McIlroy leads the red tributes to Tiger

FOR more than 20 years, the leading professionals on the PGA Tour have avoided wearing red and black on Sundays as a respectful nod in the direction of Tiger Woods. On a unique Sunday at the WGC-Workday Championship at the Concession, in a gesture of support for their stricken colleague lying in a Los Angeles hospital, they marked his absence by donning the colours that Tiger made his own. From Rory McIlroy to Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed to Jon Rahm, the men who grew up idolising Tiger’s exploits and have fulfilled their dreams by following in his footsteps got to feel what it is like to wear his ‘power’ colours. If truth be told, it cannot have felt too great wearing black pants, with it being an unseasonably hot 32°C in Florida.

McIlroy and defending champion Reed were paired together and started out four shots behind the third-round leader, American Collin Morikawa. The Northern Irishman wore a sheepish grin regarding his chosen attire. ‘I don’t wear it as well as Tiger does, but it will be all right,’ said McIlroy. He certainly wore it better than the rotund Reed. As Tiger continues his rehabilitation, more details of his horrific car accident last Tuesday have emerged from a fire fighter at the scene. Cole Gommoll told the Associated Press that he chopped carefully along the front windscreen with an axe. Woods, tangled in his seatbelt and covered in a sheet to avoid shards of glass, was in an obvious state of shock. Gommoll and a colleague then peeled back the windscreen, allowing a backboard stretcher to be inserted to get Woods out of the car. Within minutes, the 15-time major champion was on his way to a trauma specialist hospital for the lengthy surgery that would save his right leg. On Thursday, Woods was transferred to another hospital in the city used by many top sportsmen for orthopaedic care and recovery, where he underwent further medical procedures. It is not known when he will be well enough to return to Florida. Back in the Sunshine State, McIlroy would have been happy just to be in contention with 18 holes to go, given he is trying to bed down some swing changes. The fact it is still a work in progress was obvious with a poor iron shot at the second but he saved par with a wonderful bunker recovery. A birdie at the third meant he was within two shots of Morikawa, following a bogey at the first from the US PGA Champion. McIlroy, however, has struggled to keep the mistakes at bay throughout the event and bogeys came at the fourth and sixth. An exciting finish was in prospect, with Morikawa two in front of his former amateur rival Viktor Hovland, plus Americans Billy Horschel and Scottie Scheffler, heading into the back nine. Brooks Koepka and Webb Simpson were three back.