Both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were knocked out of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona early last week, so instead, the two shared a private game on their own while preparing for Thursday's Honda Classic.
According to ESPN.com, Woods and McIlroy, who happen to be the top two players in the world, played a friendly round of 36 holes on Sunday after being knocked out in the first round at match play.
"We thought we would play our own match play final, except it was over 36 [holes],'' McIlroy said Tuesday at PGA National,
McIlroy is preparing to defend his title at the Honda Classic this week, while Woods is looking for his second victory on the tour this season. The two played at the Medalist Golf Club, Woods' home course in Hobe Sound and McIlroy said that he was home before the Match Play final started.
"It was good,'' McIlroy said. "It was the first time I've actually been up at the Medalist. It's nice. We teed off at about 8 a.m. and I was home by 1:30 p.m. We played quick. [Woods] putts with the pin in. It was speed golf. It was good. It was really enjoyable.''
McIlroy said that they played two matches and that Woods won the first round of 18 holes, while he won the second. McIlroy defeated Woods last year at the Honda Classic by two strokes, which vaulted him to the number one rank in the world. He won three PGA Tour wins, including the PGA Championship.
Both Woods and McIlroy missed the cut at Abu Dhabi after shooting a round of 75 and both were eliminated in the first round at match play last week. McIlroy lost in the first round to Shane Lowry and has continued to struggle after changing over to new Nike equiptment.
"It's still an adjustment period,'' McIlroy said. "It's going to be a gradual thing. There's obviously a bit of an overlap there and you have to just try and get your way into it as best you can. But as I've said the last few weeks, it's more about how I'm swinging the club. That's the real concern ... well, it's not a concern for me, but I would like to get back to where I was, say, the middle of last year. Because if you put my swing now up against the way I was swinging it last year, it's chalk and cheese. So that's the real thing that I'm working on.''
McIlroy is coming off winning the PGA Tour and the Europen Tour player of the year awards is also scheduled to play next week's WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami and the Shell Houston Open. He will also play in the Masters later this spring.
"I felt like when I turned up in Abu Dhabi, I was pretty much ready, but you never really know until you play competitive rounds,'' he said. "That shored up a few things in my swing and in the equipment and I went and rectified that."
Woods also came out on Wednesday and said he continued to agree with the proposed ban on anchoring. The PGA Tour came out vocally against the ban on Sunday and the final day of the three-month comment period is on Thursday.
The Honda Classic winner will take home $1,026,000 of $6 million purse and the tournament will be live on Golf Channel from Thursday to Saturday, while coverage will also be on NBC Saturday and Sunday.
