Rory McIlroy was happy to take a back seat to Tiger Woods in the popularity stakes at the Genesis Invitational, but was not so keen on seeing the 15-time Major winner blast the ball past him off the tee.
Woods managed to outdrive both McIlroy and Justin Thomas during his first round back in a regular PGA Tour event for 844 days – something which didn’t go down too well with the younger two players as Woods let them know about it.
It was an unusual experience for McIlroy to both be outdriven off the tee and also to not be the star attraction in the group, as McIlroy is the main man on the PGA Tour above all other players these days – apart from one.
And with everyone out to see Woods’ return, McIlroy was happy to let the attention focus on the 82-time PGA Tour winner.
“Yeah, look, this guy’s literally been golf for the last 25 years,” said McIlroy. “So I’m very happy to take a back seat.”
However, seeing Woods hit his ball past him off the tee did not sit well with the Northern Irishman, especially knowing how Woods is never shy in letting his friends know about it.
“I’m going to go work on the range,” said McIlroy when asked about being outdriven. “I put my driver up a click in loft at the start of the week, I might have to turn it back down again. I don’t like him hitting it by me.”
Woods averaged 311.7 yards driving distance, just short of McIlroy’s 315.5 yards but more than Thomas managed with 295.3 yards.
Woods did knock it beyond McIlroy four times though, most impressively on the 11th when he smoked a wonderful effort 338 yards, one yard further than McIlroy who also hit a beauty.
Tiger Woods outdrove Rory McIlroy several times at Riviera today. Not bad for an injured 47-year-old.No.9: 323yds vs 305ydsNo.11 (338 yards to Rory’s 337)No.15 (331yds to 326yds)No.18 (317 to 315)February 17, 2023
McIlroy also felt the pressure on 18 after watching both Woods and Thomas make birdie putts, not wanting to be the only one of the trio to miss.
“That wasn’t pleasant,” he admitted. “I felt – he holed the one on 17 before me as well and I’m like, not again. Yeah, I certainly didn’t want to be the only one not to make a birdie on 18, so that was a nice putt to hole.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Woods also spoke of the banter between the three friends around Riviera, which helped spur them on, especially on the final hole.
“JT hoops one in there and Rory’s been beating us all day. He’s nervous as can be because he didn’t want to…
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