Is Tiger Woods Rory McIlroy's Pressure Relief Valve? #golf

With a Monday weather-related finale at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tiger Woods has once again become the number-one golfer in the world. Fans are joyful but players...not so much unless, of course, you're Rory McIlroy.


NBC Final Round notes from Bay Hill included a compelling quote from the cantankerous Johnny Miller about a possible improvement in Rory McIlroy's game after Woods' victory, "Maybe that will actually help Rory McIlroy by taking the heat off him being number one and set him free again."

So, although Tiger Woods may now be scaring the field once again, he might actually be putting McIlroy's mind at ease, allowing young Rory to sharpen his game and his new Nike VR golf clubs, from VR-S Covert driver to VR Pro Blade Irons.


McIlroy skipped Bay Hill this week, choosing a casual round at a local muni to butting heads with Woods. Perhaps Rory prefers building his confidence instead by playing the "lesser of two evils", Phil Mickelson, at the Shell Houston Open this week?


Although a fifth Masters is not assured for Tiger, Joe LaCava, Woods' caddie, says there is definitely "more confidence" in his short game and putting. Graeme McDowell seems to have put the entire Woods-McIlroy battle in perspective. “Rory’s been No 1 for a while and having this kind of challenge will definitely gear him up. When you’ve achieved many of your goals, your motivations disappear and this will help him refocus.”

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Photo credit: i.i.com.com

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 7-12 with Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, Quiros, Stenson

Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Q: How do you make one of the best tournaments on the European Tour schedule even better?

A: Lengthen the course, toughen up the bunkering and bring in one of most innovative sponsors in golf.

Tim Maitland sat down with some of the world’s top players to work out how to plot your way to success at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

A great event is just about to get better. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club have produced some great championships and some great champions: Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who seem to have taken out a time-share on the trophy, would feature on anyone’s list of Europe’s elite golfers.


In today's golf blog, Tim speaks with a select group of European Tour golfers including Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer about how best to navigate through holes 7-12 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Hole 7 Par 3 200 yards 182 metres

Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland)

Winner of 2010 US Open Championship at Pebble Beach, California; 2010 Celtic Manor Wales Open and 2010 Andalucia Masters at Valderrama, Spain. Claimed the decisive point to seal Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup win.  

This is an intimidating-looking par three. It’s a 200-yard slightly-downhill shot and you’ve got some rocks at the front of the green sitting up and looking at you. 

It’s an interesting green because the front of it is elevated and the rear of the green is elevated as well. So, it requires a very accurate three to a six iron depending on the wind direction – generally a four or five iron in the prevailing wind – into a bowl shaped green. You’ve really got to just try and beat the front edge. It’s really the hump at the front that you’ve got to be aware of. 

It’s a good hole: a bowl-shaped green and you’ve got to be on the correct side of the pin: you want to be beyond the front pins and short of the back pins. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: It’s a difficult green and you don’t want to go missing this one. You certainly don’t want to short-side yourself. To back flags, over the back is not good and to front flags, short’s not good.

Hole 8 Par 5 597 yards 546 metres

Alvaro Quiros (Spain)

 Winner of the 2010 Open de Espana in Seville, Spain and the 2009 Commercialbank Qatar Masters. One of the longest hitters in the game, in 2008 Alvaro eagled the eighth hole when it was playing into the wind, hitting driver and two iron to 10 feet.

This is a very tight fairway at the end. It’s wide, but it turns left. Most of the time you are hitting it to a very small area. They’ve made it 23 metres longer this year, but before I could hit it straight – I didn’t need to hit it with draw. I just focused on two palm trees on my line, so I would finish just to the left of the bunkers that are at the end of the fairway on the right hand side where it turns. 

It depends how the wind is and the conditions, but if I catch the fairway normally I can hit it in two. If I have a little bit of wind helping I could use a five, four or three iron. Without wind I would say three wood or five wood.

For normal human beings? It’s not that bad a situation for the rest of them, because if you can’t reach the green in two the lay-up is not that tight. They have a simple, comfortable third shot with a 58 degree wedge. These guys are really good with a 58 degree wedge.

Obviously if I can reach the fairway I have an advantage. I definitely have an advantage. 

The green receives the ball on an upslope – this is the good thing – this is why I can hit a long club and stop it easily. It’s not one of those typical holes where you really have to stop the ball quickly. The great thing about the golf course is that normally it is in a perfect condition. Everything on the green can finish in the hole if you hit a good putt. It makes a difference!

The mistake you don’t want to make: No, the eighth is a good hole for me, but the 10^th I have no advantage over there because the fairway becomes very tight at my distance and not for the others.

Hole 9 Par 4 456 yards 417 metres

Rhys Davies (Wales)

Winner of the 2010 Hassan II Golf Trophy Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.

You know exactly where you are in the world standing on the tee. I think that clubhouse is fantastic! The falcon is a great starting point for this hole: depending a little bit on the wind you’re looking at picking out a point of the wing as an aiming point. The bend in the wing is a good point if you want to take an aggressive line down the right-hand side; otherwise you might favour somewhere slightly further left. 

You try to get a good solid tee shot away, preferably a strong fade, but it’s a hole you could do with a good drive on.

It’s a long par four that often plays into the wind, so you’ve often got a long second shot. It can be a five, four or even a three iron and you’re looking at a slightly angled green. The bunker comes into play on the right hand side of it, particularly when the pin is tucked away in the back, right corner, which it often is on a Sunday of the tournament. You might look to hit a gentle fade and try and run the ball up the length of the green.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Mistake? If you can put the ball into the middle of the green and pin high you’re always going to be happy on this hole. It is a demanding hole; I think it’s one of the tougher ones on the golf course and if you could find the middle of the green four days out of four you’d be very pleased.

Hole 10 Par 5 582 yards 532 metres

Martin Kaymer (Germany)

Defending champions and two-time winner of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. Winner of the 2010 Race to Dubai and the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Added two more wins in consecutive tournaments at the 2010 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Scotland and the 2010 KLM Open in the Netherlands. Also claimed the 2010 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.  Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

I usually hit driver over the left side of the bunkers at the front of the fairway. They’ve added length to the hole with the new tee, but before if I was on the fairway I would have a chance to go for the green in two, probably with a five wood or three wood. If it’s in the rough, I lay it up, but I’m still going for birdie with the wedge approach.

If I go for the green I find it’s always better to be left of the flag. The bunker to the left of the green is never bad, although they’ve made all the greenside bunkers deeper this year, so we’ll have to see. From there you always used to have a realistic birdie chance. 

The pin positions are normally two in the back and one on the right, so three times it was a realistic birdie chance out of that bunker. If the pin is short left it’s a tough one, so then you’re miss should be the bunker on the right in front of the green.

The priority is to hit the fairway in order to get home in two. Otherwise you lay it up to a comfortable number – for me it would be 95 metres or 100 yards. 

The second year I played here, this was my first hole and I started off with an eagle, so obviously it is possible to make putts here.

The mistake you don’t want to make: On the right side of the green there are some trees and that is obviously the worst place you can be.

Hole 11 Par 4 417 yards 381 metres

Ross Fisher (England)

Winner of the 2010 3 Irish Open at Killarney, Republic of Ireland. Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

Eleven is quite a tough par four. It’s not a long hole and you can either hit driver and take on the traps, or you hit something down towards the left-hand trap, probably with a three wood. If you lay-back you’re going at it with anything from a nine iron to a wedge. If you’re a bit more aggressive off the tee, you’re going in with a sand wedge or a lob wedge. 

 I can’t really remember the green that well. From memory there’s a little bit of a tier to the green, but it’s pretty simple, although it’s not the biggest green.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Off the tee you’ve got to put it on the fairway.

Hole 12 Par 3 186 yards 170 metres

Henrik Stenson (Sweden)

Winner of the 2009 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Florida, the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic and the 2006 Commercialbank Qatar Masters. Member of European Ryder Cup teams in 2006 and 2008.

It’s a cute little par three. I like the shorter par threes and I think most of the really good par threes around the world are a seven-to-nine iron. I’m not too keen on these three iron par threes. This is one of them. The tough thing is to get close to the back pins. There’s always a pin placed back-right. Other than that you’ve just got your wind direction right and hit a good shot. There’s nothing more to it really.

It would take quite a big miss for any of us to hit it in the water; obviously the bunkers are in play, especially for the back pins. Just as they always put some pins at the back, for sure they will put some pins close to the hump at the front of the green. Especially if it’s playing downhill, that makes it a bit harder to stop the ball. You’ve got to land it just precisely at the front and that little hump can make it tricky as well. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: You would leave yourself a tricky up and down if you go over the back. So get your yardage control, hit a good shot and you should be fine. The worst mistake would be the chunk in the water though. I’ll leave that one for you to make (laughs). 

Ian Poulter in the fairway at Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Thanks again to Tim Maitland for this great interview with European Tour Golfers for the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship!

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 1-6
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 13-18


photo credits: Getty Images/Tim Maitland


How to negotiate holes 13-18 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club will be seen on Golf for Beginners blog later this week.

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Graeme McDowell: Why golf needs Tiger Woods

After putting his way to victory in a playoff at the 2010 Chevron World Challenge, Graeme McDowell was proud yet effusive in his praise of Tiger Woods.

McDowell believes that golf needs Tiger Woods. "Mentally Tiger is great match player. He's the greatest player ever, and he expect guys to hole putts like that. Did I expect to hole them? I'm trying to hole them, of course."

credit

Where many golfers like McDowell want to hole putts believing that the ball may go in the hole, Tiger Woods knows when he stands over a putt that it will drop. Golfers who play against him still expect that he will stage a comeback when he's down (in spite of his lackluster year) or at the very least, fight until the very last putt on the 18th green has dropped.

It's the knowledge of Woods' mental strength that keeps the players on their toes and adds mystique to Tiger's golf game.

Graeme McDowell was happy that he was invited by Tiger Woods adding,

"Just great to see him back playing great again this week. I thought he controlled his ball really well the last couple of days. Just kind of got on the wrong side of the 13th there and made double. Apart from that, (he) didn't do a huge lot wrong today."

Yes, Tiger Woods played great golf for the entire tournament in spite of a cold putter and yes, Tiger Woods is a force to be reckoned with for the 2011 golf season. Lee Westwood and the rest of the European Tour and PGA Tour golfers, be prepared.

As Graeme McDowell mentioned in the pressroom,

"He can play his way back into having that mystique again. There's no doubt. He's just got to do the talking with his golf clubs now...

At the end of the day, we're all humans and we all make mistakes and we all hit bad golf shots. But there's something a bit special about his golf game, and I fully expect that mystique to return as the golf clubs start doing the talking again."

Read the transcript from the Chevron World Challenge.

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Phil Mickelson unveils HSBC Champions official World Golf Championships trophy

Two-time HSBC Champions winner Phil Mickelson has helped to unveil the new trophy for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions: 'The Old Tom Morris Cup', reports Tim Maitland.

The new cup and name are in keeping with the other three World Golf Championships events, which also boast similarly-designed Wedgwood trophies named after golfing legends. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship awards The Walter Hagen Cup to the winner, the World Golf Championships-CA Championship offers The Gene Sarazen Cup, and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational winner holds aloft The Gary Player Cup.

 “I am really fond of the original trophy, which can happen when you win something more than once,” says Mickelson, who lifted the 2007 HSBC Champions and then became the first winner of the tournament following its elevation to World Golf Championships status in 2009.

“But the new trophy has even greater worldwide significance. First, it is instantly recognizable as one of the WGC prizes, second, it carries the name of one of the legends of golf. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it is proof of just how fast the game of golf in China and Asia has evolved and how significant that growth is to the world of golf,” the four-time Major champion adds.

In choosing Old Tom Morris the world’s local bank has found a figure recognizable to the established golf world. HSBC chose one of the famous names in the history of Scottish golf because the pioneering work “Old” Tom Morris did in the 1800s to shape the game of golf is symbolic of the pioneering work being done in Chinese golf now.

“Old Tom represents the birth of the game of golf. Asia, China and the WGC-HSBC Champions in varying ways represent the future of the sport and, you could argue, will in time be looked at as being part of one of the most dramatic shifts for golf since Old Tom’s era,” says Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“The WGC-HSBC Champions could be described as the nucleus which has shaped the way tournament golf in Asia is evolving and developing on the world stage, in the same way the Old Tom Morris helped shape and define the sport of golf” he adds.

Padraig Harrington, Ireland’s three-time Major winner, describes Old Tom as one of the bedrocks on which the sport was built.

“He’s the heritage of the game! He was one of the first Open Champions and won it four times; it adds a lot to an event when it has heritage and I know it takes a long time to build heritage, but this helps" said Harrington. "It’s a trophy that anyone would be proud to lift and they’ll be proud of the association with Old Tom Morris and the history that goes with that. It’ll help the players feel even more about the event and it’ll make it that little bit more special.”

Morris was greenkeeper and golf professional on the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland; a four-time winner of The Open Championship and ranked among the top links course designers of the 19th Century. Among the 75 courses he designed or remodelled are some of Scotland’s world-famous courses, including Carnoustie, Muirfield and Royal Dornoch.

“You’re talking about one of the legends of the game. You talk about Tom Morris you’re talking about Prestwick and St Andrews and you’re talking about a game steeped in history; the legends of the game are hugely important to us!” exclaimed 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell.

“Guys like him shaped the game we play now. How different would it be if you didn’t have Old Tom Morris, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods?  How big is the game now? A TV spectacle, a global game, you just look at the milestones of the game and he’s one of them.”

In one way or another, “Old” Tom influenced almost every aspect of the sport. He helped to set up the first (British) Open Championship in 1860 and competed in every Open until 1896. Various authorities and experts have attributed everything from standardising the number of holes to 18, the size of the golf hole, the appearance of bunkers and several fundamentals of greenkeeping to the influence of “Old” Tom.

“Old” Tom Morris, who was born in St. Andrews in 1821 and died there in 1908, is remembered as a true pioneer and exponent of golf.

In recognition of his service, the R&A has hung his portrait on permanent display in its clubhouse, while the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's most prestigious honour is the Old Tom Morris Award.

WGC Winners

16 – Tiger Woods (USA)*

3 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS)

2 – Phil Mickelson (USA)

2 – Ernie Els (USA)**

2 – Darren Clarke (NIR)

1 – Hunter Mahan (USA)

1 – Ian Poulter (ENG)

1 – Henrik Stenson (SWE)

1 – David Toms (USA)

1 – Kevin Sutherland (USA)

1 – Steve Stricker (USA)

1 – Jeff Maggert (USA)

1 – Mike Weir (CAN)

1 – Vijay Singh (FIJ)

1 – Stewart Cink (USA)

1 – Craig Parry (AUS)

*plus 2000 World Cup

**plus 2001 World Cup

HSBC Champions

Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Approximately 78 players, consisting of tournament winners from around the world and the best players from the International Federation of PGA Tours, as dictated by each Tour’s money list, order of merit, etc.

2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 271 (-17) (Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China)

2008* – Sergio Garcia (ESP)

2007* – Phil Mickelson (USA)

2006* – YE Yang Yong-Eun (KOR)

2005* – David Howell (ENG) 268 (-20)

* = Before granted WGC status

Bridgestone Invitational*

Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Members of the most recent United States and International Presidents Cup teams and the United States and European Ryder Cup teams. Players ranked among the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking. The past year’s Major winners.

2010 – Hunter Mahan (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2009 – Tiger Woods (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2008 – Vijay Singh (FIJ) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 272 (-8) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2004 – Stewart Cink (USA) 269 (-11) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2003 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2002 – Craig Parry (AUS) 268 (-16) (Sahalee CC, Washington, USA)

2001 – Tiger Woods (USA) 269 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2000 – Tiger Woods (USA) 259 (-21) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

1999 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

*From 1999- 2005 known as NEC Invitational

CA Championship*

Format: 72 holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: 65-70, including 44 of the top 50 from the Official World Golf Rankings and leaders of the six Tours' Official Money Lists/Order of Merit.

2010 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 269 (-19) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2008 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 271 (-17) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-23) (The Grove, Hertfordshire, England)
2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (play-off) (Harding Park, San Francisco, California, USA)

2004 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)

2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Capital City Club, Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

2002 – Tiger Woods (USA) 263 (-25) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)

2001 – Cancelled (Bellerive, St. Louis, Missouri, USA)

2000 – Mike Weir (CAN) 277 (-11) (Valderrama, Spain)

1999 - Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (play-off) (Valderrama, Spain)

*From 1999-2006 known as American Express Championship

Accenture Match Play Championship

Format: Match Play

Field: Top 64 available players (Based on the Official World Golf Ranking)

2010 – Ian Poulter (ENG) 4&2 vs Paul Casey (Dove Mountain, Arizona, USA)  

2009 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 4&3 vs. Paul Casey (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)

2008 – Tiger Woods (USA) 8&7 vs. Stewart Cink.  (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)

2007 – Henrik Stenson (SWE) 2&1 vs. Geoff Ogilvy  (Gallery,  Arizona, USA)

2006 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 

2005 – David Toms (USA) 6&5 vs. Chris DiMarco (La Costa, California, USA) 
2004 – Tiger Woods (USA) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 
2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 2&1 vs.  David Toms (La Costa, California, USA) 
2002 – Kevin Sutherland (USA) 1 up vs. Scott McCarron 1 up (La Costa, California, USA) 
2001 – Steve Stricker (USA) 2&1 vs. Pierre Fulke (Metropolitan GC, Victoria, Australia)
2000 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 4&3 vs. Tiger Woods (La Costa, California, USA) 
1999 – Jeff Maggert (USA) 38 holes vs. Andrew Magee (La Costa, California, USA) 

Note: From 2000 to 2006 the World Cup was a WGC event. Winners as follows:

2006 - Germany (Bernhard Langer/Marcel Siem) 268 (play-off) (Sandy Lane, Barbados)

2005 – Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd) 189 (Victoria Clube, Algarve, Portugal)

2004 – England (Paul Casey/Luke Donald) 257 (Real Club, Seville, Spain)

2003 – South Africa (Rory Sabbatini/Trevor Immelman) 275 (Kiawah Island, South Carolina, USA)

2002 – Japan (Shigeki Maruyama/Toshimitsu Izawa) 252 (Vista Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)

2001 – South Africa (Ernie Els/Retief Goosen) 264 (play-off) (Taiheiyo Club, Shizuoka, Japan)

2000 – United States (Tiger Woods/David Duval) 254 (Buenos Aires GC, Argentina)

Golf for Beginners thanks Tim Maitland for this informative article.

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