Tiger Woods knocks off Rory McIlroy in heavyweight Match Play battle
You come at the king, the old line goes, you best not miss. Rory McIlroy keeps on coming at the king, and he keeps missing.
This time, the scenario was the WGC Match Play Championships’ knockout round — or “Sweet Sixteen” in NCAA tournament parlance. So there wasn’t a championship on the line, but there was pressure ... and, once again, McIlroy buckled in the face of Tiger Woods, losing 2&1.
Coming into the Saturday morning match, Woods was a heavy underdog. And why not? He’s been reliable but unspectacular all year while McIlroy has been outstanding — seven tournaments played, seven made cuts, six top 10s, a victory at the Players a couple weeks back. So McIlroy would dust the old man, right?
Not even close. Both took their time getting started, parring the first four holes. And then came the fifth, where McIlroy slid a seven-foot birdie attempt past the hole. Woods didn’t miss, and took his first hole of the match. Woods followed that with a win on the sixth hole following another McIlroy birdie miss, and the two went into the turn with Woods up two.
The 10th hole demonstrated a bit of vintage Woods gamesmanship. Woods left his long eagle putt just inches short, and McIlroy gave him the birdie putt. But Woods made McIlroy putt out from two feet out ... and McIlroy missed. Woods went up three holes with eight to play, and McIlroy — one of the finest golfers in history — was a wreck.
What’s strange is, McIlroy has already crafted a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He’s got more majors than anyone in the post-Tiger era, and when he’s on, he’s absolutely untouchable. But he’s now almost five years removed from the last of his four majors, and he’s flailed time and again in the spotlight. He entered the Sunday of last year’s Masters paired with Patrick Reed in the final group ... and did exactly nothing to slow Reed’s march to the green jacket that’s eluded McIlroy. He was paired with Woods in the final round of last year’s Tour Championship, and didn’t even make a bump as the Woods Train ran right over him.
McIlroy got some measure of revenge on the par-5 12th as Woods missed a short par putt for his first bogey, and first lost hole, of the day. Then McIlroy, buoyed by the win and taking advantage of suddenly swirling winds, popping a long birdie to win another hole. Just like that, he was one hole down with three to play.
And just like that, it all vanished. McIlroy pounded a drive 395 yards off the tee at 16 while Woods found the lip of a fairway bunker. Everything appeared set up for McIlroy to tie, and then, as always seems to happen with McIlroy in the biggest moments, everything fell apart. McIlroy shorted his approach to the green, flew the green and rolled up against a railroad-tie fence, took an unplayable lie, fatted the second attempt ... you get the picture. He turned the 16th into a dog’s breakfast of a hole, and turned a potential tie into a two-shot deficit with two shots to go.
Whatever dwindling hopes McIlroy might have had flickered out when Woods stared down a 13-foot putt, then sank it to close out McIlroy 2&1.
“It was big for us inside the ropes,” Woods said afterward. “We battled against each other, we thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was happy to come out on top.”
Woods now goes on to play Lucas Bjerregaard in the round of eight later Saturday afternoon, and you’ve got to figure he’s got a decent chance of making Sunday’s final four. Regardless, facing down McIlroy and not flinching an inch will heat the Tiger-in-Augusta talk to white-hot levels. And McIlroy, again, will have to figure out how to win when the tension’s the highest.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
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