Tiger sees the ‘fun’ but Rory’s unhappy at blowing chance
MAYBE this is why they say you should never meet your heroes. Rory McIlroy met Tiger Woods for the first time in head-to-head combat yesterday and, for much of the match, played more like the star-struck teenager he used to be rather than the superstar in his own right that he has become.
The end for McIlroy in a 2&1 defeat in their last 16 encounter in the WGC Match Play Championship in Texas came about following a series of mistakes from the Northern Irishman that simply defied belief.
Having fought back valiantly from three down with seven holes to go to just one in arrears, he produced a stunning 395-yard drive down the par five 16th and had just a wedge in his hands for his approach.
Woods, by contrast, had driven into a fairway bunker and had finished so close to the face he could only pitch out. He was still 50 yards behind McIlroy’s drive while playing his third shot, and even that finished 30ft away.
In metaphorical terms, McIlroy had his foot on the Tiger’s throat, and was about to square the match.
What happened next was a series of mistakes from McIlroy so out of kilter with his imperious form this season it is difficult to explain.
Instead of heading to the middle of the green, the wedge shot flew to the right and finished in an awkward lie on the upslope of a bunker. From there, McIlroy thinned his next shot through the green and up against an out of bounds fence.
With nowhere to drop the ball he had to go back from whence he came, under a penalty of one stroke, and this time he came up short in a bunker.
In the end, after that brilliant drive he ended up with a double bogey seven. Woods didn’t even have to putt to win a hole he appeared certain to lose.
Woods hit such a poor tee shot to the 17th you began to wonder if it was infectious, but he rattled home a 13ftputt for a messy par that was good enough.
Asked by a reporter how it felt to pull off an upset victory, Woods said: ‘I don’t see it that way. It was a fun match for both of us.’
Perhaps not so much fun for McIlroy, who declined all media requests. He had only lost three holes in winning his three group matches, but it wasn’t until he was three down standing on the 12th tee that we saw a glimpse of the real Rory yesterday.
Birdies at the 12th and 13th for wins changed the complexion. The pressure he was piling on Woods was obvious as the American got away with a poor drive for a fortuitous half at the 15th, and then got caught in a slugging match with Rory off the 16th tee that he was never going to win.
It looked a costly mistake. Heck, it should have been a costly mistake.
Needless to say, it was not the sign-off McIlroy wanted with the Masters next up.
Woods moved on to a quarter-final yesterday afternoon against Dane Lucas Bjerregaard.
Europe had a record eight players in the last 16 but they fell like skittles. Out went Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Tyrrell Hatton and Henrik Stenson.
Alongside Bjerregaard, matchplay specialist Frankie Molinari came through to take on Rose’s conqueror Kevin Na. Sergio Garcia’s afternoon opponent was Matt Kuchar.