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Players Championship 2015: Bullish Rory McIlroy primed for battle with Jordan Spieth

Irishman believes victory in California has set him up nicely for Sawgrass - but has nothing but respect for his new rival

Kevin Garside
Wednesday 06 May 2015 23:02 BST
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Rory McIlroy in discussion with Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg
Rory McIlroy in discussion with Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg

The tee times for the Players Championship were set the moment Jordan Spieth threw a Green Jacket over his shoulders at Augusta. That Rory McIlroy won his second world golf championship event of his career last week, the WGC-Cadillac Match Play, merely spiced the plot.

Spieth, at 21 the second-youngest Masters champion after Tiger Woods, was always going to be spending the first two days at Sawgrass in the company of the world No 1. The hyperbole is already swirling around this nascent rivalry, wilder estimations claiming it has the potential to be the greatest in the history of golf.

The view is predicated on birth certificates. McIlroy, who turned 26 on Monday, is five years the senior and, alongside Woods and Jack Nicklaus, is only the third player to have won 10 PGA Tour titles before the age of 26. Combined they are only three years older than Phil Mickelson and two years older than Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera, fellow major winners who are all in the Players field.

The third wheel in the stellar group is Jason Day, hardly a slouch at No 7 in the world and at just 27 the elder statesman. Spieth tied fourth on debut last year, McIlroy has two top 10s here and Day a couple of top 20 finishes. Though Day, unlike McIlroy and Spieth, has yet to win this season, he has posted four top-fours on the PGA tour, which suggests a corner is about to be turned.

McIlroy knows the game well enough to understand how pairings committees work, and accepts that there will be greater interest in outcomes, but the narrative imposed is not one that he cares about much.

“Last year it was Rickie [Fowler], this year it’s Jordan, before that it could have been Tiger. There have been four of five rivalries this year. I don’t really pay that much attention to the stories,” he said. “Of course, when I saw the draw I was excited to play not just with Jordan but Jason as well. I’ve played with him before but, regardless of who I play with, I’m concentrating on what I do. Yes, there will be a bit more buzz and excitement but I always focus on my game.”

The Hollywood storyline might not gain his attention but he has great respect for Spieth’s game.

“I first played with him in Texas in 2013. He does everything well. He drives it well, his iron play is solid and his putting is phenomenal, especially this last couple of months.”

McIlroy is in the second week of a run of five consecutive tournaments, having confirmed he will play the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow next week, scene of his first PGA Tour victory. The win in California last week ticked a box after he had failed to contend hitherto in the United States this year, and sets him up nicely for a tilt at the richest prize in golf this week. “I’m coming in here off the back of a nice win and feel like I’m playing well.

“Hopefully, I can improve on the eighth and sixth places over the last two years. It’s a challenge here. This course magnifies weaknesses if your game is off. Winning around here would make me a more complete player, a little like Wentworth last year, a course where I hadn’t done well at before.

“I want to continue to get into contention to win. I hadn’t really done that in the States before last week but I’m in the middle of a nice stretch of golf now and want to play my best. I’ve set myself some goals this year. One of them I haven’t achieved [Masters] but I’m close to the others and winning over here last week was important, and gives me confidence.”

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