tennis. It might not have been in the Tiger banter stakes but one writer cheekily asked: ‘ Did you go to the muni to look good?’ ‘ Nice try,’ said McIlroy, laughing.
He certainly looked good when a certain Novak Djokovic turned up last Saturday to hit golf balls alongside him. Rory’s verdict? ‘He’s got a lot of rotation for a tennis player and a good backswing, but his downswing needs a lot of work. The muni was great. I brought my own golf balls and then they collected them and gave me them again the next day. It was a reminder of why you start playing the game. You hit balls at the muni because you love the sport.’
Djokovic and Woods are good men for McIlroy to hang out with as he seeks to add something of their indefatigability to his own formidable arsenal. ‘The most impressive aspect of Tiger is the way he digs in and gets whatever he can out of a round,’ said the 23-year-old.
In January in Abu Dhabi, it was Woods who found himself spending most of his press conference talking about Rory. Here it was the other way round, and McIlroy had no complaints. ‘I didn’t think I could go into the Masters under the radar but I will go in a bit underneath him, and that’s no bad thing,’ he said.
As for being deposed at the head of the rankings — he would need to win here to regain top spot — he stuck to the same theme. ‘I guess with me trying to get my game back to where it can be, it’s fine being No 2,’ he said. ‘It’s nice to go about my business and not be the most talked about person in golf.’
As someone who grew up idolising Woods, he is as pleased as anyone Tiger has pieced his life together again, on and off the course. ‘It’s really good to see, he’s been the main man for the past 15 years and it’s great for the game he is playing well again,’ he said.
‘You can tell he is in a good place both on and off the course, with Lindsey [Tiger’s new girlfriend, American skier Lindsey Vonn] and everything. We spoke this morning, the first time we had done so for a fortnight and he’s very happy. I enjoy his company. He gives me a lot of grief and I try to give some back. He’s fun to be around.’
So Tiger’s back and Rory looks as if he’s on the right path again. Let’s hope this is the week when McIlroy does indeed… ahem… pull his finger out.