Rory McIlroy wants to have a major showdown with Tiger Woods
Rory McIlroy has four majors wins, but he’s never had to stare down Tiger Woods with it all on the line.
Despite Woods out indefinitely while recovering from a pair of Fall 2015 back surgeries, the current world No. 2 holds out hope for a major showdown with Woods.
“Hopefully, if he can get healthy, I would still love to have a crack at him down the stretch in a major,” McIlroy said Wednesday ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic. “I would love that, just once.”
Woods was a factor, an outside one at that, in just one of McIlroy’s four major wins.
At the 2011 U.S. Open, Woods didn’t play at Congressional, and, even if he had, McIlroy probably would have blown him out that week.
Woods had a share of the 36-hole lead at the 2012 PGA Championship on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, but McIlroy wound up winning by eight. He was 11 clear of Woods.
The 14-time major winner made the cut at the ’14 British Open but finished near dead last among the weekend field while McIlroy took out Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler for the Claret Jug.
At that summer’s PGA Championship, Woods was a last-minute entrant and missed the cut.
However, McIlroy knows Woods, 40, has to get back to a regular routine well before he considers coming back to competitive golf. Then McIlroy can worry about holding up his end.
“At this point it’s just up to him to get healthy and get his game back,” McIlroy said, “and if I hopefully keep playing the way I’m playing, maybe one day it’ll happen.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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