A body transplant seems to have occurred during the offseason. Tiger Woods seems to have slipped into Rory McIlroy’s body and vice versa.
That much was obvious from the opening round of the $2.7 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
McIlroy leads Woods by three shots after an opening 5-under-par 67 to Woods’ 70. The Northern Irishman shared the early lead with Sweden’s Robert Karlsson.
If you somehow missed watching Woods and McIlroy play the Abu Dhabi greens, you would have thought the scores would be the other way around. Woods was the most consistent player of a three-ball that also included World No. 1 Luke Donald. The Englishman hit a couple of wild tee shots but still managed to return a 1-under 71.
Woods hit 10 of 14 fairways and 17 greens and hit only one bad shot all day, a duffed wedge shot to the par-5 8th hole, his 17th, that came up 30 feet short. Woods might have been almost McIlroy-like with his other 13 clubs, but he struggled with the putter.
“Hit the ball well all day today,” Woods said. “It was a good ball-striking round. I had a hard time reading the greens out here. The greens are pretty grainy, and I just had a hard time getting a feel for it. Towards the end, I hit some pretty good putts overall. I got fooled a lot on my reads.”
The former World No. 1 is making his first start since winning the Chevron World Challenge in December, his first win in over two years. He also finished third in the Australian Open, and says he has carried on that form into Abu Dhabi.
“It felt the same as I had from Aus(tralia) to the World Challenge to here. I controlled my ball all day.”
Woods outdrove McIlroy all round and said it came down to increased fitness work and better mechanics over the winter.
“You have to be fit in order to train, and Sean (swing coach Sean Foley) is getting me in position where I can put more speed in it," Woods said. "I don’t really feel like I’m hitting it hard, but the club’s flying through the zone and it’s stable. All of those things are very positive.”
McIlroy, meanwhile, came off the course feeling as he had won the lottery.
“I didn’t feel like I played that good,” McIlroy said. “I definitely didn’t strike the ball as good as I have the last couple of weeks. I think it’s just because it’s your first competitive round of the season, card in your hand, you can get a little tentative or a little apprehensive. I was able to manage my way around the golf course and end up shooting 5 under. I’m very pleased.”
The two men spent a lot of time chatting during the round, and it was clearly obvious from watching them that McIlroy has taken a leaf out of Woods’ fitness book. The 22-year-old has filled out what was once a slender frame. He’s wider across the shoulders and his upper arms look as if he’s been doing some serious weights over the winter.
“I’ve been working hard in the gym. I really started working hard last year," McIlroy said. "I feel like I’ve got a lot stronger, and it’s definitely helped my golf.
“I feel like my lower body has gotten a lot more stable and a lot stronger. That means you can put the club in a better position on the way down and you can do it more often, so you become a lot more consistent.”
Consistency wasn’t a hallmark of his opening round, though. He started on the par-5 10th hole with a pulled tee shot, a fat second and a thinned third over the back of the green. He saved par and that seemed to set the tone for the day. McIlroy only hit six of 14 fairways and 12 greens but managed to scramble like the Woods of old.
“It’s something (scrambling) that I felt like I improved a lot on last year,” McIlroy said. “Even when I had not played well, I felt like I could still get round the golf course. When you play really bad, you turn 74s into 70s and you play average like today, turning a 70 into a 67.”
Woods used to be the king of scrambling when he was the king of golf. He didn’t have to rely on that skill in McIlroy’s company. He just needs to figure out the Abu Dhabi greens.
One swallow does not a summer make, but the ominous sign for the rest of golf is that Woods has found consistency in his swing, especially off the tee. If he can keep that up and finds his old putting touch, look out world.
