Rory McIlroy says "Tiger Mania" distracts Woods from playing his best golf
McIlroy Says Crowds Cost Tiger Woods Two Shots A Week
Rory McIlroy played with Tiger Woods last week for the first two days at Riviera, and got to witness the full “Tiger Mania” with a front-row seat.
It’s usually the Ulsterman who gets all the attention from the fans – I followed Rory McIlroy at Royal Birkdale last year and there wasn’t a two minute spell without someone shouting Let’s go Rory!
Related: Rory McIlroy’s 30-minute warm-up routine
But for once, McIlroy wasn’t the main attraction and he told media after his second round at Riviera that all of the attention on Woods is not good for his game.
“It might have been like this, the whole Tiger Mania and these dudes,” – he said referring to someone who shouted “Let’s go Rory!” right on cue.
McIlroy says Woods loses half a shot a day to the field because of the volume of fans following him. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“I swear playing in front of all that, he gives up half a shot a day on the field.
“It’s two shots a tournament he has to give to the field because of all that that goes on around.
“So, whether that calms down the more he plays and it doesn’t become such a novelty that he’s back out playing again.
“Because it’s just tiring and I need a couple advil, I’ve got a headache after all that.
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“Just the whole thing, you’ve got a six foot putt ‘it doesn’t break as much as you think’, just stuff like this they don’t have.
“Whoever that’s teeing off at 8.30am in the morning doesn’t get that, and can just go about doing their business and do his thing.
“And that’s tough he has to deal with that every time he goes out to play.”
Watch McIlroy’s interview here:
Interesting take from Rory McIlroy on the “stess” that Tiger Woods has to go through round by round with the crowds
— Always Pressing POD (@alwayspressDFS) February 17, 2018
In the end it didn’t matter if Woods gave away 0.5 shots a day because of the fans as he comfortably missed the cut.
McIlroy ended the week at -3 for a T20th finish.
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The pair tee it up this week at the Honda Classic where Woods will no doubt be surrounded by more Tiger Mania.
Let’s hope he can get back to playing his best golf.
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